Will WoW Ever See 13 Million Subs Again?

[MoanaLisa]

Absolutely it does. More subs = more notoriety for Blizzard, which means better games because more money can be poured into their games.

Yes, but so what? Blizzard isn't reporting subs so no one will know. Threads like this get closed for a reason which is you can ask the question if you think that WoW will get up to X number of subs but if they aren't reporting subs, the correct answer is "No one knows, move on."

[jabbabot]

Sadly, the best has come and gone. WOW will unlikely never reach that many subscribers again, the average person that played Vanilla/BC/Wrath are a dying breed.

[MoanaLisa]

Only way Blizzard will see 13mil subs possibly once again is by creating a new innovative game and even those chances are slim to none. WoW in it's prime/peak stages aka Classic/Vanilla up to Wrath had people no lifing it up (myself included), the game and expansions were new with most people not knowing how to play an mmo thus it was challenging with great content. The rants could go with a big wall of text but, I'll refrain.

WoW wasn't all that innovative to start with; more the right thing in just the right place at just the right time, polished up nice and pretty and easy for millions to play.

[idunnowatdo]

We will never know if they don't announce sub numbers

[Noomz]

Absolutely it does. More subs = more notoriety for Blizzard, which means better games because more money can be poured into their games.

YOu think they need notoriety? Hahah fuck, what world are you living in?

[Halicia]

When WoW released, nobody imagined it would pull 13 million subs or even tenth of that. That's because there were no "traditional sub-based mmo's" with anything near those numbers.

Umm... I did ?

All major MMOs were sub-based at the time, and "social media/gaming" wasn't occupying the niche that was previously largely inhabited by MMOs.

I didn't start playing WoW til later in its lifecycle, but I certainly wasn't surprised that Blizzard managed to polish the genre into something much more appealing to the mass market. That's just what they do.

[Gadzooks]

After today's Q&A, I'm wondering how many will be left playing by the time the Argus patch is released.

[Deleted]

Every single one follows the same tired formula and the longer it goes on, the less popular the genre is likely to get. Which is why I don't see any MMORPG reaching 13 million.

I think people have the cause and effect backwards when they think that in order for a game to become hugely popular, the genre already needs to already be hugely popular (i.e., have big games with tons of players). But MMORPGs were not popular when WoW was released. WoW didn't tap into some "MMORPG market" but rather it was a great game that appealed to a lot of different people (including many that never played any other games). The game made the genre popular, not the other way round. And now that the top game in the genre is in decline (IMHO because of bad game design), it looks like the whole genre is in decline.

In fact I think that that a "popular genre" is much less likely to produce new hugely popular games, because the established games already provide a good enough experience and have a big advantage due to network effects. I think it is good that WoW and other MMORPGs are in a decline, because it leaves room for the next great MMORPG to eventually succeed.

[bigbleach]

Did WoW ever have 13 Million subs? Might as well round-up the misinformation and say they had 15 million.

Q3 and Q4 of 2012 they had 12 million or a little over... Anyways...

I doubt they will get back over 3 million nowadays, steady subs ... a new x-pac, it could spike .. but not 12M though.

I vaguely remember seeing 13 mil player stickers on the boxes of WotLK, though I've never looked into sub numbers they release, but either way close enough

[Deleted]

You can't compare them because they are 2 different genre's of video games. It would be like comparing Call of Duty to World of Warcraft. They don't have any similarity. People do however have diversity in what genre's they enjoy. MMORPG, FPS, MOBA, RTS, Simulation, etc. They compete in their own bubbles. Blizzard competes in the MMORPG, MOBA, RTS and with Overwatch the FPS genre. WoW competes with GW2, SWTOR, Wildstar, etc. Heroes competes with LOL, Dota and a few smaller games. Overwatch competes with TF, COD, Destiny and the various other survival FPS games.

I am not comparing gameplay, mechanics here. Jesus people.

WoW competes for time and money. You can compare time and money spent between games. LoL has 100 million active accounts (most can be smurfs but its still huge number even if its just 50 million) - its obvious that some of those are ex-wow players that could come back to WoW but are now spending their time and money on LoL instead.

MMO's were the thing back in wrath. Everyone wanted to make MMOs. Everyone wanted to be "wow killer". Back then you could say that WoW competes solely with GW2, Swtor and whatever was still up back then.

Now MMO's are not trending. Moba is. Esports is. Its very short-sighted to cramp genres together and call them competing with other games on "those bubbles".


Like for example: If Half life 3 would come out, there would clearly be drop on activity levels of WoW. Sure it might not make people un-sub but it sure would make tens of thousands of players buy HL3 and spend time on that.
By the logic of "own bubbles" no WoW player would ever buy HL3 and spend time on it because its not "mmo". "Only singleplayer FPS gamers would play HL3".

[Niwes]

If it goes F2P it will.

no.

and to topic: no.

[Tharkkun]

I am not comparing gameplay, mechanics here. Jesus people.

WoW competes for time and money. You can compare time and money spent between games. LoL has 100 million active accounts (most can be smurfs but its still huge number even if its just 50 million) - its obvious that some of those are ex-wow players that could come back to WoW but are now spending their time and money on LoL instead.

MMO's were the thing back in wrath. Everyone wanted to make MMOs. Everyone wanted to be "wow killer". Back then you could say that WoW competes solely with GW2, Swtor and whatever was still up back then.

Now MMO's are not trending. Moba is. Esports is. Its very short-sighted to cramp genres together and call them competing with other games on "those bubbles".


Like for example: If Half life 3 would come out, there would clearly be drop on activity levels of WoW. Sure it might not make people un-sub but it sure would make tens of thousands of players buy HL3 and spend time on that.
By the logic of "own bubbles" no WoW player would ever buy HL3 and spend time on it because its not "mmo". "Only singleplayer FPS gamers would play HL3".

Genres of games isn't game play mechanics. They are completely different games aimed at different audiences. Most people have also called out Riot as bullshitting those numbers. 100 million unique players a month? There's not even that many PC gamers today.

[HordeFanboy]

13 Million subs? Did WOW Even hit that point, yet? I mean, I remember them hitting 12.5 Million subs...

But, 13M? The fuck?! Show me the proof.

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Never happen...

Game will NEVER Be as popular as it was.

And, back then, it wasn't even good during those days. People only played WoW Due to the MMO Market rising in fame...

Now, Not only is WOW Old, but MMOs in general are....well...dying...in general...

Wow is dying because of old useless subscription game model. F2P would revive game.

[CptEgo]

no.

and to topic: no.

Yes, it would. F2P WoW would see a massive increase in players, just like we've seen with other MMO's.

[Eleccybubb]

Yes, it would. F2P WoW would see a massive increase in players, just like we've seen with other MMO's.

Wildstar went F2P and it had a minor increase and Rift went F2P until the current expansion and it dropped players. Still has even going back to a B2P model because of poor content delivery but that's for the Rift thread. So not really. F2P is not always the answer. It's how the F2P is done.

Both Everquest games went F2P and nobody has heard anything from those. LOTRO is essentially in maintenance mode now as well.

[Niwes]

Yes, it would. F2P WoW would see a massive increase in players, just like we've seen with other MMO's.

mmmmh..... no.

[Deleted]

no.

and to topic: no.

^ /10chars

[CptEgo]

Wildstar went F2P and it had a minor increase and Rift went F2P until the current expansion and it dropped players. Still has even going back to a B2P model because of poor content delivery but that's for the Rift thread. So not really. F2P is not always the answer. It's how the F2P is done.

Both Everquest games went F2P and nobody has heard anything from those. LOTRO is essentially in maintenance mode now as well.

You call it a minor increase, I call it a massive increase that actually saved those games.

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mmmmh..... no.

WoW would instantly become the most insane F2P game available..

[Eleccybubb]

You call it a minor increase, I call it a massive increase that actually saved those games.

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WoW would instantly become the most insane F2P game available..

Well it was a minor increase and every time the game has had a chance at bringing in players it has done and then dropped off again due to poor management on Carbines part. And considering Wildstars profit margins have been consistently down to the point they merged it into other earnings then that spells trouble. Also it's in a recovery phase right now. It needs to do a lot more to get back on it's feet. But alas there is a megathread for Wildstar so I'll say no more on the matter. Just mentioned it for the sake of the debate along with others.

Again it's how the model is handled not just switching. If you offer a too fair model then you risk profits but if you offer a stupid freemium model then barely anyone will want to touch it. It's about finding the right balance.

[Sliske]

Possibly, but only for a brief moment kind of like with WOD getting 11 million or whatever.

Theres simply too many games out right now that are better or as good as WoW and its hard to justify paying cash to stay subbed to WoW when you can get a game like the Witcher or Overwatch or some shit like that