WoW Down to 9.6 Million Subscribers

[Zokten]

It's numbers have declined and rose before.

If anyone thinks 9.6 million is "dead" they really need to take a look at the rest of the MMORPG market.

Yes but they always had a new high. Now they have peaked and just drop lower.

I missed where anyone said anything about "dead"

[ScottsdaleHokie]

I still wonder how many of those 9.6 million are game cards in China with 10 minutes of playing time (subscription) still left on it, but hasn't been used in 3 years.

[Immitis]

So what? A decline is a decline, WoW's "golden age" is long over, the game is going to keep losing players, will you still be using that defense when it's down to 3 million players?

And so it begins. let the month long wars of bitter arguments herald in the next wow killer O-O elder scrolls is totes gonna be the one this tiem guise

[Mondroc]

Yes but they always had a new high. Now they have peaked and just drop lower.

I missed where anyone said anything about "dead"

Wasn't said, definatly implied though. (Well at least dying was)

[draykorinee]

A 500k drop in subs is huge. Especially if they are in the U.S. or Europe.

Its still hardly anything to be concerned about.

[Garian]

He's not putting a positive spin on a huge loss. Are you kidding?

400k-500k is barely anything.

Remember when they lost over a million subscribers in ONE quarter?

U.S. and European players pay more. If these are mostly eastern losses then you can put your positive spin on it.

[Zokten]

And WoW is still 9.6 times bigger than it's closest competitor.

At this current time, wasn't the case in the past though.

[McCronCronz]

9.6M as of December 31, 2012. This could be down more, or up.. who knows.

Now take away the gold farmers, hackers and bots and what would the number be?

Even after all of this. This game isn't close to dead.

[shadofall]

and how many were accounts in the recently banned wintrading

[Goldjman]

GOOD! Wotlk and Cata badies are leaving!

False. Vanilla and BC players who tried the game again are leaving. out of 40 players I know who tried again, only one still plays.

[Thorim]

Yay. An end of the market stranglehold is on the horizon. Good news.

You know 9.6 million people playing a game isn't quite "an end on the horizon".....jeez.

[mysticx]

Let's keep in mind that WoW is over 8 years old by now, so yeah, it's hardly a surprise that its (subscriber)-peak is behind us now, keep in mind though that few games keep going for 8 years with this relative number still playing, WoW has about 75% of the playerbase at its peak now (IIRC there were 12 mil players somewhere in Wrath, not sure though), with all the MMO's that are either dead or footnotes in gaming history after a year or two, 9.6 million people after 8 years is quite an achievement still...

[Pancha]

This was to be expected. World of Warcraft will be well above the rest for years to come, but it's past its glory days.

[Matchu]

Yes but they always had a new high. Now they have peaked and just drop lower.

It's still above pre-MoP levels?

[isuridedes]

I think what most of the "500k? So What?" crowd is implying is this. In the grand scheme of things the loss of 500,000 subscribers will in no meaningful way impact the current game. Servers will not be merging. Subscription fees will not be decreasing (or increasing). Expansions and content will not be churned out at a greater pace, nor will micro-transactions burst into being at a greater pace than they already have been.

Subscription-based services are rarely as stable as one might dream. But we're talking of a drop from 10,000,000+ to 9,600,000. That's not even 1/10th of the subscription base. That's not even 1% of the subscription base. It's not even outside the realm of acceptable subscription losses given past quarterly earning reports and the general ebb and flow of World of Warcraft subscriptions.

Every time an expansion launches subscriptions soar. Then subscriptions dwindle down until a major content patch. Then they go back up again. Then as we wait on the next patch they taper down. So forth, so on. One day WoW will fade away into nothingness, but a 500,000 subscription loss isn't going to hasten it into an early grave.

[Immitis]

U.S. and European players pay more. If these are mostly eastern losses then you can put your positive spin on it.

they made over a billion dollars in profit. thats the positive spin. subscribers mean nothing as long as the game is profitable

[Mondroc]

At this current time, wasn't the case in the past though.

When has any other MMO held even a million for more then a month launch? (Excluding GW2 as everyone who ever bought the game is an "active subscriber" even if they havent played since launch)

[Zokten]

Wasn't said, definatly implied though. (Well at least dying was)

Dead wasn't implied.

Seems you don't know why people use "dying" in relation to MMOs.

[Stede]

The rest of the Annual Pass subs should expire by June. Expect more subs to drop off.

[Lolman]

500k is more then most other P2P mmo's have in active players. Give me a break.

I hope you realize, that if that 500k is from U.S or Europe, that is a huge deal. I assume 4-7 mill players alone are from outside those 2 continents.

I expect more subscriber decrease in the coming months. 500k was just the beginning. I don't get why people still playing this old game. No matter what blizzard puts in, an old game, will always remain an old game.