WoW Down to 7.7 Million Subscribers, Activision Blizzard Purchases Vivendi's Shares

[Deleted]

If they keep loosing 600k per quarter soon nobody will be left. They better get their shit together and stop shitting on us players.

There's always a decline of players at the end of each tier. Then people will comeback to run lfr normals for a few months and unsub again until the new expansion comes. Thats just standard procedure.

[Sliske]

As long as they don't start dropping the quality of the game (due to less numbers, this could also mean an increase in quality instead) then sub numbers don't really effect me. Sure, i feel it occasionally as 1-2 players from my guild over the past like, 2 months have quit the game. But in general i've never really felt the sub drop. People say 25 mans are dying. Statistics show that, but i've never felt it. I've always had players to run 25 mans with, my LFR queues have always been the same, etc. The only place you can 'feel' it is on already dead servers. When you have like 4 Horde to every 100 Alliance, when one of those horde quits, you feel it.

All in all though, i don't see why the numbers are dropping? Burn out i guess? 5.4 looks like an amazing patch and 5.2 and 5.3 were pretty good pve wise. I can say though that the PVP in the game currently is pretty horrendous, but those PVP folks have always been pretty resilient in their ability to wait stuff out.

At the end of the day, if this post hadn't been made, i probably wouldn't of thought they were down to 7.7M. Probably due to the size of that 'small' number in itself. Regardless, its still almost a 50% sub drop from a few years back, even if 7.7M is 10 times the next MMO's playerbase.

[Deleted]

*enter wow is dying comment here*

[Deleted]

There's always a decline of players at the end of each tier. Then people will comeback to run lfr normals for a few months and unsub again until the new expansion comes. Thats just standard procedure.

Look we don't need to over analyse the sub drop, but let's not make silly excuses either. WoW is in sharp decline due to a number of reason stated many times before, and this has little to do with a mid tier drop off.

[Fkiolaris]

As one of the subs that left the game (again), I can offer only my personal perspective on the reasons for doing so this time.

The main one by far that made me leave WoW this time is that there are many acceptable options for F2P or B2P. Not better or worse, just acceptable and much cheaper options. And these options are growing every month and become better every month.

The second problem by far (for me) in the general character development systems that are simplified/streamlined too much in WoW while the competition is going the other way. I understand this is a personal taste and I accept it as such, but between the "talent trees" of current WoW and the soul-system of Rift or the ability-wheel of TSW (again, among others) there is a massive gap that WoW can't cover with the current settings while others can (in Rift/TSW/etc you can still pick a build that does the job and stay with it forever or keep changing as little or much as you like). I mean, it just does not feel like an RPG anymore for me while other MMOS do, for better or worse

Finally, the social aspects of the game that brought me back before are becoming corroded. I am not saying that it's the game's fault, but 9 out of 10 of the people on my friends list are gone and I find some of them in those other MMOs. So when I left I was mostly playing with 1 or 2 friends and a bunch of strangers.

I will probably be back for 5.4 just to raid against Garrosh, but that will be it. The amount of changes Blizzard needs to implement for my taste in order to justify paying for a sub over the numerous F2P/B2P competitors would be enough to make a new game entirely. As such, WoW is pretty much done for me with 5.4, nostalgia of all the good times be damned. I hope the game stays around for the people that still enjoy it, but I will probably be having fun elsewhere.

[Karagar]

No it won't, Blizz is only making two more expansion's, one for 90-95 and the last for 95-100.

Citation Needed.

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XXD

They killed the game long enough, you would expect.

They killed the goose that lays the golden eggs

And sure the figure is closer to 5 or 4 million

Err..if this is an official financial report Blizzard CAN'T lie about sub. numbers in it without people going to jail for fraud...and unless the executive/financial people at Blizzard have been drinking copious amounts of lead-based paint I really doubt they're that stupid.

[Laguerra]

No shit they lose subscribers when they treat their custumors badly, and ban people in banweaves, who has done nothing wrong. Furthermore telling them that they will never get their accounts back... GG blizzard.

[Deleted]

Citation Needed.

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Err..if this is an official financial report Blizzard CAN'T lie about sub. numbers in it without people going to jail for fraud...and unless the executive/financial people at Blizzard have been drinking copious amounts of lead-based paint I really doubt they're that stupid.

i think what was meant was that these figures are a month or two out of date - the sub count would only have dropped in that time. granted, not THAT much but its still troubling.

[Rioo]

That's quite a big chunk of players, around 7-8%. While it's clear that no game can last forever, I really think Blizzard were too passive and self-confident and the changes they've done in MoP just came too late. In the end WoW has always kept people playing because of friends, and now it's a domino effect that can't be stopped.

Personally I started playing with some friends again to check out the new expansion, but really we're just waiting for the Elder Scrolls MMO.

[Deleted]

I honestly, felt like WOTLK hit the sweet spot.

Seperate raid lockouts for both 10 and 25 man meant I could raid 25 man with my guild and 10 man with friends, without having pressure to have an alt.
the "emblem" system, gave a small advantage to the 'hardcore' raiders who could clear everything fast and in the week.

I simply can not imagine a 25-man pug any more (which used to happen a lot) for any alt I had, and they were really fun to do.
Wintergrasp was damn awesome. VoA was something everybody wanted, unfortunately we don't have this in MoP and I don't think the alternative in cata was widely taken to.

The community has been absolutely destroyed. There was no need for LFR when 10-mans back then filled this kind of 'hole' and you had the positive of even being able to pug a 25-man and get the 'top' loot. You can only dream of that now. I'd like to say LFD was a part of this, but I also feel that due to it not being the actual end objective, it didn't really matter. Everyone PvE orientated wants to raid, not always do dungeons.

Not many prestigious mounts and titles now either, people want stuff to aim for and show off.

Just how I personally feel. Blizzard have taken things out their own game and failed to provide cement to then fill the holes they left. The only thing I've really been impressed with was the brawlers guild. Who honestly is really happy about quest hubs being developed? In WOTLK we had one mandatory grind and then it was over, the rest came with doing the raids.

If anything it was the hardcore raiders becoming bored at the end of this and perhaps waiting until next tier or making alts. Everyone else had a lot to aim for PvE wise.

[Deleted]

but really we're just waiting for the Elder Scrolls MMO.

Isn't everyone just waiting for ESO?

[Sodia]

If my memory doesn't cheat on me...
Isn't it that Blizzards connection timeline to larger corporation is rather this:
It was Vivendi to put money into Blizzard at first, to fund their ability to increase their production teams? Activision came in later..
Now if my memory is correct, this development is then rather negative, since it seems to put Blizzard even more entangled with ATVI. I wish one had more insight into the business structure behind the scenes, and the possibility of whether Blizzard had the financial ability of breaking entirely free without having to answer to any partners.

Without hard data, the speculation over why the subs are lost really became a moot point.

Small changes may help though to stop this somehow...
The 50% valor buff... For Christs sake make this truly account wide, not just affecting toons on the same realm. It may actually help with reanimation of dead realms where still tons of currently abandoned toons exist. Finalize the system to make players able to send account wide mails cross realm. If I could send stuff to that old TBC toon I haven't played in ages anymore, I may actually play it again.. (that's an example, not a subjective demand. I have no TBC toon I haven't played in a while lol)

In fact, stop the nonsense of paid character transfer. It is nowadays a nonsense. It used to be justified to pay for it, because it involved a lot more work.
Nowadays it's a perfected system that ends in toons being moved in less than 15 minutes. Make realm transfers free for toons, and at the same time close high pop realms down, so they can no longer be overpopulated because everyone and their grandma wants to move there, since it's trendy to be on that realm.

If there is anything on the technical part of the game I see as the most negative impact then it's this:
The game is getting close to 10 years anniversary. With that said, stop the ongoing nonsense of class balancing. Stop listening to the QQ and demands of nerfing and buffing.
I am a professional IRL. I do my job, and I know my craft. I have a skill set. If after almost 10 years I still do not know my skills, I am not a professional...
Coming from there, after almost 10 years a constant class/spec balancing, with countless changes almost daily, is a very bad thing. That's unprofessional, that's a very bad performance. This aspect should long be a non-issue.
There will never be any true balance. And there shouldn't be one. Classes and specs should be unique from one another. Not everyone needs the same tools. Not everyone needs the same abilities. So instead of tinkering with the classes and specs, tinker with the content we mastering. We have 11 classes, now if - for example - a raid has 11 bosses, and each encounter gives an edge to one of the classes, at the end of the day, all classes are treated equally, and no one can bitch about how they are treated like an unwanted step child.
Why am I pointing this out? Because the majority of the players aren't geeks and nerds. They play the game for fun and leisure. They don't want to relearn their toons every few month. Playing WOW effectively requires a lot of work outside the actual game. This was always true, but it's a lot more work and study today as it was in older days.
And that is a bad thing.

THIS !!
But unfotunatly for as there ar still ppl in charge like Ghostcravler whu lost the conection with the game loong loong time ago .Its there lives and its them whu be unemployed soon(Devs),Diablo had Jay and we have GC but we can alwais find another thing to do

[Porkrind]

Inc uninformed people thinking they know what this means.

If you know there are uninformed people, please, inform us! Tell us what we should know about another quarter with less people paying for a thing than before!

[Deleted]

When WoW ends it will rise again. The PHONEIX shall rise from it's ashes as player ran versions of the game!

[Immitis]

I think Activision is worse than EA. EA don't publish all kinds of rubbish just for a chance of a few bucks (Activision's Deadpool as recent example).

are you trying to say the deadpool game wasnt good? because thats bullshit

[Deleted]

I really loathe the "X is still huge" argument.

Well yes, compared to every other competitor 7.7 million is, but nonetheless it's a steady decline since the beginning of Cataclysm. And compared to the 12 million high, the shit hit the fan a long time ago.

[fooliuscaesar13]

I couldn't care less about subscription numbers. They will keep rolling out product as long as they have subscribers and I will enjoy the game as long as they keep rolling out the content.
I mean shit...it's $14 per month. Sometimes I spend that on a shot and a beer as soon as I walk into the pub on the weekend.

[Immitis]

atleast there seems to be alot less haters this time.

maybe we wont have a million threads about this for a month

[Goradan]

Truth be told. I never did much research on Vivendi. I always though that it was activisions bitch and that they are letting activision hold the reins. this buyout of vivendi's shares just makes it official. but form seeing the bull that the two companies are doing, running the gaming industry like a business with the only goal of making money and not also trying to make the games they make true interesting and unique sucks. I mean compared to most other games that score around 60-75 on average. activisions games only score around 45-65 on average.

The fact of the matter is that they only rate the success or their games based on the money it earns them not the score and a acclaim. Look at the prototype series great series that would have earned them a massive profit. but nooo. Those short sighted idiots close down radical entertainment along with the other game developing companies like Bizarre Creations and Raven Software. Developers that produces games that score around 80 mark.

Sure WoW still has tons of subscribers and all, but the real question in my opinion is: When will the day that activison finally sucks blizz dry and toss it aside come? That my concern about blizz if it can't fight back at activision and establish it own independence before it's too late it's as good as dead.

[Otaka]

lets see if blizzard can fix this with the next expansion. Because mop is not really good for us old wow players, its too calm and peaceful and fluffy.

They already said long time ago that Mop is "calm before the storm"-expansion, so next we should have something bigger than just pandaria with pandas.