WoW Stable at 10.2 Million Subscribers

[Nootz]

So. Many. Haters.

I'd be willing to bet most of the WoW haters are still subscribed as well, but they can't admit to the public that they still like playing WoW for some reason. Face it, WoW is still going strong so get over it already.

[Kaneiac]

I don't enjoy the game. I'm subbed for many reasons including addiction, friends, lack of any alternative, and the fact I have no choice but to farm gear to prepare for the only thing I enjoy in the game aka progression raiding and soloing.

That's your problem, not the games. No alternatives, give me a break. I went MMO-less for 2 years. Get a fucking hobby. When you don't enjoy the game, but stay subbed anyways, you forfeit any (respectable) right to bitch about the game, because you're still feeding money into something you don't like.

[mordale]

Most ToR subs lost were never really lost because they overlaped with active WoW subscriptions. People went to ToR, played througgh the story content and got bored with endgame, and returned to their active WoW subscription. While surely they lost some subs, the number is certainly not the whole 2 mil they've got at the moment.

Also ToR, like GW2, was hyped way to much (GW2 is not subscription based though, which makes the hype Ok and certainly not a Wow-Killer). While ToR still does ok it just doesn't have to lazy masses that constantly complain but are afraid to move on. There is almost no way to make a western MMO that could get to 10+ mil people, hell, even WoW didn't do it at launch. Most MMO's just never get the chance to evolve like WoW did.

umm... ToR only has 1.3 mil atm.

[Queen of Hamsters]

For the conclusion, guild wars 2, nough said.

Nope.

I tried it, it won't steal me away from WoW in a million years. Same goes for many others, not to mention that tons of people wouldn't touch it with a stick considering how different it is and that they relate it to GW1.

Go off back to the GW2 forums, THIS, IS, WOW!

[Jeleh]

Oh, so exactly what TOR did with there free month. Convenience indeed. To bad one game is 7+ years old, and one is not six months old yet.

What has ToR got to do with it? It's all marketing techniques used to make the game look healthier than it actually is regardless, I dont play ToR or wow, I just love how people are "yeeeaaa stableee" when despite having that number of 10.2 the same thats not really a good idea of how active the game is. Realms are dying for a reason.

[Youarefired]

Only stable for about 5 days, 9 hours, 11 minutes and about 10 seconds.

[Deleted]

How is the estimate unfair because of the annual pass? Those customers don't count anymore? Or do you think the annual is a once-in-a-few-years event? You honestly think they won't have another annual pass up next year?

Yeah. A paying customer is a paying customer.

And about the game supposedly dying: WoW market share dwarfs that of their competitors. Closest? SWTOR at 1.3mil and dropping rapidly. That's not a gap, SWTOR is on another continent. It's extremely interesting as to how Blizzard is the ONLY one in MMO land able to retain customers, and such a large base of it, while other MMO's fade into black each time, over and over.

[BenBos]

Blizzard just keep running over the opposition, I was expecting loses this time around until MoP was available then expected a rise again, to keep a steady flow of subscribers over these past months is incredible considering it's had to deal with TOR's release....I wonder if MoP can lift the numbers to 11m later this year.

^This.

The biggest challenge in 7 years and the game did quite good in subscription numbers and revenue.

So suddenly the CATA whiners have to admit that the present day state (with transmog and LFR added) is simply better than they tought.

Or ... (like I said) the internet world changed and that was the cause of the 2010/2011 drops (free mmo games, facebook games, web browser free games, I Pads ...)

The fact is ... these casual free internet games have NO long life and are not comparable with long term investments like WOW characters.

[Ragu]

Once the annual passes wear off, people will leave.

Source: Myself. What a waste of money.

[Kaneiac]

How is the estimate unfair because of the annual pass? Those customers don't count anymore? Or do you think the annual is a once-in-a-few-years event? You honestly think they won't have another annual pass up next year?

Yeah. A paying customer is a paying customer.

It does sort of skew the results a bit, though.

I know a handful of people who would have cancelled had they not gotten the annual pass. Unforeseen guild breakups finally putting the nail in their coffin, they felt differently last fall compared to now, etc.

I'm sure there's a good number of APs who would have unsubscribed if they weren't locked in.

[Zeldaveritas]

I wonder what percentage of annual pass people are going to drop it as soon as their year is up (like me). Grats to Blizz for baiting us into buying the AP by claiming the beta was right around the corner back in Oct., making us think MoP would be out by now, and that we wouldn't be spending the entirety of the AP paying for access to NO NEW CONTENT.

The end-game content has been on the decline ever since they revoked our ability to have 2 separate raid ID's per week, forcing guilds to choose between 10 and 25. We were repeating content twice a week, but at least it allowed us to raid SOMETHING! Completely cancelling the Abyssal Maw raid was a great move too, props to them for announcing that raid, reneging, and then once again repackaging more old troll instances instead.

Since adding LFR it's become increasingly difficult to get people interested in progression content when they can faceroll encounters and completely ignore boss mechanics. It's pretty much eviscerated any type of community that was once present on servers.

All this, on top of the dev's new vision of essentially turning this game into a monthly fee based World of Casual-Poke'-Craft (rather than focusing on actual end game content) is terrible.

[Landin55]

Only stable for about 5 days, 9 hours, 11 minutes and about 10 seconds.

Do you ever get tired of being wrong? Its like the guy that predicted the end of the world 3 different times =/

[sixx]

Haters gonna hate. And when MoP comes out, they are gonna hate.

Anyways to say something more constructive than that, that's good man, the annual pass was an awesome strategy after all. And Heart of the Swarm Beta :O SWEEEET! POOKAOIUS()*UGJIUAG XD

[avatariku]

Guild Wars 2 forums are thataway new guy.

Oh, and it'll be on your head, and people like you, when GW2 doesn't perform as well as it should because people who don't know how different it aims to be from WoW try it, hate it, and scare away others with negative publicity.

I personally love how the game is going, guild wars 2 I mean, and going off topic but how does it trying to be different from WoW make it a bad thing? The problem I have with MMOs in general, not just WoW, is that while its massively online, all I get from them is I want to play solo until max level and THAT'S when I want to group with other people. That bugs me. You actively avoid people in online games until max level, and even then you only want to group for dungeons or raids. Back on topic. Like I said I am neither a ayer or nayer for WoW, but if all you got from my post was my comment at the end which was obviously meant to annoy blizz ayers such as yourself, then I don't know what to say to you...

[kerfanna]

also just saw skylander in Game shop about a week ago and it looks tempting, no wonder its gonna be worth $1Billion soon.

It's totally fun but it gets expensive. And the Skylanders can be really hard to find sometimes. But it's cool if you're in to collecting things. All of the guys come with stickers and an online code to do something with (I haven't really looked in to it, my son is only 6) and a collector's card. But my fiance and I both have played it and it is a lot of fun. There are hats you can find for your guys that have +stats on them and stuff.

It's not overly difficult, it is a kid's game, but there are lots of hidden things. If you're going to get in to it I suggest getting at least one of each type because you can only access some areas with certain types of guys. The game itself comes with 3 types though and it's definitely beatable with just those 3, but if you want to fully experience the game you need (at least) one of each.

[BenBos]

Only stable for about 5 days, 9 hours, 11 minutes and about 10 seconds.

DIablo 3 will have a supporting role for WOW in the long run. Both games go hand in hand instead of competing with each other.

[Serpenth]

World of Warcraft subs finally stop bleeding. SWTOR loses 25% of its player base. Why does this make so much sense to me.

Oh that's right, Pandarens are really cool.

[Zatheyll]

Once the annual passes wear off, people will leave.

Source: Myself. What a waste of money.

Okay then, if that's the case don't even install Diablo 3 or open WoW.

If you do either of those things then you got exactly what you signed up for.

[ringpriest]

Investors don't give a shit what Blizzard does to get their money as long as the quarterly reports look good.

I hear that Bear Stearns Q4 2007 and Lehman Brothers Q2 2008 quarterly reports looked really good too.

I think what you're trying to say is that management doesn't care where their numbers come from as long as they get their bonuses. And that investors are too stupid to care. I must politely disagree with the second premise, although I certainly agree with the first.

[Darksoldierr]

DIablo 3 will have a supporting role for WOW in the long run. Both games go hand in hand instead of competing with each other.

Also both made by Blizzard