Player: Hey, Blizzard. What does the data say about our Subscription level?
Blizzard: It's... it's... over 12 Million!
Player: What?!? 12 Million?!? That's impossible!
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/wo...llion-players/
Yeah. That is insane and this is before Cataclysm has come out.
Charts showing the data:
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/WoW.png
What counts as a subscription:
Remember, this is before Cataclysm. What's going to happen once it hits? Your guess is as good as mine.World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.
Note: Because people are going to ask. The big dip is supposedly the lost of the Chinese players before they jumped ship to the TW servers approx. 2 years back.