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WoW Down to 9.6 Million Subscribers
Activision Blizzard's press release states that World of Warcraft is down to 9.6 million subscribers as of December 31, 2012. This is lower than the amount of subscribers from the "over 10 million" announced for Q3 2012. A few other interesting points:

  • Mists of Pandaria was the #3 best-selling PC game at retail.
  • Diablo III was the #1 best-selling PC game at retail, breaking PC-game sales records with more than 12 million copies sold worldwide through December 31, 2012.
This article was originally published in forum thread: WoW Down to 9.6 Million Subscribers started by chaud View original post
Comments 954 Comments
  1. brothernads's Avatar
    Why do I have a feeling that Morhaime will say that the majority of the subscriber losses occurred "in the East"?
  1. Kazuchika's Avatar
    When this number falls to like.. 100 thousand people feel free to call it news.
  1. Zokten's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cilon View Post
    Well at 3 million it would still be the largest active MMO...
    That is still online yea.
  1. Mawnix's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Garian View Post
    You are putting a positive spin on a huge loss.

    How many people do you think play in the U.S. and Europe? 2+ million respectively? Losing 1/4 of your market in one of those places is not something that you can just ignore.
    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?
  1. -Azax-'s Avatar
    500k loss? Looks like WoW is dead oh well goodbye all i will miss you ima go play rift now
  1. Mondroc's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Courierrawr View Post
    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?
    Every mmo is in decline. People quit and come back.. WoWs numbers are only bigger because they can be. If you only have 250k playing, losing 25k is around the same amount. You say WoW's golden age is over.. based upon what? At least it had a golden age.

    Also, i quit months ago so don't try throwing that fanboy crap at me.
  1. Drekmar's Avatar
    GOOD! Wotlk and Cata badies are leaving!
  1. Matchu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zokten View Post
    Declining numbers is a game "dying" how long it takes is anyone's guess at this point.
    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.
  1. Dreammage's Avatar
    And WoW is still 9.6 times bigger than it's closest competitor.

    Where's the news here?
  1. mmocedbf46d113's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Garian View Post
    A 500k drop in subs is huge. Especially if they are in the U.S. or Europe.
    They gained about a million when they released MoP, so the numbers are still higher than before MoP.
  1. mmocef2fdcc82b's Avatar
    looking forward all the "wow is dying" posts. anyway, i actually expected a small drop, i thought maybe 1-200k. very surprised to see such a massive drop. i dont think its much to be concerned about, wow is what, nearly 10years old, it would have to be super amazing to retrain 12m subs at this age.
  1. Yakuchin's Avatar
    Oh noes, the game is dead. Considering GW2, this is hardly surprising and yet it's an amazing number, after 8 years running, it's simply incredible.
  1. Byniri's Avatar
    My prediction of 8 mil seems silly now.
  1. HolgerDK's Avatar
    queue the doomsayers
  1. MrKnubbles's Avatar
    No big deal.
  1. Zokten's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Matchu View Post
    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"
  1. ScottsdaleHokie's Avatar
    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.
  1. Immitis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Courierrawr View Post
    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
  1. Mondroc's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Zokten View Post
    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)
  1. draykorinee's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Garian View Post
    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.

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