WoW Down to 9.6 Million Subscribers

These past few months I had the uneasy feeling that I was enjoying the game 5% less than before. Now that I know WoW lost 500k subs, it all makes sense.

Originally Posted by Mondroc

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)

Rangnork did....

Originally Posted by 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...

12 Million players? Where are you getting this from, WoW never had 12 million active players, but rather subscriptions. Not to be a douche but subscriptions does not equal players.

So the McDonald's of MMOs lost even more subs, not surprising really.

Game is old so what ? its better than any new released MMO

It's dying! Servers are dead, community is dead, auction houses are dead, 25 man raiding is dead - hell 10 man raiding is dead - everything is DEAD!

/theskyisfalling

Anyone who thinks 400+ thousand in the span of 3 months is "nothin" is a delusional fanboy, plain and simple. Unlike Cataclysm, they are pumping out content and oozing more subs than ever before. This amounts to over a million subs lost every year (equaling or edging Cata's losses) WITH regular content.

That's terrible.

Originally Posted by ripslyme

Game is old so what ? its better than any new released MMO

Maybe in your world.

There are quite a few better options out there right now in a lot of people's minds.

Did they announce over 10mil without including Chinas MoP returning players?

'Cause if those players were counted in, this is a bigger loss than i thought.

I knew WoW isn't dying any time soon.

And a 500k loss isn't as large as I'd expected for the kind of shit that's been going on in this game. With botting in bgs at an all time high, win trading rampant etc. etc. etc. I honestly expected far bigger losses.

And who the hell in their right mind is picking up Diablo III right now...

Originally Posted by Matchu

It's above 1, which is also a pre-MoP subscriber number.

You knew exactly which number I was referring to, the one just before release.

So I'm supposed to assume what you didn't type?

as of December 31, 2012

^^This, and call me when there are sub 1 million subscribers then i'll be worried.

who the hell in their right mind is picking up Diablo III right now...

Yeah stop buying that crap and download (For free) Path of exile. A much better Arpg. Save yourselves 60 bucks.

Well, that settles it.

Time to go free to play.

Well...to be declared like a "dying" MMO, we should consider that a game will not have subscriptions....They will be a Free to Play, and have a premium account, like many others (Newest game on this model SWOTR)...
So when WoW starts do really "die" this will be a free to play model, and have premium things...

I don't understand why people are so shocked... it has been at this level before, wow went back to 10million because of mop that was like 4-5 months ago, it will always decline and will always go back up right before an expansion...seriously we have had 4 expansions now it's not exactly rocket science to see trends like that -.-

Originally Posted by Eno

That is happening only for one reason. Bot's. I know few people who had 10-15 D3 boting accounts and one "safe" account on which they would send all goldz. Banwave hit them, bot accounts are lost, buy new ones and continue to make money.

that crossed my mind. you're probably right. wouldn't be surpised if at least a few million are bots.

Originally Posted by Descense

I bet dailys killed those subs. It was overkill realy.

I was one of them. After playing for 5 years without a single lapse in my sub I finally got fed up with Mist's of Grindaria and called it quits.

Think of WoW as a human being. At the moment wow has just hit 50, still got a lifespan for another 30 years. My guess is one or two more expantion and it craps out.

It's been over a -month- since the dec 31 numbers, they've probably lost another 200-300k just because there is no new content. Must really suck for them.

Too all you "Wow is dead" sayers:

Please show me ANY other MMORPG that is 8 yrs old with 9+ Million subscribers. know what? You're not gonna find a single one