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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. mmoc5cdcc17479's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by beanman12345 View Post
    LOL @ you thinking justin bieber is a good artist. that is hilarious. way to loose any credibility on this site.
    way for YOU to loose credibility, how old is bieber? How hard does he work every single day to please his audience? Let me guess you sit at home behind your screen and you are more successful then him? Jesus christ he is talented, get over your jeoulsy and move on.

    And no i dont listen to bieber but at least i dont cast my unbelievibly idiotic hatred just cause i dont like something.

    ---------- Post added 2013-02-08 at 02:44 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Zergal View Post
    On what planet do you live, its been 4 months, wich is completly acceptable between 2 raiding content patches.
    One could use the same logic saying the death metal you listen to is good music. See what i did there?

    ---------- Post added 2013-02-08 at 02:47 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Zergal View Post
    If you can only judge the worth of something based on numbers, i really wouldn't want to be in your shoes. What offers the better food for example, a 5 Star gastronomic restaurant or Mcdonalds? Obviously the gastronomic restaurant, but meanwhile everyone flocks at Mcdonalds to eat that garbage.

    Same logic can apply to WoW, Vanilla and BC were meant for the real MMO fans, then WolTK came to cater to the "MMO-Fastfood" crowd. Yes it meant more subs, but much less quality.

    Edit : looking at your armory, i guess you actually fit in the "fast food gaming" crowd so i guess that explains a lot.
    Man you are really dumb, how you compare a 5-star restaurant where it costs a couple 100 dollars to eat to 2 buck mcdonald is beyond me.

    You just won the stupid prize sir!

    Infracted
  1. mmoc5fa52a4c5c's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pacster View Post
    Ehm....öhm....nope. You stop doing it if it hurts your ego more than it buffs it. As long as you are on top of the food chain you will likely "enjoy" even the worst game of the planet...that's psychology. There are many, many, many people out there that still play WoW although they are not enjoying it more than 10% of their actual playtime(and those 10% are often chats with guildmates...so not even really part of the actual game).
    If we'd all only do what we like in WoW...hey...then the sentence of "Wow is dead" would truely fit. Just ask yourself how much fun you actually have running the same daily for the 10ths time...or lfr...or playing with 30 bots in AV. On a scale from 1-10 how much would you love doing all that if you had a level 1 nobody char and could just leave without of having to look bakc on the char you gave up?
    Don't fool yourself....

    It's the same crap that makes us collect such interesting stuff like...uhm..stamps(or 150000 other crazy things that are just collecting dust in some corner)...that we then hide in books and take a look at all 5 years just to see what a nice "achievement" we have there(and at times we find another dude that is trying to satisfy his ego in the same way and then we can compare and compete...yay....(or boooh....if we lose that competition that is. Got to try harder then...or find a different thing.)). ;-)
    I read your reply about 30 times and I still haven't a fucking clue what you are on about. I will put it down to your point being lost in translation and will leave it at that.
  1. mmoc5cdcc17479's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Drakesong View Post
    500 is a huge amount of players, considering it's only after 2 months of the release of the expansion.
    Whatever you are smoking hit me with some....2 months from september 25 is what? februari ? rightttt........
  1. mercutiouk's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Korthas View Post
    I don't think there is any doubt that WoW's popularity is waning. But the fact of the matter is that it is still the 900lb gorilla and at the current rate of decline it still will be for another year maybe two.

    Unless something big comes along to really siphon off users that is.
    About the most balanced comment.

    Wow's still the main player. You can stack numbers to work however you want. 500k is a huge dip in numbers (500,000). It's a decentish number in percentage (5%) it's still fairly small to whats left (9,600,000). You'll get morons on both sides of the fence trying to make it fit their argument but the balanced one is: "WoW is declining, very slowly. It's still got more legs left in it than everything that's come since and is still the biggest and most popular MMO on the market. It will continue to decline but it's a long way from dead and it would still be the biggest mmo if it dropped 50% in the next quarter."

    There's (again) mmo's on the horizon that might do it damage, it's likely that each one coming will swipe their small chunk of it's user base away to their game (elder scrolls, I'm looking at you). There's also, equal chance that while Blizz have it easy money is being saved that can be thrown at getting market share back once they have competition... who knows? I don't and tbh WoW IS getting to feel pretty old. It still has it's moments and I still don't begrudge my subs to keep playing.

    The bitter responses on either side are pretty damn petty. It's a fucking game, not something worth getting worked up about. When one is arguing so strongly over their favourite form of gaming entertainment it does say rather a lot about what else they have to worry about in life. It's like moronic football fans "it's not life and death, it's far more important" - it's a fucking team of (mostly) poorly educated, (mostly) self obsessed, overpaid morons kicking a ball around, hardly worth the vast attention it receives. I'd consider the level of obsession amongst some fans of each (football teams or favourite MMO) to be equally stupid.
  1. mmoc5cdcc17479's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by anti-wow View Post
    Like someone said: "WoW is still a good game, but lost its soul."

    During TBC for example, if your gear sucked you had to be a good player to get in a good group to finally get your hands in shiny purples.
    Now with Blizzard policy when everyone must access the new content it's like I do my aoe raids on LFR's and I'm not willing to do a proper raid.
    Yeap you are right inspecting someone looking for a color or ilvl/elite version etc is totally different........-.....-.-.-.-.
  1. Madruga's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by BIOWarfare View Post
    Daily's = Absolutely awful way too many, its like they thought the more they put in the more people would go wow its awesome you guys are great.

    LFR = Please god no. Stupidly high health on the lol fest. Barely any chance of wiping, its bored.com by the time your quarter of the way though their health, not to mention the totally stupid loot system that gives the same crap over and over again. Why not allow people to pass if they wish if they already have it to a random member of their class. And please introduce me to the person who came up with 28g 50s.......

    Realms = Moonglade for example is dying along with other realms what is the big deal in merging and shutting a few down. Lets not mention the stupid £15 charge to move one char I have 13 alts on my server why not do £15 per account at least its something. Oh and here's a finger Blizzard for giving Asia free transfers and free factions changes appreciate you value that customer base more.

    Valor Points = Insanely long time to cap which you will never do if you have a life and can't stand one more LFR.

    Dungeons = Not bad overall except for the Stormstout Brewery. What a stupid immature dungeon that is. It breaks the feel of the game to some childish rabbits and giant vegetables. The Bosses are just like they are appealing to a 5yr old child and I am not even going to start on the copyright of Kung Fu Panda along with stupid cutesy panda faces. What is the obsession with alcohol in this expansion?

    Valley of the Four Winds = Reeks of a game I would let my 6yr old play. Admit you went too far in trying to please and break into the Asian market that you set the game rating back to under 10`s.

    Talents = Good going on completely making it something a 2yr old could do and again dumbing it down.

    25m Raids = Why bother having a 25m version? 95% of 25m guilds are dead you killed them all ages ago, Kung Fu Panda I mean MOP just stamped on the grave some more.

    Pet Battles = Was pleasantly surprised, good job.

    Ghost form = Ugh admit you screwed up and give us back flying in ghost form or at least FIX THE DAMN THING SO WE CAN ACTUALLY REACH OUR CORPSES!

    Mass Summon = Come on seriously its time to give it back.

    Intro = Worst ever, that's the best you could do? Some panda chewing on a blade of grass like a cow?

    Cross Realm Zones = If I start on this I would never stop....

    Its not all bad, overall it is a decent expansion but Blizzard will never fix these things and it will continue to slide right now biggest irritation is the dead realms and lack of action.
    You really went as far as creating an account to bash the game? Guess you work for the competition?
  1. Curanhadin'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?
    I wouldnt really call that a defense, they stated the truth. I dont see the 500k being a big deal. The games close to 10 years old, Im sure its peaked never to reach Wrath like numbers again. Even at 3million it would still be hugely succesful and profitable, so it may be on the downhill side but its a very long hill.
  1. jazen's Avatar
    wow has been dying since vanilla....one of these days, the naysayers will be correct, and wow will die. Maybe next expansion. Anyone know how those 2 most recent 'wow killers' GW-2 and Star Wars are doing?
  1. Pacster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by stouthaggis View Post
    I read your reply about 30 times and I still haven't a fucking clue what you are on about. I will put it down to your point being lost in translation and will leave it at that.
    That's okay. I'm german and I studied that kind of stuff. So that's already 2 possible reasons why you may not understand it. ;-)
  1. Kelimbror's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Madruga View Post
    Oh god, so true. Thanks for posting that.
  1. Parrin's Avatar
    We'll probably see some changes due to the sub numbers for two reasons. One, Mike mentioned that most of the subs lost were from China, and Pandalia was intended to interest and attract them. Two, Oct-Dec is usually the peak quarter due to the holidays, while Apr-Jun is the low point because of summer vacation. It will decline a little more at that point.

    But Blizzard is one of the worst at over-reacting to shifts in the player base, and one of the best at small corrections to appease customers. They'll make some changes, fix a few of the most offensive parts, and the bleeding will slow for a while. They might even gain some subs next fall.
  1. quras's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Farora View Post
    500k is huge, especially considering the 10 million number is hugely inflated. The 500k loss has to be in Europe/US, so a big deal.
    Bingo! ^

    It's a bigger deal than most would think so shortly after the expansion release.

    They still have a money maker, the game is still doing well but I doubt it is as on track as they hoped it would be at this point.
  1. Gray_Matter's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by stouthaggis View Post
    WoW, on the other hand, is plagued with butthurt ex-subscribers who are so utterly anxious for Blizzard's world to burn that it has driven them nuts!
    That is called playing the man and not the ball. Why don't you try and discuss the points instead of hurling insults.
  1. ElvenArcher's Avatar
    I have characters on Medivh (my 7 year server) and it's a ghost town. Horde side has like 100 active players and Alliance has maybe a few hundred considering the difficulty of getting a simple sha group together or an every day raid for old/new raids.

    9.6 million active players? I seriously doubt it.
  1. MuteTV's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jtbrig7390 View Post
    Funny because wrath never took a sub hit. The subs did not start dropping until cata released and it sold over 3million copy's at its release.

    At the start of MOP "not counting release" MOP has already lost 400k subs there is a good chance now that threw the rest of mops life it will lose more subs.

    Personally I feel wow will have 8 million or less subs at the end of MOP if it keeps up this rate it will be a lot more.


    What I find funny is that people where blaming the sub drops at the end of CATA due to no new content for so long and yet this early in MOP's life when there is a decent amount of content and just recently released raids there is 50% drop to what cata had in 4.3

    People can over look it if they want but WOW has finally reached that point where they milked the MMORPG market and people are leaving.

    Now will WOW die I personally say no but it will get to a point "and it started in CATA" that where will lose subs until it lowers to a base number and sits around it for quite some time.

    "Before anymore comments about WOTLK WOTLK had the most high sub count in WOW history and even with ICC being out a year still got 500k subs at the end of it"

    The Difference in WOW then and NOW with subs is that any sub that left back then 2 took its place and now for every sub that mite come in 2 are leaving.


    To be clear once more there was no noticeable SUB lose in WOTLK it started with CATA.

    Don't believe me google the sub reports and see for yourself.
    This is just all wrong.

    You're the one who needs to read sub reports. Also, if you want people to take you seriously, learn to spell and use grammar.
  1. Anjerith's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ElvenArcher View Post
    I have characters on Medivh (my 7 year server) and it's a ghost town. Horde side has like 100 active players and Alliance has maybe a few hundred considering the difficulty of getting a simple sha group together or an every day raid for old/new raids.

    9.6 million active players? I seriously doubt it.
    Since you have no way of knowing who is or isn't playing on your server, your view of "maybe a few hundred players" could very easily be 1,000 players.

    I mean, do I really need to go further than your pugging a Sha group? Get a Guild and watch your problems disappear.
  1. MasterHamster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ElvenArcher View Post
    I have characters on Medivh (my 7 year server) and it's a ghost town. Horde side has like 100 active players and Alliance has maybe a few hundred considering the difficulty of getting a simple sha group together or an every day raid for old/new raids.

    9.6 million active players? I seriously doubt it.
    You're free to look up how Blizzard counts their subscribers. Same as it has always been.
    Active players or not, as long as they are able to log in and play they count as an active sub.

    What you'd want to know is total gametime, and no one here can possibly know that. Well you could use Xfire if you're desperate. Though its sampling doesn't really say anything.
  1. mmoc87644b5262's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Madruga View Post
    You really went as far as creating an account to bash the game? Guess you work for the competition?

    Join Date
    2011-01-25

    Learn to read. Just for your benefit I think WOW has no competition strong enough to take it on at this time also I think its the best MMO out there. Putting my views across on what I think is wrong with the game in relation to subs lost.
  1. MasterHamster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by BIOWarfare View Post
    Join Date
    2011-01-25

    Learn to read.
    Perhaps he looked at username and post count.
    Besides, your earlier post was nothing but a flashback to MoP announcement complaints about Kung Fu Pandas and "dumbed down" systems.
    But it's true! You can't really f--k up in the new talent system. And why is that a bad thing? Because "doing it correctly" before was nothing but copying someone elses mathematically calculated "generally best" spec and forgetting it. Where's the skill in that? Atleast the new system lets you change talents to adapt to encounters, something you sure couldn't earlier, unless you think changing one talent to something else counted as adapting. Though of course, no one ever did.

    Watch heroic raiders switch talents and sometimes glyph before an encounter, it's sweet. This is what the system should've been.
  1. mmoc87644b5262's Avatar
    I swap talents on most bosses but wish there were more choices.

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