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WoW Down to 7.7 Million Subscribers
Activision Blizzard's press release states that World of Warcraft is down to 7.7 million subscribers. This is a loss of 600,000 subscribers, down from 8.3 million last quarter. A call about the shares purchase will take place on July 26 at 8:30 AM ET, so check back then for any more comments on subscriber numbers. The regular earnings call will take place on Thursday, August 2nd.


Activision Blizzard Purchases Shares From Vivendi
Activision Blizzard is purchasing 429 million shares from Vivendi for $5.8 billion. This purchase is financed with $1.2 billion of cash that was on hand and $4.6 billion of debt proceeds, leaving them with a $1.4 billion of net debt at the end of the deal in September 2013.

An investment group that includes Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly, who put up $100 million together, as well as Tencent and other partners is purchasing 172 million shares for $2.3 billion. This group will own 24.9% of the company and Vivendi will retain ownership of 83 million shares (12%) of the company.
This article was originally published in forum thread: WoW Down to 7.7 Million Subscribers, Activision Blizzard Purchases Vivendi's Shares started by chaud View original post
Comments 445 Comments
  1. Ealyssa's Avatar
    Bad news for blizzard, Bobby Kotick will now have power over them (wich he never had, before. No matter what "it's activision fault" people keep saying).
  1. Korru's Avatar
    So does that mean that BOBBY has more control of A-B now?
  1. Farora's Avatar
    I wonder how many subs are left in EU and the US. 2 million?
  1. mmocb78ce50268's Avatar
    This numbers are normal when you just keep ruining the game
  1. mmoc0afa19944f's Avatar
    Just a little bit more gameplay bad decisions and I`m too about to leave.
  1. mmocac05adb153's Avatar
    That is a big drop compared to my favorite WoW time which was WotLK. Wasn't there 11m subs back then? Now its 7 million? That´s kind of a big drop but I noticed that the most subs were lost after Cata.

    I think that the whole engine of WoW is simply outdated and no one wants to play with graphics and models from 2004. A fresh start in terms of engine would be a great idea to be able to compete with the recent MMO´s.

    I can still remember when I still played WoW and AION got released and I first played it. I was shocked at how much better the whole textures, models and graphics looked compared to WoW and that was in 2008 !! Now we have 2013 and there is still this shitty old engine in WoW.
  1. mmoce11cf2961b's Avatar
    So, 6.6 million subscribers paying £8 per month or so = £50 million per month, give or take. Sucks to have such poor sales...

    But yes, as much as they try it's hard to keep a game fresh for so long and even doing old content I can't help but be impressed by the variety and look of old armour sets compared to the new generic, uninventive stuff. I think they'll keep milking it as long as they can, even with just a million subscribers that's still a hell of a lot of income for a relatively cheap to run business with little material cost.
  1. mmoccc4376379e's Avatar
    Its funny how many people here say that Blizzard is ruining the game and making bad decisions.
    I'm playing the game since Vanilla and i have to say that when i look back that the game today is gameplay wise way better then before.
    Loosing subs is just a normal process as people move on. The gaming market got incredibly huge in the last years and now with much more modern approaches of online gaming like LOL, DOTA2 and of course a lot of f2p mmo games it's no surprise that this is happening. I'm not sure what some of you people are expecting. Regaining subs with such an old game is just not realistic in my opinion. The subs will of course go down more and more over the years.
  1. Sousoulsu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by alkyd View Post
    There are many factors to consider the sub drop. It's not only about Blizzard's management of the game. Other factors such as demographics, financial and economical status of gamers and the country they live in, employment, social aspects etc. The world today is quite different when it was in 2004. Unemployement rates are higher and many simply cannot afford to pay for the game, others get older, get married and go on with their lives.

    May be you guys should be thankful that if it wasn't for Blizzard, the game would have been dead by now and subscriber loss would have been much higher per quarter.
    As people "move on with their lives", isn't it conspicuous that no new players are filling their places?

    Anybody who does start up with WoW blows through leveling, heroics, and LFR - then they have the perception that they've done everything the game has to offer, are thoroughly unimpressed, and quit - and that's just what happens with people who bother paying to get all the expansions on top of the monthly fee.

    WoW is losing its grip - and Blizzard is hastening its decline.
    Quote Originally Posted by ph4rmacy View Post
    Its funny how many people here say that Blizzard is ruining the game and making bad decisions.
    I'm playing the game since Vanilla and i have to say that when i look back that the game today is gameplay wise way better then before.
    Loosing subs is just a normal process as people move on. The gaming market got incredibly huge in the last years and now with much more modern approaches of online gaming like LOL, DOTA2 and of course a lot of f2p mmo games it's no surprise that this is happening. I'm not sure what some of you people are expecting. Regaining subs with such an old game is just not realistic in my opinion. The subs will of course go down more and more over the years.
    People who have played since launch are out of touch with why people are complaining unless they think about it.
    The game is way better now than when it came out in a lot of ways - but it's gotten way worse in retaining players.
    By making everything super-accessible, there's absolutely no drive for anybody to improve at the game, try new things, learn more about the world, or spend time in it.

    The way Blizzard has it set up, any sense of community has been crushed.
    If new players coming into the game have the perception that they've beaten the current tier's last boss and now have to wait 3-4 months before the next one comes out, they get bored -really- fast - and drop the game; unlikely to ever return.

    By making a grab at the lowest common denominator, Blizzard killed the sustainability WoW kept for so long - and the subs show it.
  1. mmocab10f6a31f's Avatar
    7,7 after all these years what mmo can say that to? 0
  1. Guldur's Avatar
    A sack of rice fell over in China! This first sentence is directed at all the whingers. Sub number drop who cares. Buying shares back, no more Vivendi influence, makes me a happy panda. (Excuse the bad pun)
  1. Ken_Silver's Avatar
    At the end of the day, it's not the gameplay that is killing WoW... it's the graphics. It's a 2004 year old dinosaur. "WoW Clones" and more innovative games have been chipping at WoW for the last few years. Add on top of that, that WoW cannot change its overall gameplay (which has been adapted many, many times )the graphics are getting older and that the original fanbase is getting older and can't find the time to play... it begins to add up. You can play a WoW-like game with better graphics, or play a whole new game altogether. Why would a fresh, young kid play WoW over something that looks better and plays pretty close to the same? Add on top of that the critical hit to subscription MMOs (The other option to WoW you like is F2P) and this... is just natural progression.
  1. Crovyn's Avatar
    This is about the number of subscribers during BC. Does this mean the good old tiems are coming back? Legion for next XPAC would make it perfect.

    But seriously: People who talk about free to play need to gain some perpective: WOW loses more subscribers than other games (p2p or f2p) ever had and STILL has 7.7. million subscibers. More than any other. it is still by far the most successful MMO. As long as they don't drop to 1 million (a number others would kill for) there is no need to think about f2p.
  1. mmoc3b1dfad2aa's Avatar
    WoW was a compelling game to play since vanilla to Panda's, but I've exhausted my interest in the genre now. I doubt I'll grind through another game the same way with the same enthusiasm as I did with World Of Warcraft.

    Although it's unlikely (now I have found other things to do with my hours that I would of spent playing WoW) but I can't rule out a return to see end game Panda's or the new expac.

    There's a lot of "I" and "me" but this is not uncommon for people leaving the game after 500+days playtime since it's release.....not many games can claim that much life from a person.

    It's still an excellent game - The issue Blizzard has is that it's not recruiting enough new (or returning) subscribers to replace those that are leaving and it's not hard to believe that will continue at the rate it is until the new expac is released, which (as we know) will see a small boost for a quarter to two, followed by more drops.

    PS: 7.7million subscribers is still huge, the revenue is huge - whilst it still makes 'easy' money they will continue to patch it and expand it.
  1. flavie's Avatar
    many will be back with 5.4 and then some will unsub again after that till the next xpac. Natural cycle of wow i guess, more unstable than few years back
  1. mmoc664e732ce0's Avatar
    7.7? Thought it was like 2 mill left o0
  1. mmoc11e8dbe511's Avatar
    They need a type of incentive to get players BACK into the game.
    Maybe like a free month if you buy a month or something like that.
  1. Leothas's Avatar
    Without having any idea what I'm talking about is true, I wish for Blizzard to stand on its own - not a part of Activision.

    This is purely based on the fact that Activision ruined a great game like Call of Duty to make a money machine out of it, so I don't see why they would not try the same on WoW to earn as mush as possible.

    I wish for this game to go back to the model in TBC / WotLK something inbetween then - I don't care if not all saw every bit of content - it simply made the game feel infinite to me that I had not cleared everything. - And this feeling kept me playing. Now I feel like i have to wait a long time between each patch to get further in the game, which does not feel rewarding at all.
  1. Avellon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Renegade View Post
    No it won't, Blizz is only making two more expansion's, one for 90-95 and the last for 95-100.
    Damn, lemme borrow that crystal ball of yours sometime!
  1. mmoccec923c778's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Solzan Nemesis View Post
    I am waiting on the thread that blames the cosmetic helms for this lol.
    Oh god, I was skimming through the posts looking for a post about it, haha!

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