WoW Down to 7.6 Million Subscribers

It'll be up and over 10 million when WoD launches.

I stopped playing wow a few months ago, not because I hate it or anything, I just got bored, I did all the content, got all the gear, this is my expansion break I guess, I already have WoD on pre-order and will play the hell out of it when it comes out, but my current job has a fixed schedule so I can not play as much as I would like

Originally Posted by Happysocks

Yep I quit in January, bye bye WoW....

Well, thank all the deities that you were still hanging around a WoW forum to let us all know this vital and all-consuming fact.

Its nice to see that this game still has a lot of players. As "a vanilla player" i don't enjoy the game any more. To casual and missing its "where to start my journey effect". It has changed to much. But a lot of people still enjoy the game. And thats a good thing.

Perhaps WOD will bring back the element of surprise and journey feeling with "no flying mounts and a separate LFR and Normal raid." After all these are things that go back to the roots of the game

WOD has to give us this feeling when killing a boss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...S1d7Igy4#t=295

Cheers all

Other MMOs have dramatic drops in server population / subscriptions. WoW does not. Look at the graph.
200k of 7.8M is 2.5 subscribers out of 100 - that's about the amount of people who died in that time period. Individually sad, but overall it's statistics and not dramatic.
If they continue like this, they'd lose 2.5% per quarter = 10% per year and be down at 2.7M in another 10 years. Still better than most other MMOs today.
And 7.6m subscribers is over 100M USD (I know not all subscribers pay $15, but EU players pay €12.99. That's $18). Per month.
That's 1.2B per year. Revenue from other in-game services not included.
1.2B is not "dead". There are "WoW-killers" out there that are not even close to 7.8M players and/or 1.2B annual revenue and will probably never be.

Almost all "wow-killers" have either filled a small and/or temporary niche (e.g. The Secret World) and/or have gone "f2p" - most of them in less than 24 months, others waited until it was too late (e.g. SWTOR). In over 9 years there has never been a MMO that got even close to WoW and there's nothing on the horizon today: Wildstar is super cool, yet over-hyped and from what I saw while playing the beta it's creating its own audience. I'd be very surprised if it hits 5M anytime soon and even more surprised if it's a threat to WoW. Archage is in its niche before release and not a threat - what else is there? GW2? RIFT? TSW? SWOTR? I don't think so.

The graph about early and late adopters may be right - but so what? WoW is not a new game. This is not a secret.
The player base may slowly decrease. But when do we get to the level where WoW is the #2 mmo? one, two, three more xpacs?
I don't think WoW is ever going to be killed by another MMO. MOBAs turned out to be far more dangerous in terms of competition.
Actually, I believe the only company that can kill WoW is Blizzard itself. We will see.

Until then: If you don't like WoW, don't play it. That's fine. If you don't want to be there, the WoW players probably don't want you there anyway.

Maybe if they didnt use subscribers money on making motorbikes things would look different

Originally Posted by wotscheints

Until then: If you don't like WoW, don't play it. That's fine. If you don't want to be there, the WoW players probably don't want you there anyway.

Bullshit. People want more people there. And so does Blizzard. People make the game and people leaving the game is not for the good of the game. Otherwise it wouldn't be where it is today. If you think anything else, you're stupid.

A decline, whether slow or fast is never good. The decline might be gradually now but if Blizzard drops the ball that decline might turn into a fast decline. Just because it's a gradual decline, doesn't mean it cannot become a fast decline. WoW really needs this next expansion. It's no surprise to me they take Outland as a location because Outland was the expansion that got WoW big in a steady upwards spiral.

If they'd come up with anything lame right now they'd have no chance of succeeding. Outland is also meant to trigger former players that have enjoyed that expansion. Blizzard's goal is always to target an audience as large as possible. We need casuals, hardcore raiders, profession hunters, pet players, pvpers, achievement freaks, etc. The game needs all these aspects to remain big.

It's fine if you're not going to miss this people that left but it's a lie if you're going to say that the WoW players probably don't want them there. Every player pays, every player makes the game what it is.

Staying flat for a whole year? Pretty dang good for an old junker.

Originally Posted by DanskenV

Maybe if they didnt use subscribers money on making motorbikes things would look different

To be fair, they are using the money to make the bikes so that we can then in turn buy the bikes...

Also in all honesty, Wow isn't "Down" to 7.6mil..it is back to 7.6mil, it is still higher than Vanilla, the people that left are most likely the people that joined late BC early wrath, the bandwagon folk, those are the ones that join every other game and then come right back.

I'm probably beating a dead horse but I feel they need to really kick-up the graphics a little. WoW, despite it's updates, looks like absolute ass compared to something like GW2 or TERA.
Yes I'm aware that a large chunk of people are playing WoW on toaster-level computers/laptops, but there's where optimization comes in so they will be able to smoothly run on the lowest settings. Meanwhile high-end PC owners should be able to crank things up over 9000 and have a gorgeous looking modern-era MMO.

Originally Posted by Xuvial

I'm probably beating a dead horse but I feel they need to really kick-up the graphics a little. WoW, despite it's updates, looks like absolute ass compared to something like GW2 or TERA.
Yes I'm aware that a large chunk of people are playing WoW on toaster-level computers/laptops, but there's where optimization comes in so they will be able to smoothly run on the lowest settings. Meanwhile high-end PC owners should be able to crank things up over 9000 and have a gorgeous looking modern-era MMO.

It's not just a flick of a switch to turn WoW into a high polygon world, besides it doesn't take high definition graphics to make a great game.

Originally Posted by Xuvial

I'm probably beating a dead horse but I feel they need to really kick-up the graphics a little. WoW, despite it's updates, looks like absolute ass compared to something like GW2 or TERA.
Yes I'm aware that a large chunk of people are playing WoW on toaster-level computers/laptops, but there's where optimization comes in so they will be able to smoothly run on the lowest settings. Meanwhile high-end PC owners should be able to crank things up over 9000 and have a gorgeous looking modern-era MMO.

I think the graphics are fine, bigger problems exist such as the joke pvp balance, huge gaps between content, dailies in replace of fresh content, mop pandas and pokemon battle, etc. the devs are wasting time on stupid things and take a long time doing so

Originally Posted by Farora

When 0 people are actually playing Wow the PR number will be around 4 million subscriptions I bet.

Lying to shareholders is a federal crime, then again if you're that dumb you probably think that Blizzard would actually commit a major felony just for the "evil" of it.

Originally Posted by thejm

I think the graphics are fine, bigger problems exist such as the joke pvp balance, huge gaps between content, dailies in replace of fresh content, mop pandas and pokemon battle, etc. the devs are wasting time on stupid things and take a long time doing so

The graphics are NOT fine if they are hoping to attract new players - that aren't totally burned out on WoW and it's many failings; itching for something else that's not WoW.

WoW's graphics is just slightly better than the PS2. So much modern technology (and so many basic features) that are common place in newer MMOs are completely absence in WoW.

Still no HDR, tech that was available on the ps3/360. Polygon count is a joke as is the view distance.

Day/night cycle is broken in WoW when other games have dynamic days, nights, afternoons, evenings and everything in between - seriously, you could see the shadows of trees move as the day progresses (70 mins = 24 hours in-game) in FFXIV; their mornings, noons, afternoons and evenings actually look like it.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by frymastermeat

Lying to shareholders is a federal crime, then again if you're that dumb you probably think that Blizzard would actually commit a major felony just for the "evil" of it.

That said, I wonder what the real subscription numbers are.

Subscriber Definition: 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 freemonth 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.

Safe to say those "Internet Game Room" people don't pay a subscription nor use prepaid cards - else they would be included in those categories.

Subtract those players, what are the numbers then ... ?

Also notice the "individuals who have an active prepaid game card" are counted as subscribers. How many people would there be who no longer play with a prepaid card in their drawer with a couple of bucks on it. I agree that even when there is noone left playing WoW their subscription numbers will still show 2-3 million. Pretty deceptive.

Smaller drop than I was expecting.

Originally Posted by SodiumChloride

The graphics are NOT fine if they are hoping to attract new players - that aren't totally burned out on WoW and it's many failings; itching for something else that's not WoW.

WoW's graphics is just slightly better than the PS2. So much modern technology (and so many basic features) that are common place in newer MMOs are completely absence in WoW.

Still no HDR, tech that was available on the ps3/360. Polygon count is a joke as is the view distance.

Personal opinion, but a lot of those features in newer MMORPG's are still unprofessional and slapped in due to the "freshness". HDR is also misused so much even by main-stream titles, almost always over blown. I think it could be added to WoW, although most newer technology doesn't fit the art style.

Originally Posted by Sil

Bullshit. People want more people there. And so does Blizzard. People make the game and people leaving the game is not for the good of the game. Otherwise it wouldn't be where it is today. If you think anything else, you're stupid.

A decline, whether slow or fast is never good. The decline might be gradually now but if Blizzard drops the ball that decline might turn into a fast decline. Just because it's a gradual decline, doesn't mean it cannot become a fast decline. WoW really needs this next expansion. It's no surprise to me they take Outland as a location because Outland was the expansion that got WoW big in a steady upwards spiral.

If they'd come up with anything lame right now they'd have no chance of succeeding. Outland is also meant to trigger former players that have enjoyed that expansion. Blizzard's goal is always to target an audience as large as possible. We need casuals, hardcore raiders, profession hunters, pet players, pvpers, achievement freaks, etc. The game needs all these aspects to remain big.

It's fine if you're not going to miss this people that left but it's a lie if you're going to say that the WoW players probably don't want them there. Every player pays, every player makes the game what it is.

People want people that want to be in the game, so no, it's not bull as you so eloquently said.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Xuvial

I'm probably beating a dead horse but I feel they need to really kick-up the graphics a little. WoW, despite it's updates, looks like absolute ass compared to something like GW2 or TERA.
Yes I'm aware that a large chunk of people are playing WoW on toaster-level computers/laptops, but there's where optimization comes in so they will be able to smoothly run on the lowest settings. Meanwhile high-end PC owners should be able to crank things up over 9000 and have a gorgeous looking modern-era MMO.

I do agree but Wow has never been about the graphics and never will be. Blizz themselves said that their games never were about the graphics although they try to improve them.
I loved how GW2 looked btw, gorgeous game, too bad the gameplay wasn't too my liking. Graphics isn't everything, well, not for everyone.

Originally Posted by Aerisot

To be fair, they are using the money to make the bikes so that we can then in turn buy the bikes...

Also in all honesty, Wow isn't "Down" to 7.6mil..it is back to 7.6mil, it is still higher than Vanilla, the people that left are most likely the people that joined late BC early wrath, the bandwagon folk, those are the ones that join every other game and then come right back.

WoWs graphics are beautiful. A ton of people dont even care about graphics. If they did, LoL wouldn't be so popular.

This looks on par with something like swtor imo, and I actually think it looks better than the oil painted look of gw2.

Down to 7,599,999.

I just unsubscribed until 6.0/WoD due to guild fatigue.

Impressive that they only lost around 200k people. I wish I could see the numbers between now and right before the release of WoD.