WoW Stable at 10.2 Million Subscribers

[Zatheyll]

People are all happy about the 10.2 million, but they lost over 1.8 due to incompetence. 10.2 is a great number given there isn't any competition out there yea, but what about those lost between the cracks due to the casuals/hardcore catering? @____@

People don't just leave because of incompetence. People leave because they have something else taking their interest or they got bored of a game they have been playing for years.

Don't just say the subscriber base is falling because Blizzard isn't doing their best at keeping them. Blizzard could do everything they could and people would still leave if they got tired of it.

[RyanEX]

oh, this and the anime-inspired female panda dance is making the hates just writhe in anger.

suffer haters, as your pathetic reasoning...beeeeeeeetttttttrrrrrraaaayyyyyyyyssssssss yyyyooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!

[Queen of Hamsters]

That 10.2 number is such BS. If you include all kinds of tricks like include semi active chinese accounts you can maybe get to that number but really. All PR bullshit.

Someone's mad!

Paying subs are paying subs, no matter what country they're in. Or do you count Chinese people as less worthy? They wouldn't be able to lie in this since it would both risk their reputation and their credibility.

[Zatheyll]

Not entirely. If I'm an investor or board member, I don't want the company or management to be 'cooking the books' so that the numbers look good. I want to know what the prospects for revenue from the property actually are. From that perspective, something like the Annual Pass can be a mixed bag. It's good because it locks in revenue and gives the customer added value, but potentially bad because it's costing the company future revenue (D3 purchases) in order to make the numbers look good right now. Similarly, if the purpose of the Scroll of Resurrection (and accompanying free 80) is to bring lapsed subscribers back into the fold and get them playing again, that's excellent. If, on the other tentacle, the Blizzard management team has no good-faith belief that the SoR will actually increase long-term subs and they're just trying to make the numbers look good before the Q1 review, it's arguably deception and misrepresentation.

Investors don't give a shit what Blizzard does to get their money as long as the quarterly reports look good.

[kerfanna]

Pre-orders for Diablo 3 have set a new record for Blizzard. This number includes units pre-ordered as part of the Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital pre-orders.

Seriously? They count 1-1.5 million copies they have to give away for nothing and add that into the figure they call sales? Am i alone in thinking that is all manner of wrong? I know Diablo 3 will be huge and sell alot of copies but that to me seems beyond sketchy.

They didn't call those sales, they called them Pre-Orders. I could walk in to Gamestop right now with $20 and pre-order 4 games. If I never paid for the rest of them or came in to pick them up would they still count as Pre-Orders? Yes.

[Athinah]

By that time Mists of Pandaria will already be out and close to 5.1 and they might have another AP deal.

I doubt they will do another AP, at least not one like this. If they do another (maybe SC) they won't add a beta to it. Also while MoP will already be out, i'm using my AP as a trail. I have been upset with how blizzard has been treating the lore lately (especially alliance) so after my AP is done I will survey how I feel about the current state and then make a decision. This of course is if there has been any major patches, that is what i'm really worried about the war between the alliance and the horde.

[mordale]

What is their main competitor anyways?

SWtOR is at 1.3 million subscribers.
Rift is somewhere below one million last I heard.
Not sure where Aion is but they -might- be above 1 million because of the Asian market?
Not sure how many boxes TERA has sold.

aion went FTP.

[iceberg265]

Oh, so exactly what TOR did with there free month. Convenience indeed. To bad one game is 7+ years old, and one is not six months old yet.

Free month was AFTER the end of their quarter, it was not included in the last report. Neither was patch 1.2.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Low IQ detected!! Warning! Fact: AP was counted into the subscribes? It was..No hating, pure fact...AP subscribers means active players? Of course not (Still, the number if subscribers is standing...no doubt about that..but on my server (Arathor EU)whole guilds moved from Horde to Alliance, because of the lack of playerbase, my guild struggling to make any 10 man run anywhere at least 1-2 times/week due the lack of players....No hating in this, just simple facts..I don`t know how the things going on other servers, but on arathor shitloads of ppl went away and waiting for MoP..DS was fking boring a month ago and to stay on that for another few months....dunno what blizz thinks..Personally i was not online in the last 3 weeks more than 10-20 mins/week, because it`s pointless...) But D3 is on it`s way sooooon and GW2 too...so who the hell cares?

Not sure what you're trying to say really...you're tired of WoW and moving on to other games?

Well what's the problem then?

I'm NOT tired of WoW, I still play other games as well (going for D3 and GW2 on the side) and I have so many reasons to logon to WoW that it's almost funny, despite having been in DS so much and all that jazz.

AP = subscribers, they would most likely have been included anyways. Saying otherwise is just moronic.

[Zatheyll]

I doubt they will do another AP, at least not one like this. If they do another (maybe SC) they won't add a beta to it. Also while MoP will already be out, i'm using my AP as a trail. I have been upset with how blizzard has been treating the lore lately (especially alliance) so after my AP is done I will survey how I feel about the current state and then make a decision. This of course is if there has been any major patches, that is what i'm really worried about the war between the alliance and the horde.

They could easily add the Blizzard DOTA beta to it.

From what I have seen how Blizzard is handling lore in MoP, especially how it noticeably progresses each patch, I think it will turn out amazing.

[Farora]

Someone's mad!

Paying subs are paying subs, no matter what country they're in. Or do you count Chinese people as less worthy? They wouldn't be able to lie in this since it would both risk their reputation and their credibility.

I'm not mad. I just think it's silly Blizzard can get away with throwing this number around. My comment wasn't about the nationality but about the fact that iirc people don't even subscribe to wow there. There are many ways to inflate a number without technically lying.

[Steeldragon]

And about brazilian numbers? I'm curious to see how many people started to play after blizzard came to Brazil.

[Paulosio]

I am not suprised that WoW is stable with the annual pass + Scroll, but will it stay like this with so much DS?

I expect it to climb quite a bit when mists comes out then after a few months it will drop back down to similair levels that we have now and all the trolls will come out and use this as evidence of wow dying.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Blizzard just keep running over the opposition, I was expecting loses this time around until MoP was available then expected a rise again, to keep a steady flow of subscribers over these past months is incredible considering it's had to deal with TOR's release....I wonder if MoP can lift the numbers to 11m later this year.

Most ToR subs lost were never really lost because they overlaped with active WoW subscriptions. People went to ToR, played througgh the story content and got bored with endgame, and returned to their active WoW subscription. While surely they lost some subs, the number is certainly not the whole 2 mil they've got at the moment.

Also ToR, like GW2, was hyped way to much (GW2 is not subscription based though, which makes the hype Ok and certainly not a Wow-Killer). While ToR still does ok it just doesn't have to lazy masses that constantly complain but are afraid to move on. There is almost no way to make a western MMO that could get to 10+ mil people, hell, even WoW didn't do it at launch. Most MMO's just never get the chance to evolve like WoW did.

[RyanEX]

It is my first time posting here ever, idk if you can check but if you can go ahead Im not lying, anyway I wanted to just say a couple things.

First I am also on the annual pass yet I quit WoW not too long after I got it. A year long commitment to a game like WoW is too long to foresee sticking around without any doubt at all throughout that time. I guarantee you if they added a option to cancel the annual pass, many people would do it. Sure you were playing at the tie, like myself, but people get bored, stuff happens, and you end up quitting when you thought you wouldn't. Just because in your case you are still playing even after getting the annual pass, then good job to you, but to apply your situation to every person who got the annual pass is idiotic. Many people would cancel it if given the choice, just the same as many people have been loving having the annual pass.

Second, I am neither a ayer or nayer when it comes to blizz subs, be realistic, just because subs stabled out this quarter from last quarter doesn't mean the game is all peachy. Being realistic, alot of people are stuck with the annual pass who would happily cancel it given the choice, and the new scroll of rez is extremely enticing. Looking at the way we are as humans, even if someone has ANY thought of perhaps coming back to the game at all in the future, then an investment now by getting these "promotions" is a good thing and will be gotten regardless or not you actively play or not. Do I care if WoW stabilizes or not? not really, I am just realistic when it comes to these numbers. If you turn a blind eye at blizz's promotions to get subs up for the quarter review then you are simply pledging ignorance at the facts. Blizz plumps the numbers up, and while it is idiotic, even people who don't actively play, will still reach for those moutns, we all know how tempting a shiny mount is, sparkle pony is a great example, sounded and looked great for the first 10 minutes, enough to make you get it but then after the ooo shiny moment it just looked massively retarded.

For the conclusion, guild wars 2, nough said.

Guild Wars 2 forums are thataway new guy.

Oh, and it'll be on your head, and people like you, when GW2 doesn't perform as well as it should because people who don't know how different it aims to be from WoW try it, hate it, and scare away others with negative publicity.

[Kaneiac]

Free month was AFTER the end of their quarter, it was not included in the last report. Neither was patch 1.2.

Actually, the release on Shareholders states their sub count was from the end of April. Meaning it'd come after the 38 country launch, the free month & 1.2 launch.

Besides, the dude he was quoting wasn't even saying anything about that. He was saying Blizzard is having to "play dirty" to keep subs, when ToR went ahead and gave a free month to people who managed to stay committed enough to play their fucking game. Incentives and business ploys aren't a new concept. Businesses do this all the time, what do you think sales are?

[Deleted]

new free to play game and mmorpg? nice.
also the black ops 2 trailer looked good, never played CoD before other than blackops with some friends in xbox to waste time during sleepover but i might pick it up,

also just saw skylander in Game shop about a week ago and it looks tempting, no wonder its gonna be worth $1Billion soon.

[Darksoldierr]

I dont get people, why do they keep attacking Blizzard? 10.2 million paying subscriber is frickin alot.

"But they dont play" From a buisniess perspective, they couldn't care less, and with the positive feedback from MoP x% of them can play again.
"But preordering D3 dosen't count for sales" If they keep with the agreement, paying WoW for a year is loooooot better than just outright buying D3.

If you hatin WoW, fine but dont make yourself look retarded. WoW is fine.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Nope. Or maybe, do you think Farmville is an interesting game? Would you depict Wii Sports as a great game? Hey, many people play it! Do you want gaming to go that way? Really? HEll, do you even consider this gaming? How can you agree with all the damage Blizzard is doing, and has done to the MMO genre ?

Also, how exactly are people sub'ing correlative to people enjoying the game? I don't enjoy the game. I'm subbed for many reasons including addiction, friends, lack of any alternative, and the fact I have no choice but to farm gear to prepare for the only thing I enjoy in the game aka progression raiding and soloing. All of these reasons are very, very far from enjoying the game.

Seriously, so I can't say that this is a great game without you coming and saying that this is not the case, that this game is going to become the same as other popular games because it is popular...? What on earth makes your mind make the connection that WoW could ever become like Wii sports or Farmville? I don't play those games, I play WoW because it appeals to me, those games do not. What's the issue here, what's the clash that makes your mind make these connections?

If you do not enjoy the game, if others keep paying but do not enjoy the game, then I am sorry to say that you are fools, the lot of you. Blaming it on addiction (laughable) or that you have no choice is just...beyond sane. If you do not enjoy the game, unsub and never look back. That's what I have done with countless of games in the past. There's plenty of alternatives as well, they're just not AS GOOD or they're not even mmorpgs. That's that.

One can assume that the majority of players that keep to pay for a game, enjoy it. Trying to make YOUR part of the spectrum out to be the majority would just be laughing stock.

[Kelathos]

Hey guys... how 'about that pipeline?

They should use it more.