WoW Down to 7.7 Million Subscribers, Activision Blizzard Purchases Vivendi's Shares

[Tidehoof]

Not surprised. I think they are suffering due to the child like nature of this expansion.

[carnifex2005]

Frankly this isn't all because of MoP (but that didn't help) but because for the first time in a long time WoW is starting to show it's age and limitations. There is also the death by 1000 cuts as well since there are now a lot of very good MMO's out and more in the near horizon that now can be said are "next gen". That wasn't the case when Wrath or even when Cata was out.

[twh]

Not surprised. I think they are suffering due to the child like nature of this expansion.

It's child-like? Hmm...doesn't feel that way to me. I guess the pet battle crap could be childish...but i'm not forced to do it so I don't.

[tyrindor]

When will people realize sub drop is nothing new. It's near the end of an expansion. It will skyrocket again next expansion, then slowly drop off over the course of that one too. It has done this every single expansion...

People get the game back, get bored and take breaks. The game isn't dying (even if those sub drops were perm, 7.7m is like 7m more than any other sub MMO)...

[lazzy]

Ok, dunno where you get you data...but hardcore players are the minority and always have been. If blizz could choose to lose ALL the hardcore players but retain ALL the casual players, they would be in a much better position.

You're missing a major point.

If the game becomes so easy (which it has) casuals will be able to be done with the content fast.

Why play after you've cleared all the content?

I don't consider myself hardcore or casual i'm kind of in between. I can tell you without batting a eye i can come back every patch and can be done with all the new content they put out within 3-5 hours did you see what i said 3-5 hours that's CRAZY. I am excluding that joke patch Isle of thunder, dailys as content that's a laugh on its own. They've just made everything so easy to obtain. There is absolutely no point to keep playing for me after i do this.

Back in BC the game wasn't super damn hard but it was a lot harder. I enjoyed playing the entire xpac I saw every raid, i did every boss outside Illadin. I was not mad that i didn't see Illadin, i don't know where this "Let people see content" thing came from. If you're just handed the content than there is no sense of accomplishment. The heroics were challenging enough to make the casual players feel like they accomplished something clearing a heroic for a epic off the last boss was very rewarding.

I hate to break it to you but people are greedy, they want to do things for themselves, that's what the feeling of accomplishment does for people. If you're clearing all this content and don't get the feeling that "I did this I'm a God" than you don't got a very good game anymore.

[ihyln]

only 600k loss? Ghostcrawler is clearly doing his job!

[BrerBear]

guild wars 2 have 2-3 million logging in every day to play, yeah it's not subscriptions but it is quite abit, and sub based MMO's are far and few between now really.

Is there a source for that? I liketo follow the VG business, but I havent't seen evidence of a number that high. Last I had seen was that GW2 total sales had hit 3 million, not daily logins.

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Sinking ship for both stock owners and WoW fanboys

The stock is up massively on this news today. Try again.

[ngc2440]

If you're clearing all this content and don't get the feeling that "I did this I'm a God" than you don't got a very good game anymore.

Never felt that way with Prince of Persia, Portal, GTA4, Beyond Good and Evil, Shadow of the Colossus, about a dozen of the Final Fantasy games, etc...

Does that mean they are not a very good game?

[Aqua]

Oh thank goodness they've shed that leech vivendi... I swear that company is pure poison and I'd be pissed beyond hell if Blizzard took a dive for those suckers.

[Deleted]

Losing subs by the bucket load....Blizzards answer: add vanity helmets and mounts to the pet store!

[Coleslaw]

rip in peace WoW. Since you lost 600k more subs the game will be shut down

[Feanoro]

The decline began right after 3.2 and the massive design philosophy shift towards "make it easier, more convenient, cater to people who don't care to try". It's funny how people who weren't there try to pontificate how the past was such a bad game... well, then why did that bad game have nothing but growth?

We've gone from a model where the serious raiders had one mode, 25s, and the more casual, busy, or family/friends types had their mode, 10s, to 5.4's upcoming SEVEN modes (LFR, 10F, 10N, 10H, 25F, 25N, 25H). Unless you think Blizzard doesn't occupy the physical universe, you have to realize that to deliver more modes in the same amount of time means quality has to be cut somewhere. This also, as many have commented before me, completely removed the ability for people to raid with guild and then help friends on the off nights.

We've gone from a model where being at least polite if not social was encouraged and required at the high end to one in which there's little accountability and the rule is trolling, jerkish behavior. Polite, friendly people are the exception now. This causes a vicious cycle where LFG/LFR have made themselves necessary.

We've gone from a model where people said "Next time, we'll get a little further. We have something to shoot for. Look at those guys, I want to be like them" to one in which if you don't do absolutely all available in a lockout (be it dailies, valor cap, arena points, whatever content), you're treated with contempt. The very people who used to complain that raiders and grand marshals were "elitists" are now far worse than any of their old accusations. Side note, the "elitists" used to be the trainers for the rest of the population. Believe it or not, most recruitment in vanilla through Ulduar said "Gear is not a problem".

Frankly, unless Blizzard swallows their traditional pride and actually admits the design philosophy shift has failed, you're going to continue to see subscription drops, especially during the current economic climate where people are seriously evaluating where their entertainment dollars go.

[lazzy]

Frankly this isn't all because of MoP (but that didn't help) but because for the first time in a long time WoW is starting to show it's age and limitations. There is also the death by 1000 cuts as well since there are now a lot of very good MMO's out and more in the near horizon that now can be said are "next gen". That wasn't the case when Wrath or even when Cata was out.

Has nothing to do with WoW being old. Has to do with WoW not making the game better. MoP is a very good example of nothing innovating or new. This xpac is by far the worst xpac. People don't want Bright green worlds with bunnies and rainbows. I seriously thought a unicorn was going to pop out of my toons ass while lvling this xpac.

People also want a villain, Garrosh shouldn't even count as a end game boss. If people don't have something to work up to and be like " I wanna BEAT that guys ass" than your xpacs story fall flat.

Look at Vanilla we had Rag, Ony, C'thun and Nefarian the list goes on. BC we had Illadin, LK we had Arthus. People knew these villains. Now lets look at the decline of WoW..... Cata and MoP who are the Villains? Deathwing nobody knows who or where the hell this guy came from. I only know of him because of Wc2 and i know a lot of people never played those games. MoP seriously what a train wreck of memorable bosses, I've killed them all and i seriously can't name one of them because i didn't care enough. That says a lot if you ask me.

I don't know what good MMOs you see out in the market either. They're all pretty bad, numbers show this. Wildstar is the only OK looking game and I've heard its terrible. So i don't know where you're getting this from

[shamental]

Hey guys iPhone is no longer the best smarthpone, so Apple is dying.

Seriously, the only reason I hate mmo community is because of this. Is like some people can be smart enough to make a post.

[Kelimbror]

Losing subs by the bucket load....Blizzards answer: add vanity helmets and mounts to the pet store!

Their response is clearly not a solution to preventing subscriber downturn and instead all about maximizing revenue. They won't care if they lose more people on the margins as whatever remaining playerbase they have once they hit 5 million and then 2 million people will spend 5x more than they did previously, which still makes their revenue comfortable.

It's sad, but it's exactly what is happening.

[ngc2440]

rip in peace WoW. Since you lost 600k more subs the game will be shut down

You do realize what "rip" is an abbreviation of right? What you just said was "Rest in piece in piece WoW".

[Tisane]

@BrerBear - Correct, only 3 millions sales, and ± 75.000 daily log-ins. (And that was 4 months ago.) Just Google ''guild wars 2 daily log-ins''.

OT: I still don't see it as a sinking ship, it just degraded slightly, that's all. Hope the numbers will not drop faster in the future though.

[lazzy]

Is there a source for that? I liketo follow the VG business, but I havent't seen evidence of a number that high. Last I had seen was that GW2 total sales had hit 3 million, not daily logins.

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The stock is up massively on this news today. Try again.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this guy just pulled numbers out of his ass.

That game is slowly losing people. A lot of the guild have quit the game leaving almost every server but a few able to do WvW effectively.

[Sidone]

Favorited this news post. The comments are hilarious. Beats reddit and 9gag.

[Deleted]

You do realize what "rip" is an abbreviation of right? What you just said was "Rest in piece in piece WoW".

That'sthejoke