News - World of Warcraft subscribers dwindle

[HEXUS]

Subscribers to Blizzard's World of Warcraft MMO drop to 10.3 million in September.

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[aidanjt]

Proof, then, that disregarding reality is a killer.

[kalniel]

So they still have 10 million people paying the equivalent of a game every two months..? nice problem to have

It can't last for ever - EA are getting some very fortuitous timing with SW:TOR, but surely there's a WOW2 in the works for just such a scenario?

[HalloweenJack]

actually its the equivilent of a game every 3 months - cant find many games at £18 can you - income is £45 million or so each month + what ever the deal is in china ... panda land is made for the chinese since the government there can stop wow anytime it wants to.

to put it in perspective: the 7% drop is 700k subscribers in 3 months and nothing about whats happened since the announcement of panda land

[Bagnaj97]

So they still have 10 million people paying the equivalent of a game every two months..? nice problem to have

It can't last for ever - EA are getting some very fortuitous timing with SW:TOR, but surely there's a WOW2 in the works for just such a scenario?

They're working on an MMO codenamed Titan but other than that not much is known. As for the dwindling subscribers it's a pattern that's been repeated several times - big spike in players at the start of each expansion, then dwindling numbers until the next xpac. People were pointing at dwindling players towards the end of WOTLK, then with the release of Cataclysm they hit an all time peak of subscribers. That said, they have lost more players than usual with this expansion and there's still another tier of raiding to go before Mists of Pandaria...

[Ganty]

Mists of Pandaria has kinda showen alot of people that WoW isn't the game it was, my only surpise is, that they still have 10m, thought they dip would've been bigger

[kalniel]

actually its the equivilent of a game every 3 months - cant find many games at £18 can you

Amazon currently lists over 1600. To get through them at the rate of one every two months would take over 200 years...

There are probably even more on Steam and other channels not represented by Amazon.

[HalloweenJack]

amazon also have listed 722 pc games priced £30>£40 ; oh look i can search there as well....

[melon]

I cant wait till they do NZ inspired area with cannibal sheep.

[Spud1]

Rift has had a huge effect on the subscriber base, and with KOTOR on the horizon..we are definitely seeing a drop in numbers.

I don't really get the whole backlash at mists though - The Pandarians (Pandas) have been in WoW lore for a very long time - they are actually a key part of the backstory of the whole game, so all of these complaints and people unsubscribing because of it is all a bit silly.

Personally I have just signed up for the 12 month sub to get my free copy of Diablo 3 + mount etc, as it's worth it to me - I was buying D3 anyway and therefore £50 for 12 months of WoW is a bargain to me, even if I only play for a few months.

They will get subscribers again I am sure, and in any case 10 million people paying for WoW is still a heck of a lot of money, and Bliz still have the largest most loyal player base of any MMO, so I don't think there is much to worry about

[Lucio]

Despite the initial promise of Cataclysm, I found my interest in the game tailing off, particularly as a change of career meant that I had to dedicate my energy to that instead.

[BlackDwarf]

>10 million subscribers is 'dwindling' is it?

[aidanjt]

Any decrementation of subscriber numbers could be constituted as 'dwindling'.

[Saracen]

Even if the underlying trend, including spikes and troughs, is "dwindling", perhaps this merely recognises that nothing lasts forever, and that new things come along and seduce people away. Which is a good thing, or we'd all still be using Sinclair Spectrums and mobile phones would be as "smart" as the village idiot, and the size of a couple of housebricks .... and cost as much as a small car. Or more relevantly, we'd all still be living in caves, dressing in animal skins and having to chase dinner down and kill it, or starve.

[kalniel]

oh look i can search there as well....

That's good, because a post earlier you didn't seem able to

cant find many games at £18 can you

[shaithis]

EverQuest has 18 expansions.....I guess Blizzard have a fair amount of milking to do yet!