World Of Warcraft Holds Strong With 10 Million Subscribers

Written by: Jarrett Robertson (@_Caltu_) | May 10, 2012 1:00 pm

28 Comments

World Of Warcraft is dying! OK, maybe not.

Looking back a few months, I’m sure you can remember all the forum posts and all the articles of people going crazy about WoW reporting yet another dip in subscribers.

People saw the beginning of the end! The new age of Star Wars: The Old Republic was upon us and WoW was showing its age, but its seems previous estimates have been crushed with the latest numbers announced by Activision Blizzard.

The number of subscribers to WoW has remained steady at 10.2million people, the same numbers previously released in February.

This period of time is historically known as the hardest time to keep players subscribed: the time that the expansion draws to a close as players have consumed all content available until the release of the Mists Of Pandaria.

These are promising numbers for Blizzard as they manage to hold their ground despite the release of big MMO titles such as SWTOR and TERA.

The annual pass has them a confirmed 1.2 million players subscriber for at least another year and is most likely the reason for WoW‘s steady figures.

The sticky part of the year is ahead for Blizzard, as the expansion comes to a close and people get fed up waiting on MoP. Over the next few months, expect to see another dip of players as they run out of content and simply stop playing the game.

With Guild Wars 2 on the horizon and betas in full swing, WoW could easily take more casualties before they even announce that date that MoP is set to drop.

World Of Warcraft Holds Strong With 10 Million Subscribers

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http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm

Not surprising, the game may be old but its still a amazing game and pple all around the world love it, I expect it to be around for atleast 10 -12 years before Blizzard decides to pull the plug.
- http://www.MasterRenny.com/ Thomas Renshaw
  
  I really don’t think and pray to the non existent god that it isn’t still going or even around in 10 to 12 years time.
http://twitter.com/HallusH HallusH

darnellify.
http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

You somehow forgot that Blizzard offered scroll of ressurection with 2 free expansions (wotlk and Cataclysm if you didn’t have it), free lvl 80, free 7 days, free character and faction transfer.

And when did this SOR launch ? Guess what… March 6th (7th in EU). Thats why it was “stable” this quarter. Now the only question is…. What will they do in June and September cause it seems like MOP is miles away.
http://www.facebook.com/jason.jenkins.73 Jason Jenkins

for me to resub after my annual pass runs out in october panda expansion is just going to have to be very very awsome, sadly i dont see it being this. i see it being fun and enjoyable but i just dont see it being great enough to keep me on….and i also dont see whatever the next annual pass will have in it being enough either. only possible thing i could think of that would keep me on would be a total redesign of the game engine which i am pretty sure they would never do seeing as how its taken them this long just to admit that they are going to, at some point, redo character models.
- http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon
  
  Agree. Im in beta atm and there is nothing there that makes me want to even buy the Expansion atm. It looks… childish. There is zero innovation in the core features of the game and my character classes are now just dull to play.
  
  Removing talent trees was the last straw for me. After playing games like RIFT with their soul system and even SWTOR with their trees… I just can not see myself ever level a character to 90+ with ZERO influence on how your character plays. Its horrendous.
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    I’m thinking that including beta access in the annual pass was a terrible mistake on Blizzard parts.
    
    I’m enjoying the gameplay of my MoP beta Resto Druid. Love being able to add feral and boomkin skills to my healer build. I miss the changes when I return to WoW Cata.
    
    But, I’m seeing several guidies logging into MoP for 20 to 30 minutes, look at their level 85 beta builds and then log back into WoW Cata and trash the hell out of the expansion.
    
    Now when I speak with guildies about raiding during MoP, I’m not so sure they are going to buy the expansion and level to 90.  My guildies that haven’t played the beta, now thinks the expansion sucks because of the immature rants of a couple of guidies.
    
    I don’t see how you can judge this expansion by how your toon looks at 85 and by the questing in the first few zones. Its standard WoW leveling, nice questing and good uses of phasing. While the first few levels should tell the story of a fight for survival and struggle for influence with the Pandarians. The struggle is just not felt.
    
    Also, no one seems to mention the possible World PVP when MoP is released. The Horde and Alliance are almost stacked on top of each other with a single city in the middle.   Level 90s should be very interesting on PVP servers. The first world boss is really close to the starting area, I see alot of PVP occurring for that boss.
    
    And 14 raid bosses in the first tier!
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=613400106 Francois Brisson
    
    You seem to believe that the current talent system let’s you influence on how your character plays ? Sorry but if you think the current talent system works better then the one they’ll be implementing in MoP you’re either stupid or ignorant to what ”
    influence on how your character plays” means. The countless posts like yours aren’t surprising tho as what I’ve seen from the people that play WoW, allot of unintelligent/immature people and the rest are still children. The expansion looks childish ? Have you not played wow ? It *IS* a “cartoony”game so that’s another point that I don’t understand, and please don’t try to justifie that claim with ” oh well there’s pandas”. I’m not going to get into how bad SWTOR is RIFT suffered from allot of similar problems SWTOR is, and look where it is now.
    - http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon
      
      vfgr464
      Never did I say that the current talent system lets me influence anything. But there were talent trees before the Cata one. Those gave ppl more freedom to play around.
      
      WOW has never been a childish game in its story telling. Pandaland is. And you first realise it when you see the names of some of the NPCs how low Blizzard sank this time around.
      - Old Ben
        
        Their main mistake with the Cataclysm talent trees, IMO, was forcing people to pick a spec right at the start. That meant a wave of new players was basically locked into the DPS tree (which was the “obvious” one for leveling), and then at max level you had a lot of “healers” and “tanks” that didn’t have a clue about their talents or how to play those roles.
        
        If they had been given an opportunity to start experimenting with healing and tanking talents at level 10, maybe by level 30 or 40 they would be more interested in those roles, and by the time they reached the maximum level they would have learned to play them.
        
        It’s precisely during leveling that people should be allowed (even encouraged) to pick hybrid specs, and at later levels they should get access to more powerful (but more specialized) talents.
        
        But for some reason Ghostcrawler thinks it makes sense to tell players:
        
        “Hi there! You’re now level 10. Given this vast experience, you must now select a spec that will make 67% of your possible talents inaccessible.”
        
        /facepalm
      - RockerDC3
        
        The original idea behind changing the talent system in Cata was to get more people tanking or healing early on to avoid the problem you describe. But, you’re right about the consequences of that decision. Rift has the right solution, though: flexibility. Players can have thier questing dps build AND thier instance/invasion tank/heal build.
      - Old Ben
        
        If that was the “idea”, then the implementation was _spectacularly_ bad.
        
        It’s a bit like trying to get people to read more by making them choose between books, magazines or smartphones when they turn 10, and then not letting them try any of the other choices until they’re 71.
http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

Intresting… Free expansion when paying for a whole year? Thats not free… And if the expansion sucks ? PPL are not stupid. They will not sign up for another annual pass. Remember 4.1 ? Thats what we dont want and ppl should not be paying for a whole year when BLizzard is showing horrendous track record of releasing extra content in the first year after expansion launch.

So.. pay 180$ over a year that gives you nothing more … Or pay 40$ in the start + 1 month and force Blizzard to actually keep you paying and playing.

Easy – dont buy annual pass. Let BLizzard work for their money.
MMOFan2008

Since an expansion only costs $40, $20 less than Diablo III, I could see the next Annual Pass including MoP for free and a reduced subscription rate. Maybe just $10/month, but that might be wishful thinking?
- Old Ben
  
  I’ll be very surprised if If MoP isn’t a free expansion (for everyone).
  - Joey Biggs
    
    I would be surprised, but it would be a smart decision for them to do that.
http://www.facebook.com/Deep.Winter Nicholas Carrott

I think the renewal of the Annual Pass will heavily depend on how well MoP rolls out and the content that follows launch. Cataclysm was a disappointment for many because of issues regarding pace and quality at the endgame, although the changes to core mechanics was overwhelmingly well received. Judging by the beta testers, reviews seem positive, but few have been able to experience the endgame content.

One thing that MoP has going for it is account-wide achievements, making WoW more “alt friendly.” Someone, like me, may decide to raid on one class and do pvp on another and earn the rewards from both! This may help extend the longevity of the game for many people to avoid “burn out.”
http://www.MasterRenny.com/ Thomas Renshaw

guessing the Annual pass has had a hand in stopping the subscribers from declining. Not sure why i signed up to it in the first place, i guess i thought i wouldn’t get bored until guild wars 2 came out because still didnt know the release date…etc

WoW was only fun during TBC anything after that for me was a very slow downhill decline of blizzard announcing stuff and never delivering or delivering but becoming nerfed soon after. I wont be playing MoP and canceling as soon as i can, and if anything im glad to be rid of it
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johnson/1353890372 Michael Johnson

If Blizzard wants people to sign up for a long term commitment, all they have to do is release quality content.

You don’t need a business plan or gimmick. If the game is good, people will be committed
Kirk Crawford

At this point it seems like the annual pass is WoW’s crutch. Once that is over, who knows how fast the subscriber numbers will fall.
http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

MoP is just one of several expansions Blizzard planes to release over the next few years. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a new expansion by July 2013.
http://profile.yahoo.com/PDSKEKELLVVAKMWK4QQ4CRNGKQ Nine

GW2 will have no monthly cost. Those who think WOW will be ok are just kidding themselves.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Rebecca-Oakley/100002350570290 Rebecca Oakley

I know I’m one of the people personally stuck with the annual pass. I got it since I was going to be buying Diablo anyhow. I haven’t logged into wow for at least 2 months, and neither has most of my guild.. We finished DS, were completely underwhelmed and that was it basically.
I haven’t even bothered to install the MOP beta. I feel wow has completely jumped the shark with this ripped off, recycled excuse for an expansion.

As soon as my pass is up, I’ll be cancelling.
- Joey Biggs
  
  It is funny that I’m in the same position as you, lol
Kman1242

It’s somewhat the same every expansion, get it, hit the level cap and finish content, and then the rest of the sub goes to waste. I’m just going to stick to GW2, I’d rather buy it once and be able to play it at anytime without having to pay for it again all the time.
Joey Biggs

I think Blizz is going to throw out a release date on MOP, Arena net will follow with a strategically placed date, and then Blizz will release their next annual pass with a free copy of MOP countering GW2.
Ariantha

My annual pass ends in July, hopefully round about the time GW2 is projected to be released.
http://profile.yahoo.com/NX3I6WLD5YSX6XIQRZEHKTD3ZU felix

I dont know what u ppl think but wow is a preety epic game i’ve played it for about 1 month and its just awsome , been in the gw2 betas and the game will lose aloot becouse not all of us has a super pc that can run it smoothly.Soo i dont see any upcoming mmorpg’s getting wow down.

World Of Warcraft Holds Strong With 10 Million Subscribers

Patch 5.3 Release Date Confirmed

Patch 5.3: Purely Pandaria Profession Leveling!

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