WoW down to 9.6 million subscribers as of December 31st, 2012

It's the end of the world!!!! 

 Activision Blizzard's press release states that World of Warcraft is down to 9.6 million subscribers as of December 31, 2012. This is lower than the amount of subscribers from the "over 10 million" announced for Q3 2012. A few other interesting points:

• Mists of Pandaria was the #3 best-selling PC game at retail.
• Diablo III was the #1 best-selling PC game at retail, breaking PC-game sales records with more than 12 million copies sold worldwide through December 31, 2012. 

MMO-Champion

Some takeaways:

• Total of ~500k subscriber loss, albeit most of them are from China
• Probably has to do with the annual passes for Diablo 3's preorder expiring
• MoP is the least successful expansion to date commercially (each of the previous WoW expansions have been the fastest-selling PC games at retail, with the successor setting a new record)
• If I remember, this still isn't WoW's lowest dip in subscribers since its pinnacle in the middle of WOTLK; it was at its lowest around the middle of Cataclysm (2011)

Pretty interesting. Can't say I'm entirely surprised, though; MoP definitely isn't a bad expansion at all (many players view it as the best since Burning Crusade, myself included) and content definitely isn't lacking, but MoP's release came around the release of Guild Wars 2. The expansion also wasn't as critically or commercially successful as its predecessors. I will say that 9.6 million is still more than enough subscribers to keep WoW as the eight-year reigning king of the MMO industry, and it doesn't seem like its rate of "decline" (yes, I acknowledge the game is approaching its end, and Blizzard does too; the next two expansions will likely be the last) is anything significant. 

WoW died right before Wrath came out.  Blizzard caved and completely casualized it.  

WoW died right before Wrath came out.  Blizzard caved and completely casualized it.  

Fizzman

[QUOTE="Fizzman"]

WoW died right before Wrath came out.  Blizzard caved and completely casualized it.  

princeofshapeir

thread broke before it even became a thread. (well it WAS broken.)

An End of an Era when WoW dies.

9.6 million times a monthly fee

PC gaming still stuck in MMOs I see...

How will Blizzard makes ends meet? Major layoffs incoming.

[QUOTE="princeofshapeir"][QUOTE="Fizzman"]

WoW died right before Wrath came out.  Blizzard caved and completely casualized it.  

Chutebox

• Total of ~500k subscriber loss, albeit most of them are from China

princeofshapeir

Phew, at least they are chinese. So, what's the exchange rate? 13 chinese humanoids for one white person?

9.6 million times a monthly fee

PC gaming still stuck in MMOs I see...

DrTrafalgarLaw

[QUOTE="princeofshapeir"]

• Total of ~500k subscriber loss, albeit most of them are from China

LordQuorthon

Phew, at least they are chinese. So, what's the exchange rate? 13 chinese humanoids for one white person?

How much longer does WoW have? At least 5 years?

I included that because the content restrictions for WoW in China are far different than they are in the U.S. or Europe. WOTLK wasn't released in China for well over two years, and Blizzard has had to switch service providers for the game since then. The Chinese PC gaming industry is also very volatile. princeofshapeir

Thanks for clarifying that. For future references, keep in mind that the Interwebs are full of jerks like me. :)

[QUOTE="DrTrafalgarLaw"]

9.6 million times a monthly fee

PC gaming still stuck in MMOs I see...

Chutebox

Unfortunately the game isn't for me anymore.

It was the greatest gaming experience ever from Vanilla to TBC, but the later expansions have gradually just gotten worse and worse.

[QUOTE="Chutebox"][QUOTE="DrTrafalgarLaw"]

9.6 million times a monthly fee

PC gaming still stuck in MMOs I see...

DrTrafalgarLaw

How much longer does WoW have? At least 5 years?

crimsonman1245

Meh, it it will go back up when the next patch comes out. It always happens. People get bored inbetween patches and quit till the next one comes out.

[QUOTE="DrTrafalgarLaw"][QUOTE="Chutebox"] Stuck?Silverbond

Meh, it it will go back up when the next patch comes out. It always happens. People get bored inbetween patches and quit till the next one comes out.

Cloud567kar

That's a huge problem with the game.

I think it was in Wrath of the Lich King when Blizz actually had their first quarter of "lost subscriptions". Prior to that expansion the subscription base for WoW ALWAYS went up quarter to quarter.

Wrath, Cataclysm, and Mists are the only expansions to see these periodic drops because the game is no longer being designed for the dedicated fan, but just the recreational gamer who wants something to do every few months.

It hurts the game in the long run because they are finding it much harder to get a guaranteed $15 a month from the fans they have left. 

It KILLS me that Diablo 3 is the #1 selling game of all time. Hurts my soul.

Diablo 2 is arguably the best game ever, and D3 is such a pile of sh!t. I hope you die horribly, Jay Wilson. HORRIBLY!!!

I'm surprised so many people are still playing that trash, TBH

[QUOTE="princeofshapeir"]

• Total of ~500k subscriber loss, albeit most of them are from China

LordQuorthon

Phew, at least they are chinese. So, what's the exchange rate? 13 chinese humanoids for one white person?

I'm surprised so many people are still playing that trash, TBH

meatgrinderz

Im not suprised so many people are still playing it.

Haven't played WoW in a few years it just wasn't fun to me anymore.

[QUOTE="princeofshapeir"]

• Total of ~500k subscriber loss, albeit most of them are from China

LordQuorthon

Phew, at least they are chinese. So, what's the exchange rate? 13 chinese humanoids for one white person?

Being slightly less crazy rich isn't too bad.

That being said, game is stale now. 
 

so it makes what roughly(?)... 9,600,000 * $15 * 12 = $1,728,000,000.00 ...oh, teh fail :roll: EDIT: I realize that calculation was sloppy and it's probably less considering different subscription rates for different month packages and territory pricing, but they're still making beaucoup money regardlesslamprey263

Yes, we can presume they're still making a lot of money, but losing roughly 400,000 thousand subscribers (give or take) is still a loss. That's about 1/20th of their total amount. Whether or not this is the beginning of the end for the MMO giant is still a mystery, but it does raise some concern. I doubt it though.

[QUOTE="lamprey263"]so it makes what roughly(?)... 9,600,000 * $15 * 12 = $1,728,000,000.00 ...oh, teh fail :roll: EDIT: I realize that calculation was sloppy and it's probably less considering different subscription rates for different month packages and territory pricing, but they're still making beaucoup money regardlessTheSacredFlame

Yes, we can presume they're still making a lot of money, but losing roughly 400,000 thousand subscribers (give or take) is still a loss. That's about 1/20th of their total amount. Whether or not this is the beginning of the end for the MMO giant is still a mystery, but it does raise some concern. I doubt it though.

Good news! Glad the panda expansion failed.

Blizzard's laziness is finally catching up to them.

Sad there still isn't a single MMO that is nearly as good as WoW. Hopefully FF14:ARR or ArcheAge will be the savior MMOs need.

WoW is up against some series competition from these F2P MMO's. There isnt the draw that WoW had now, the raids are boring and its more of a grindfest that is should be. clyde46

And it's just plain old....a decade old

[QUOTE="clyde46"]WoW is up against some series competition from these F2P MMO's. There isnt the draw that WoW had now, the raids are boring and its more of a grindfest that is should be. wis3boi

And it's just plain old....a decade old

And it hasn't aged well either. clyde46

It's still really fun.

[QUOTE="clyde46"] And it hasn't aged well either. ChubbyGuy40

It's still really fun.

9.6 million subs ONLY?

OH GOD IT's TOTALLY DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo

/sarcasm.

We should discuss WoW more. WoW losers are what I think of when I see PC gamer.