World of Warcraft Tops 12 Million Subscribers

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
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World of Warcraft Tops 12 Million Subscribers



More people now play World of Warcraft than live in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

The population numbers of World of Warcraft have pretty much leveled off after spectacular growth in 2005. As you can tell from our handy-dandy timeline chronicling every event in the game's history [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/content/wowtimeline], the population in WoW grew exponentially from 1.5 million in March 2005 to over 4.5 million in December and eventually 6 million in March 2006. The population growth of WoW slowed over the next few years and eventually topped off at 11.5 million after the release of the third expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, in late 2008. But now that expansion has finally been launched in China, and Blizzard is reporting that World of Warcraft has finally capped the 12 million mark.

"The support and enthusiasm that gamers across the world continue to show for World of Warcraft reaffirms our belief that it offers one of the best entertainment values available today," said Blizzard head Mike Morhaime. "We are as committed as ever to taking the game to new heights, and we look forward to demonstrating that with Cataclysm in December."

If that's not great marketing copy, I don't know what is.

With many current and ex-WoW players excited for the third expansion Cataclysm to drop on December 7th, it's possible that Blizzard will see another jump in subscribers. For many, Cataclysm is a reboot of the old world that launched back in November 2004. I remember the grandeur of those old zones, but Blizzard is revamping many antiquated questlines and retelling the stories of a few races, including the new Goblins [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/7851-The-Chronicles-of-Cataclysm-The-Curse-of-the-Worgen].

Check back soon for more coverage from Cataclysm beta as we all prepare for it to drop.

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Bretty

New member
Jul 15, 2008
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Yeah, China sort of helps!

I am looking to see what they have done to the old world. I am pretty burnt out on WoW as is so it will be cool to be offered a reason to go back in there.
 

Brotherofwill

New member
Jan 25, 2009
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How were the old zones in 2004 better? What type of grandeur?

I only played this game for around a month (stopped already), but everyone keeps telling me how Blizzard sank it with too much user friendlyness and invisible walls and what not.

How was it more 'grand'? I'm curious.
 

The Cheezy One

Christian. Take that from me.
Dec 13, 2008
1,912
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12 million people officially have no lives. actually ive never played WoW for the fact i know i will get addicted
EDIT: alright already it was a joke
 

Karathos

New member
May 10, 2009
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The Cheezy One said:
12 million people officially have no lives. actually ive never played WoW for the fact i know i will get addicted
Define "a life", please.

Not much to say on-topic. It's on top for a reason. :p
 

Keava

New member
Mar 1, 2010
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Brotherofwill said:
How were the old zones in 2004 better? What type of grandeur?

I only played this game for around a month (stopped already), but everyone keeps telling me how Blizzard sank it with too much user friendlyness and invisible walls and what not.

How was it more 'grand'? I'm curious.
It's mainly due to Burning Crusade Effect which created really terrible, small and dull zones. Sometimes i had the feeling whole BC landscape was created by the guy who planned out Barrens...

WotlK while a step forward was still very small, zones, even when much better visual were just so little you went through them in no time. Part of that is also the whole deal with flying mounts, which ruined the exploration aspect. Perspective from high above is much different than from the ground level when you run for age from one end to the other.

Sadly Cataclysm brings flying to old Azeroth so it won't ever be the same as when you first looked at the landscape. The only time they managed to recreate that impression was the first zones in WotlK before you got to use your flying mount again.
 

The Rockerfly

New member
Dec 31, 2008
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The Cheezy One said:
12 million people officially have no lives. actually ive never played WoW for the fact i know i will get addicted
While I dislike WoW after playing it for a month, I think it is unfair to say WoW players have no life, many players see it as a social game with guilds, group raids and team work
 

Echo136

New member
Feb 22, 2010
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I get the sneaking suspicion they are counting cancelled acounts as well. 12 million is just a ridiculous number.
 

Zing

New member
Oct 22, 2009
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I bet the expansion is bringing back a couple of hundred thousand people too....including me /sigh and like 10 different people I know personally.
 

Deshin

New member
Aug 31, 2010
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12 Million Total Subscribers maybe, but nowhere near that many are actual players. Loads are probably dual boxing or have alts, I know of that one guy who raids with himself with 36 unique character accounts ALL BY HIMSELF, it skewers the numbers a bit.
 

Zing

New member
Oct 22, 2009
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Deshin said:
12 Million Total Subscribers maybe, but nowhere near that many are actual players. Loads are probably dual boxing or have alts, I know of that one guy who raids with himself with 36 unique character accounts ALL BY HIMSELF, it skewers the numbers a bit.
I doubt it...a very small amount of people do that, it's pretty expensive to pay for two accounts let alone more. I don't know anyone who pays for two accounts simultaneously.
 

Alar

The Stormbringer
Dec 1, 2009
1,356
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Daemascus said:
I am one of the 12,000,000. Join us, resistance is futile.
Join us. Join us. Join us.

Congratulations, Blizzard. More money for you!
 

Armored Prayer

New member
Mar 10, 2009
5,319
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Thats quite impressive, congrats to Blizzard and its players.

Lets see the numbers rise when the new expansion is released.
 

Zing

New member
Oct 22, 2009
2,069
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Alar said:
Daemascus said:
I am one of the 12,000,000. Join us, resistance is futile.
Join us. Join us. Join us.

Congratulations, Blizzard. More money for you!
I'd say they deserve it, but not since they partnered with Activision. :mad:
 

Vaccine

New member
Feb 13, 2010
475
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Keava said:
WotlK while a step forward was still very small, zones, even when much better visual were just so little you went through them in no time. Part of that is also the whole deal with flying mounts, which ruined the exploration aspect. Perspective from high above is much different than from the ground level when you run for age from one end to the other.
Flying doesn't have to be a negative thing, it depends on the area and how they use flying to an exploration advantage. Stormy Peaks did this better than any area out of Wrath, going up to Thorims peak was awesome the first time, all the areas around Ulduar etc.

If they use flying to an advantage it can be good.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
5,630
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Thats a scary though - WoW is a country all to itself!?
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
20,364
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Keava said:
Brotherofwill said:
How were the old zones in 2004 better? What type of grandeur?

I only played this game for around a month (stopped already), but everyone keeps telling me how Blizzard sank it with too much user friendlyness and invisible walls and what not.

How was it more 'grand'? I'm curious.
It's mainly due to Burning Crusade Effect which created really terrible, small and dull zones. Sometimes i had the feeling whole BC landscape was created by the guy who planned out Barrens...

WotlK while a step forward was still very small, zones, even when much better visual were just so little you went through them in no time. Part of that is also the whole deal with flying mounts, which ruined the exploration aspect. Perspective from high above is much different than from the ground level when you run for age from one end to the other.

Sadly Cataclysm brings flying to old Azeroth so it won't ever be the same as when you first looked at the landscape. The only time they managed to recreate that impression was the first zones in WotlK before you got to use your flying mount again.
You really think the zones in WotLK were physically smaller than the ones in Classic WoW? I mean, smaller than the Barrens, maybe. I think it's just that they had a much more natural progression than Classic.

Like, I remember that one quest from Classic where you had to go from Azshara to like EPL to Winterspring just for one quest. Pain in the ass. :p

Echo136 said:
I get the sneaking suspicion they are counting cancelled acounts as well. 12 million is just a ridiculous number.
No, this is active subscribers. In our interview with Rob Pardo last year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96113-Blizzards-Rob-Pardo-Talks-Five-Years-of-Warcraft], he said that the total number of subscribers was two-to-three times this number - so, 24 to 36 million total subscribers throughout WoW's history.