World of Warcraft Numbers Down Again

[Mumorpuger]

Still awesome, still the biggest, still the best.

I think "most accessible" is a more apt descriptor than "best," and "awesome" is subjective term.

 

[Baldr]

With the speed that it is declining, we could start seeing WoW Server closures in a year or two, and the game reaching development unsustainability (not enough subscribers to warrant placing developers on patches) within 4-6 years, and server unsustainability (not enough income to warrant keeping the servers up) within 7-10 years.

I hope Blizz finishes Titan quickly, and its a smash hit like WoW Original, because, otherwise, we could see the Blizzard side of Activision/Blizzard tanking very quickly. Call of Duty can only sustain the revenue of the publishing giant for so long.

CROSS-REALM SERVERS. They are already closing servers down without having to migrate people or get rid of server names. In the new patch, certain battlegroups (cluster of servers) are merging so they all run a-kin to one server. They can keep on doing this without saying once they are closing a server down and keeping populations on servers stable.

 

[Mike Fang]

WoW's numbers are down...again?

http://mlkshk.com/r/28CZ

Seriously, the game's old, it doesn't try to make any improvements unless it must to stay competitive, its only real staying power now is either a) people who still find its story interesting, b) people who've sunk too much time and effort into it to just drop it or c) people who want to get in on the game that really started MMOs as a viable genre. But the fact the game's lost a chunk of customers really isn't all that huge anymore, since it's happened in the past, and more than once, in fact. Now when it gets below the number of players it had during the core game's initial release, THAT will be something of note.

Oh, and just something to note; they say that microtransactions are coming to the game...but do they say subscriptions are LEAVING? Personally I don't see that in the announcement, so it makes me wonder if they're going to still require your $15 a month...and then try to get you to buy additional in-game items with MORE real money.

 

[Denamic]

"Our numbers are dropping! Quick, we must make people want to play our game by making them pay more!"
Brilliant move. I already can't wait to play the game hearing this.

 

[wulfy42]

7.7 million subscribers at $15 a month each......is still almost 120 million a month, or well over a billion a year.

Not sure how they only got $334 million from subs in 2010 when their numbers were much greater then that. Are they counting free trials accounts as subs or something?

Also...what are they investing as far as resources into this game each year? It seems like it's just plain out a cash cow...with more profit then most movies, games etc make each year without them having to do any work at all.

The shear insane amount of money WoW has made over the years, both from subs and from selling expansions and the base game.......it's mind boggling. As far as games go, I can't think of any game that has been more profitable over all. Even at the rate it's losing subs..it's probably going to be years before other games even start to catch up with it's current profits...let alone ever come close to encroaching on it's over all total.

 

[Zeckt]

I'm actually surprised there is no word of another expansion to keep players interested right now. How long can people care about rescuing panda's in the same setting anyways?

 

[RandV80]

Why am I not surprised to see WoW hate on the Escapist?

It's probably because every time news about the game comes out you get a bunch of people whining about how it's WoW's fault that every other company is pathetic and chooses not to make anything new or because, shockingly, a nine year old game has gotten a bit boring to play.

While to be fair it kind of is WoW's fault, it's not necessarily that every other company is pathetic but rather they need investors money to build these expensive games and investors want a safe bet... so WoW clone v101 it is.

But when I stop and think about it I find it odd how much of a disconnect I have with WoW and the MMORPG scene in general when I've been playing and enjoying RPG's of all variety for 20+ years. Well I liked Guild Wars 1 and would probably like 2 but it's on the accursed back log.

 

[1337mokro]

Highest Earning publisher. The amount of titles they actually bring is minuscule with basically all their bank riding on COD's back. It's a gigantic franchise sure, but I wouldn't call a publisher that released 4 tie in games and 1 shooter per year a big publisher.

 

[Nimcha]

I'm flabbergasted to see people are still playing it. The game is a shadow of its former self.

And I'm not saying that with rose-tinted goggles on either. Let's just say there are ways of still experiencing the game as it was at its best (The Burning Crusade).

 

[Vegosiux]

Yes! fucking die you monster!

And a year from now, a new, zombie themed expansion, with the motto "The drop in subscriptions last year was merely a setback!" appears. Calling it now.

Ah, how the mighty have fallen. You know, there was a time when WoW was really good and fun. As much as I'm glad it seems to be on its last legs, it's also a bit sad to see it go that way. A bit of nostalgia I suppose.

 

[Nexxis]

The original Starcraft was 10 years good, more in fact. SC1 enjoyed the longes continuous
print run in video game history.

WoW's numbers dropping isn't surprising, as was previously said it's an old game. I have a lot of friends who just play for the social aspects, and old or not it's the most polished product out there and the system requirements are negligible. I personally don't play it currently, Since Lich King I've been reupping my account a couple months before an expansion hits, powering through to see the content then cancelling a few months after the expansion. I'm actually ok with doing that given the quality of the product.

I'd really like to see a breakdown of subscriber numbers for returning players around the expansion times, I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people who do the same thing I do.

Blizzard expects their numbers to drop due to people leaving for a bit and returning. The problem is that the numbers are continuously dropping. That means that, not only are new players not playing or sticking with the game, but old players aren't returning in the numbers they use to. Also, the game can't run on veteran players alone. Without new players to help it grow, the game will decline. Right now, it looks like that's exactly what's happening.

 

[Suicidal Zebra]

7.7 million subscribers at $15 a month each......is still almost 120 million a month, or well over a billion a year.

Not sure how they only got $334 million from subs in 2010 when their numbers were much greater then that. Are they counting free trials accounts as subs or something?

The headline 7.7m figure includes players in Asian regions, regions which have a different business model that last time I checked was essentially pay2play rather than pay-monthly. Therefore if they log in just once a month they're still counted as a subscriber, even though their gross monetary worth as a player was extremely low.

$334m Net revenue from subs most likely also accounts for sales tax and other processing costs, whilst Products would also include microtransactions (which would only be made by a subscriber of course). So you're probably looking at between 2 and 4 million monthly subscribers in the US & EU, and 7.7m total active player accounts. Any hit to those number would significantly impact microtransaction numbers, and probably overall revenue in years where no new franchise title or expansion is release.

Falling subscriber numbers is no joke, as evidenced by the new ways Blizzard are trying to squeeze money out of an every-dwindling player base. Not grounds to panic, but merely to be wary and keep an eye on potential micro-transaction models being implemented whilst still charging a monthly fee.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Microtransactions aren't going to do crap to help the game. That isn't why people are quitting and it isn't going to do that much to help.

Releasing decent updates would help. But they don't seem too interested in doing that any more.

 

[Mirrorknight]

A giant doesn't die from some great weapon. A giant dies from nicks, scratches, and age.

 

[Colt47]

What goes up must come down.

They can count me among the number that unsubbed since the last count. Maybe I'll go back when it inevitably goes F2P.

People suggesting that WoW is going to "die" anytime soon are laughably ignorant. It will keep rolling on for at least another decade, I expect. Don't forget that people are still playing Everquest and other ancient MMOs.

I unsubbed and normally I'm pretty gung ho on sticking through the thick of things in that game. Blizzard actually blew up the game with Pandaria not because the expansion itself was bad, but because of the systems they implemented and the way they implemented them. Even with the age of the game being taken into account, the raiding community was still holding together alright at the end of Cataclysm. Then Pandaria hits with Raid Finder, everyone just easy-modes the content, and then burn out sets in because they've incidentally increased the rate people can see the content.

 

[Bostur]

Of course people are leaving, Blizzard hasn't released anything new for several days. Must... streamline... sausage factory more.

People list a thousand reasons why WoW is on the decline, and they are all right. If it can be summed up in some way, the current problem probably lies with the lack of focus that WoW has suffered from for a long time. That broadness earned them a lot of money, but it's not sustainable.

They have milked that poor game for a long time, someone have mercy and put it out of its misery.