World of Warcraft Subscriber Base Increases Despite Downward Trend

[Grumman]

That is unsurprising, but it really doesn't mean anything. Blizzard did a lot of work to boost subscription numbers over the past month, but it's mostly stick and not carrot. If somebody only logs in because you are threatening to make certain content Lost Forever when the next patch comes out and they want to do it before it's gone, they're unlikely to stick around once you carry out the threat.

 

[Stillgard]

I think our big problem is we're looking at it as the 900 lb. Gorilla. And as such expecting it to fail. After how long and despite the downward trend it's not going to. WoW well continue as long as it's profitable. Sure it's entertaining just not sure with all the competition out there right now it's worth the increase. This is one of the few ages where gamer's have more then there fair pick in mmo's to play all one needs to do is pick what they feel like and go. While a free to play may steal attention for a bit. Quality gaming is still where it's at.

 

[Kahani]

I was kind of under the impression that this was something to be expected. It is something that has happened across each expansion, and it is to be expected for each new expansion. A new expansion sparks new interest in the game, and of course it is going to raise sub counts, even if it is only a temporary rise.

I'd heard that as well, but the graph here shows it's very obviously not true. Burning Crusade had no noticeable effect, and if anything growth actually slowed down after it. Wrath may have resulted in a small increase, but it's not really distinguishable from the general trend at the time. Cataclysm was the point where things actually started dropping. And of course, this most recent rise appears to have started around August or September, and so clearly has nothing to do with an expansion that still hasn't actually been released. So of four previous expansions, precisely one actually resulted in an increase in subscribers, and the current trend can't be related to an expansion. It seems that what people expect to happen with WoW expansions bears very little relation to what actually happens.

 

[Xannieros]

Time for the new WoW content Mad Libs!

I wanna play!

I've been playing since Vanilla.
The Game was better before Cataclysm.
It's too player hostile (elitist) now and was better before they added Cross Realm Grouping.

But yeah, it happens ever expansion. Players come back for the pre-launch events then slowly leave as they hit raid content. Mists of Pandaria didn't feel like Warcraft, and more of a Korean MMO with the Asian themes. I skipped most of the game from mid 5.0 to late 5.4 Hopefully they took a step back and asked themselves what kind of game is this now.

With the pre-launch event being weak in content, stat squish breaking things, and content being cut from the expansion prior to launch... I am skeptical they can pull it off.