World of Warcraft: Subscribers Down 800,000 in Q3

SBFord

According to a new article at Venture Beat, Blizzard has confessed to losing over 800,000 subscribers during the third quarter of 2011. In Q1 2011, WoW's subscriber base was reported at 11.4 million. In Q2 2011, Blizzard was reporting 11.1 million subscribers and Q3 currently shows 10.3 million subscribers.

During an earnings call this afternoon, Mike Morhaime admitted that "the previous expansion, World of Warcraft Cataclysm, had content that hardcore users consumed too rapidly. Blizzard is studying ways to keep gamers more engaged with future updates and expansions."

Read the full article at Venture Beat.

spookydom

I am not a number! I am a free man!

uohaloran

I don't think 800,000 of those players were their 'hardcore users'.

Otakun

People will run back for Pandas and Pokemon.

VirusDancer

There were so many things wrong with Cata - not everybody left for the same reasons.  Some people were fine with A, B, and C - but did not like D...etc, etc, etc.  Some people were fine with everything and are still playing.

The curious thing with the numbers there, is that it shows almost a 10% drop from Q1 '11 to Q3 '11.  What about Q4 '10...?

They may gain some with MoP - they may lose more with MoP.

Another thing to consider is that the game has been out for 7 or so years...

kadepsyson

Blizzard is the WoW killer

jeremyjodes

Blizzard don't care. they made so much dam money this is a small fart to them. and i'm a hater no less.

TheLizardbones

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Originally posted by VirusDancer
There were so many things wrong with Cata - not everybody left for the same reasons.  Some people were fine with A, B, and C - but did not like D...etc, etc, etc.  Some people were fine with everything and are still playing.
The curious thing with the numbers there, is that it shows almost a 10% drop from Q1 '11 to Q3 '11.  What about Q4 '10...?
They may gain some with MoP - they may lose more with MoP.
Another thing to consider is that the game has been out for 7 or so years...

---

I think the biggest thing with Cataclysm is that it really was 'more of the same'. They reworked the world, but the game play wasn't really that different than it ever was. My son started playing recently so I started a character on the server he's playing on, and the details have changed, but the game itself is still the same. For existing players, I don't think that's enough, and new players have a HUGE cash outlay to get into the game. You want to start playing? Fork over $110 and also $15 a month. That's a LOT.

Yuui

Originally posted by kadepsyson

Blizzard is the WoW killer

 

THIS. THIS SO MUCH.

 

And by the looks of it, Blizard will also be the Diablo-killer as well. Or should we say Blizzard-vision.

Biggus99

For as much flack as Blizzard gets for Wrath of the Lich King, it was still a solid expansion with quite a bit of content, even if it ushered in some bad MMO habits.  Blizzard's real failing was with Cataclysm.  Just a bad expansion, and I'm honestly amazed that they couldn't see ahead of time that there wouldn't be enough content there to keep their hardcore end game players occupied.  

Deathenger

I think it just comes down to all the choices out there now. No one game will kill WoW, it will be the many other games out there each picking away at the WoW playerbase. NOt only that but the game is getting old and more and more people want gameplay AND flashy graphics.

teakbois

'the previous expansion, World of Warcraft Cataclysm, had content that hardcore users consumed too rapidly.'

 

No, the previous expansion had content that sucked outside of the new 1-60 zones.  The gear grind model sucks.  This game is in desperate need of an AA system and group content outside of the normal instance grind.

leojreimroc

I think we're going to see a very steady decline of WoW.  The numbers will go up and down, usually with expansions, but slowly and surely, the numbers will be less and less every year.  It is an old game after all.

kishe

Blizzard is getting lazy...they've made wows development costs back 3000 times over and they're raking it.

uohaloran

Originally posted by leojreimroc

I think we're going to see a very steady decline of WoW.  The numbers will go up and down, usually with expansions, but slowly and surely, the numbers will be less and less every year.  It is an old game after all.

Naturally I think they'll want the game to die down so they can drop support for it and have everyone playing whatever Titan will be.

teakbois

Originally posted by Deathenger

I think it just comes down to all the choices out there now. No one game will kill WoW, it will be the many other games out there each picking away at the WoW playerbase. NOt only that but the game is getting old and more and more people want gameplay AND flashy graphics.

 

The question is, where are these people going?  Its not like they are going to Rift, its almost a guarantee they lost subs in q3 too.

 

People are just leaving the genre.

 

VirusDancer

Originally posted by lizardbones

 

---

Originally posted by VirusDancer

There were so many things wrong with Cata - not everybody left for the same reasons.  Some people were fine with A, B, and C - but did not like D...etc, etc, etc.  Some people were fine with everything and are still playing.

The curious thing with the numbers there, is that it shows almost a 10% drop from Q1 '11 to Q3 '11.  What about Q4 '10...?

They may gain some with MoP - they may lose more with MoP.

Another thing to consider is that the game has been out for 7 or so years...

---

I think the biggest thing with Cataclysm is that it really was 'more of the same'. They reworked the world, but the game play wasn't really that different than it ever was. My son started playing recently so I started a character on the server he's playing on, and the details have changed, but the game itself is still the same. For existing players, I don't think that's enough, and new players have a HUGE cash outlay to get into the game. You want to start playing? Fork over $110 and also $15 a month. That's a LOT.

 

I used to think that way about the starting cost for somebody about to get into WoW (it's painful when you look back and add up how much you have actually spent, lol) - but then I just look at some of the games coming out and how much they're charging for "CE" versions.  DCUO was $100ish.  SWTOR is what, $150ish or more?  Sure, you can get the $50-60 versions - but even there, it's half the price for a new game versus one that has had content added for seven some years...

My main issue with Cata was the change to the talent trees (and how quickly all the basic stuff was done).  MoP - I don't care about the Pandas nor the Pokecraft stuff . . . I saw the additional talent changes and said forget it.  With Cata I decided to return to see if it was as bad as it looked... I'm not going to make that mistake with MoP.

garrett

I played WoW at launch about 3-4 nights a week.

I quit about half way thru Burning Crusade leveling because of the grind in questing...kill 30 vultures and all that.

I came back at Wrath of the Lich King's launch and have to say....I played WoW 4-5 nights a week during this time.

I leveled to 85 in Cataclysm...ran 1 regular instance and have not played WoW since.

 

Agreed that Wrath had some issues, but it was one of the Best MMO expansions I can think of...maybe only beaten by Shrouded Isles in DAOC.

 

spookydom

Hmmm....Massivley are saying they have lost 1.1 million players but tripled profits. What in satans portion is going on here? http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11/08/activision-blizzard-loses-1-1-million-wow-players-triples-profi/

uohaloran

Originally posted by spookydom

Hmmm....Massivley are saying they have lost 1.1 million players but tripled profits. What in satans portion is going on here? http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11/08/activision-blizzard-loses-1-1-million-wow-players-triples-profi/

Premium services and store pets, I guess.  Kind of makes me want to vomit.

nickster29

Originally posted by teakbois

'the previous expansion, World of Warcraft Cataclysm, had content that hardcore users consumed too rapidly.'

 

No, the previous expansion had content that sucked outside of the new 1-60 zones.  The gear grind model sucks.  This game is in desperate need of an AA system and group content outside of the normal instance grind.

 

I would support the implementation of an AA system into WoW.... but I doubt that Blizzard would ever consider it.  They have enough trouble trying to balance classes around their precious Arena system to ever consider throwing a new variable into the mix.

 

 

Banegrivm

The Blizz developers have been out of touch with what players want since WoW was in beta. I remember leaving the game and saying how awful it was then. I only played as long as I did because of my fellow guildmates, who have all dumped it thank god. We all quit because of how damn ridiculously uber the game has become. Thanks, but no thanks. Cataclysm is a joke. The fact that they are saying now that they think it's not uber enough just proves all the more how clueless they really are. People don't want stupid uber. People want FUN. That is why people play games. They don't get it because they are ubers and they can't see past their own egos. This is how it was before they hired these EQ Uber Guild Leaders when they were sitll playing EQ. It's no different now. People just don't get it. 

Otakun

Originally posted by teakbois

Originally posted by Deathenger

I think it just comes down to all the choices out there now. No one game will kill WoW, it will be the many other games out there each picking away at the WoW playerbase. NOt only that but the game is getting old and more and more people want gameplay AND flashy graphics.

 

The question is, where are these people going?  Its not like they are going to Rift, its almost a guarantee they lost subs in q3 too.

People are just leaving the genre.

I think people are moving more over to F2P due to having to tighten belts.

Rohn

Originally posted by leojreimroc

I think we're going to see a very steady decline of WoW.  The numbers will go up and down, usually with expansions, but slowly and surely, the numbers will be less and less every year.  It is an old game after all.

 

Agreed.  It's a seven year old game:  it's getting tired, and it's unlikely that a game company will throw a lot of resources at an attempt to stop a natural decline.  That's why game companies make new games....

Enter Titan, where they've already sent most of their A-list talent.  Certainly, they will continue to make expansions and content for WoW for a long time to come, but it's likely that the real push and real innovation will come with the new game.

KenFisher

Originally posted by spookydom

Hmmm....Massivley are saying they have lost 1.1 million players but tripled profits. What in satans portion is going on here? http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/11/08/activision-blizzard-loses-1-1-million-wow-players-triples-profi/

 

Revenue versus expenses.  Spend less, even with reduced revenue and there's more profit.

VirusDancer

Originally posted by Otakun

I think people are moving more over to F2P due to having to tighten belts.

Doing that, cutting back on their internet, trying to find second jobs, going back to school to try to get ahead...no doubt the economy has been in the tank for years now with no signs of it getting better.