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World of Warcraft: Subscriptions Drop Significantly in Latest Financial Report
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The latest Activision Blizzard financial report has been released. The report indicates that profits are up generally but that World of Warcraft has seen a precipitous, if typical, subscription drop off, now numbering 6.8M, down from 7.6M in Quarter 1. Blizzard has attributed the reduction to a typical end of expansion lifecycle. The new report also indicates that over 1.5M copies of the Warlords of Draenor expansion have been preordered and that Diablo 3 has sold over 20M copies.
As of June 30, 2014, Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III: Reaper of Souls remained the #1 PC game in dollars in both North America and Europe and, including its expansion and digital sales, Diablo III has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide across all platforms since its release in 2012.³ Activision Announces Q2 2014 Earnings Results Page 3 of 7
As of June 30, 2014 , Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft remains the #1 subscription - based MMORPG , with approximately 6. 8 million subscribers . There was a decline in subscribers quarter over quarter, which was disproportionately concentrated in the East and was similar to the seasonal decline experienced during the second quarter of 2012, prior to the launch of the most recent expansion later that year.
Check out the full financial report for Activision-Blizzard.
Comments
Let the drama begin.
― Terry Pratchett, Making Money
/grabs popcorn
Still a good game, WoD will bring a lot of people back.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
"4 According to Activision Blizzard internal estimates"
You'd think they'd know the absolute numbers...
Decline is in the east... China is playing something else, LOL.
They'll recoup this loss come WoD release... then promptly lose it again come the quarter following the release... as expected.
Nope. Old tyrael devs there
They made the big PQR banwave in Januaray 2014.
it was quite huge.
So overall they lost 3.2 Million subscribers over the lifespan of MOP (around -30%) til now. Not bad for a single expansion. The 800 pounds gorilla seems to struggle a bit. They better hurry with WoD or otherwise they loose even more with the next quarter ....
That's a good chunk, yikes.
But, considering the game is over ten years old, 6.4 million still subscribing is unbelievable. Sometimes I wonder how old I'll be when they inevitably pull the plug on this game; then it hits me quickly: I do not want to think about being that old
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
I am one of those ex-subscribers. I have since been playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and it has been such a wonderful experience!
It has that Final Fantasy RPG feeling, with tons of complexities and things to do in the game, it is a really really good MMO!
New players can get a welcome package and old/returning players can also get a welcome back package and 7 days free subscription time! Just click here to use my referral invitation
Another example of why you must be very careful not to make assumptions:
"Our better than expected performance was driven by continued strong digital sales from Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, ......"
Translation: subs down 6.8M. Something to remember when talking about WoW or FF XIV or SWTOR or ... whatever.
As for the drop being "similar to the seasonal decline experienced during the second quarter of 2012" ... this is Activision pulling a fast one imo. On a calendar basis the numbers may be "similar" but they should really be comparing this quarters drop to the Q1 2012 numbers.
I think it is the route too, each new wow expansion since Cata got a growth of sub number in the beginning, but followed by a bigger loss of subs later resulting in less subs than before.
Wanna know what''s amazing to me? The simple fact that we have fanboys of these new games that were once rational people who left WoW because it wasn't sustainable with all of the problems it had and because of the subscription. They now are hanging out on games like Archeage (in it's current 1.2 form) , NWO, and GW2's current economy talking about how wonderful they are. These three games are terrible in that they charge WAY over the top with their heavy RNG currency conversion P2W eastern structures. They are so eastern you can still taste the soy sauce! Try to tell these jokers they are missing features and they tell you to work around them! No lie. Like when did it become the job of the players to make the developers game work for us? When did it become our jobs to find ways around missing features and eastern economies? But they'll come and complain about WoW everytime! At least WoW has stability and you're not being screwed out of your money. I'm all for F2P when done right but these weirdos who keep advocating for the takeover of the western game market by deals that even a 4 yo can tell is fishy have GOT to GO.
This is normal for WOW. It has been since CATA. WOD will change WOW for the better. I can tell you that the direction of making Single Player type players and the CASUAL I HAVE NO TIME FOR MMOS type players will end up in Normal 5 mans and LFR. Heroic 5 mans and Normal and higher raiding will be for everyone else who wants to play an MMO. Right now their instances are going away from the 15 min rush feast that current Heroics are. Now they are not going to be 2 hour long affairs but 30 to 60 mins is very reasonable expect to the people who only play 30 mins a week and complain about it.
Right now I have friends in beta that have not played much since BC, yea they played a little WOTLK and CATA with the LFD system but hated it. Now with WOW going back to Pre-Made groups as very important to the overall game my friends have already pre-ordered the game.
Blizz: We are now at 6.8 million subs
MMORPG.com staff: WoW is now down to 6.4 million subs
...What?
On a side note, the game`s content is the most trivial it has ever been thanks to the item upgrade system, they haven't added any content in the last year, and 3 AAA MMOs have launched in that no content timeframe. The fact that with all of this, they STILL have close to 7 million subs, shows the game is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Not that I am splitting hairs here, but its at 6.8 mil, not 6.4. That may not seem like a huge distinction when it comes to wow, but it is when compared to all other MMOs.
6.8 mil subs, after a drop of 800k. 6.8 mil devided by 800k = 8.5. WoW can have this same drop happen 8 more times before it reaches the subscription numbers of SWTOR, the 2nd most played MMO in the west.
The drama is indeed begining lol.