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World of Warcraft: Subscriptions Jump 600,000 Prior to Expansion's Release
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In anticipation of the forthcoming World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor expansion, subscriptions are up over 600,000 and places WoW subscriber population at 7.5M. This significant jump nearly erases the 800,000 subscriber loss experienced by WoW in the quarter ending at the end of June 2014.
Source: Activision-Blizzard Press release
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A wave of destruction washes over the land as an army of orcs pours through the Dark Portal. With today's launch of World of Warcraft Patch 6.0.2: The Iron Tide, the Iron Horde's invasion of Azeroth has begun! More than 7.4 million of Azeroth's champions have taken up their positions on the front line, ready to face the full might of the Iron Horde with the upcoming release of the Warlords of Draenor expansion on November 13.
Features introduced with today's Iron Tide content update include:
"Iron Horde Incursion" World Event: players looking to upset the Iron Horde invasion can journey to the Blasted Lands to face down the onslaught and venture into the revamped five-player version of the Upper Blackrock Spire dungeon
New Character Models: several of the game's original races are new and improved, with increased resolution as well as updated animations and facial expressions
Interface Improvements: questing is now easier than ever with an updated quest log and inventory changes, including a Toy Box for the fun items players acquire through their adventures
Character and Class Changes: myriad character- and class-specific updates are now live, making this a great time for players to refamiliarize themselves with their characters ahead of the expansion's November 13 launchFull details on the changes and new features added to the gametoday can be found in the patch notes.
Comments
I suspect it'll keep rising for a while still.
The only question is will Blizzard be able to keep them for long? Or will they finish the new content and take off again?
Maybe they'll increase their update schedules this time around and manage to keep the numbers up better until the next expansion this time around?
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I suspect with titan having been cancelled, they will have more opportunity to keep up with the Wow updates, I don't think they want to repeat what happened with MoP.
I heard they were aiming at having yearly expansions to keep the content flowing.
An expansion bringing back players? No way! /sarcasm
Not really a huge number honestly if your looking at it from a numbers ratio. Then again, MoP I don't think actually did well bringing people back either which isn't a good sign for a game when an expansion doesnt drive a spike of returning players.
I resubbed since Wildstar is failing and there is nothing else to play
Lets see your Battle Stations /r/battlestations
Battle Station
Sure, we get it, MMORPGs are a pretty small niche hobby when compared to some other pastimes. But since we're on a forum on mmorpg.com I don't think it's unreasonable to discuss MMORPG sub numbers, nor to point out that this pre-expansion bump in WoW is as big a number as the number of subs most other games have ever managed at their peaks!
The OP isnt just throwing numbers. Those numbers actually matter because all those players are paying a sub every month. Sure LoL might have 27 million active players, but how many give money to Riot? i dont have statistics but you can be sure its not a bigger number than the freebies
From what I could find, LoL made $624m revenue in 2013. WoW made $1041m. So I guess a WoW sub is worth roughly 5 or 6 LoL players?
It's not really that big of a deal.
Pre expansion bumps: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4417-WoW-Up-to-7-4-Million-Subscribers-Garrosh-Heirlooms-MoP-in-Base-Game-Chopper-Mount
It's quite refreshing to know that there will be an mmo that most us of know and love, well like maybe, at any rate an mmo we are used to.
After experiencing some upsetting mmo's this year, it is a welcomed sight. Rift is bringing out it's expansion soon, but something tells me this year, Blizz might just take expansion of the year. Maybe not, but I'm getting a pretty positive feeling after playing through some of the beta content, (through level 92, then stopped).
Trion/XLGames might see game of the year with Archeage, possibly, but really not too sure with all the commotion. At any rate, whatever happens, it will be fine with me. I'm just so happy to start seeing some of my old friends from back-in-the-day beginning to come back, or texting me about WoW and WoD. Just tonight, alone a guy I partied with a couple of years ago partied up with me and we completed the new quests together and it looks like we just might be working together during this xpac! Makes a person just smile big time!
I know there's some negative emotion about ol' Blizz, heck some of that has been from me, but when you begin hearing from good people out there, I begin to ramp up some of that excitement I once had for getting my guild back up and running on all cylinders again.
As i used to say here and other forums years back,
Seeya in game!
Alyn
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
John Lennon
I recently resubscribed myself after missing most of MoP mainly because I have 5 IRL friends playing. I couldnt do it though without them. My server, Kil'Jaeden (Alliance) is a barren waste land which is weird because its a High Pop server. Mostly Horde. I would so much rather they merge servers and get rid of phasing.
WoD seems like it has some really neat features but we'll see.
I am not surprised by this article at all. Im actually quite happy. Most of what has been released in the last 10 years is total garbage.
To quote Mark Twain, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated"
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Gotta love Mr Twain...
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
John Lennon
Guilty!
A couple toons to finish off before the expansion. They seemed to have reduced the experience needed to level to get through MoP, not sure how much because 1 kill on 3 different toons was enough to gain a level.
I couldn't do it....
My WoW guild is full of a buncha peeps I don't know, with notes that are like a teenage boy wrote them (lots of swearing), everyone in the bank was dancing (not one of the party poppers.. like LITERALLY dancing)....
Ugh... 15 bucks wasted... I should just write myself a note to permanently ignore that account. It hurt.
WoW never had a "pre expansion bump", at least not one that was in a press release...all the numbers you are quoting are post expansion launch, except Today's (the xpac is still a month away).
Expect the number to jump a LOT once the xpac actually hits. Put your hopes of WoWs collapse on hold till then good sir