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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWorld of Warcraft dips to a mere 11.4 million subscribers
by Alex Ziebart 
May 9th 2011 at 7:00PM
During the call, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Morhaime pointed out that World of Warcraft had fallen again to pre-Cataclysm subscriber levels -- 11.4 million subscribers at the end of March, down from its peak of 12 million. Subscriber levels do not decline linearly, he pointed out, stating that they fluctuate based on how quickly players consume and complete content. Players are consuming Cataclysm's content faster than any expansion before it, so subscriber levels started to drop off more quickly than they have previously.
11.4 million subscribers still puts World of Warcraft quite far above and beyond any of its competition, and it should be noted that the numbers stated in the call came during a slow point in the expansion -- Cataclysm launched in early December, putting the end of March a good four months out. You can only expect players to consume the same content for so long, and four months is a pretty long time. If this were a single-player game and not an MMO, no developer could reasonably expect a player to consume the same content for four months. That's one-third of a year with no additions to the game, and we've only just received a content patch at the end of April. It's actually surprising to me personally that four months is faster than previous expansions.
The month of March may also have just been a bad month to poll, as competition such as RIFT launched that month. Even if the majority of the players that left World of Warcraft for RIFT eventually find their way back, the damage has been done for the month of March.
Though subscribers numbers have fallen back down to 11.4 million, overall profit has risen so far this year -- the details of which you can find in the official press release.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 8 of 12)
Skarn May 10th 2011 12:45AM
I thought Deepholm was an interesting place. Very cool looking. Being underground didn't bother me at all. Though I didn't care for Therazane herself, I liked the Stonelords and their different personalities. I enjoyed proving myself to them and demonstrating that, yes, I am someone to be relied on. I've always liked overcoming prejudices and making friends of enemies. It was neat to me that at the end of Deepholm, Therazane asks all mortals to leave...except me. I've proven myself, so I can stay. I also tend to really enjoy collecting storylines for some reason. I liked collecting the 3 pieces of the World Pillar. I loved the same sort of aspect in Final Fantasy IV of collecting the various elemental crystals. In Lunar of visiting the four dragons. And so on. Just something that appeals to me somehow.
I personally felt pretty heroic in Deepholm, there are a few small things I would have improved, but I liked it. Hyjal was pretty good overall. I absolutely loved the atmosphere and look of Vashj'ir. Most of the questing was interesting, yet also long and dragged at times. Twilight Highlands did just...stop. I could tell the next goal was "go to the Bastion of Twilight raid," but there should've been a few more quests to wrap things up and point that way from a lore perspective, not just a gameplay one. Uldum I actually have not finished yet.
"It's entirely subjective of course, and quite possibly many other players will tell me I don't know what I am talking about."
Exactly. One reason why I don't envy the quest designers. They've got a hard job. What one person loves, another finds boring.
Thanks, Amaxe, that's very interesting. :)
Eddy May 10th 2011 4:03AM
I felt something that I think you're alluding to was one of my biggest complaints with the expansion, and that's the element of choice (especially for a roleplayer.) Your complaint about Therazane is totally spot on, in that almost all of the quests in the whole expansion are mandatory. There's no way to finish a zone while skipping an unsavory quest- they're all tied in together.
I loved the faction system in BC, where many of the factions were purely optional regardless of class. I spent a ton of time grinding factions that had roleplay value to me- the Skyguard had a flying ace spirit to them, and golly, I wanted to be one of them, but there was no real value. And I didn't care much for lower city, so I avoided it for the most part. There were nice things to be found, but you weren't locked into them the same way (or at least I didn't feel that way.) There was a lot of optional content that felt like more fun because it didn't have as much pressure on it. Even the most important faction that provided the enchant was somewhat of a choice- sure, the enchants were slightly different depending on your class, but you could make a choice to min/max or pick a faction that you liked out of the Scryer and the Aldor. Yes, grinding those factions was totally irritating and I wouldn't do it again, but I liked the choice.
But now, if you want to raid and you're not a scribe, you pretty much have to do the entire zone of Deepholm on one character or another, the zone of whatever faction gives your head enchant (or a lot of heroics) and most likely, whoever gives your boots. It doesn't feel like fun or a choice when it's all built in to the system like that.
Maybe achievements really did ruin the things I liked best about the game was- how big and wild it was, with so many secret easter eggs and unimportant story quests. Now a zone is measured in quirky reference NPC questgivers and an achievement tally of quests done.
Bynde May 10th 2011 12:40PM
It may only be mho but Vashj'ir is the worst zone ever. I cannot judge how far or where a mob is, then after killing it I even have trouble swimming around until I am positioned close enough to loot it. It may not seem like a big deal but when that happens all the time...on every mob ....it's just irritating. So, that's one zone none of my alts will ever do and that has limited content for me. It's my choice but once again when I start to get irritated...it's no game anymore, it's then work and I have a lot of other work I can do offline.
Jcizzle May 9th 2011 10:31PM
IMO they shouldn't have changed from the WotLK design. I liked to come home and unwind with a group of friends (of varying skills, some good, some bad) in 10m raids. The new design basically killed that. I wish they had left some form or easier raiding (like the 10m normal used to be) instead of eliminating it all together by making both 10 and 25 harder. If I can't PuG or play with the people I want to, I simply won't be re-subbing again.
With that said, I don't resent at all that they made more hard content too. I just wish they had included stuff for both people. It's not worth it for me to play a game with people I dislike just to see the content. They should implement a scaling buff with corresponding diminishing loot iLvLs for people who want easier heroics or raids. Oh well, plenty of other games to spend my money on instead, glad to see that they're still missing the (pretty obvious) cause of the subscription decline.
Sqtsquish May 9th 2011 11:22PM
even for the super big casual guilds naxx took some time and wipes to get all the bosses down......when it was first re-released in wrath. It wasn't as challenging as current content, but then again you had 5 mans in wrath that were more difficult than any boss in Naxx.
What most people remember was the last 1/2 to 3/4 of wrath where content (even current content) was progressively easier.
Heroic 5 mans are easy if you run with a pre arranged group of people you at least kind of know and assuming you at least have the base level gear required. Sure you may occasionally wipe, but that is because some of the mechanics are more unforgiving of falling asleep at the keyboard.
Raids are workable if you run with mostly the same group of people from week to week and they have the base level gear required.
Base level gear is easy to get, just takes time. Base level skill is easy to get if you ask around politely or look things up on the internet.
Neyssa May 10th 2011 3:29AM
I totally agree with you and I think this is also topped by the new guild system. I have about 6 friends in RL who are playing and we formed a small guild. Every one of us is what you would call casual: we are all working and sometimes, we cant manage to get together. In Wrath, we just picked a day that seemed good for most of us to raid, and filled up the rest with PUGs. We had some cool raids, downed the Lich King in August, it was happy times. In Cata, everyone is just running with guild, no one wants to PUG, and I dont really want to recruit because our guild is just our friends (also, not many people want to join if you cant promise them anything). We tried some raids but did not get far, and no one really wants to spend nights dying there. We rather just go the new heroics, but even those take too long. Last night I got home after work, we run a Zul'Gurub, and when we were finished it was 23:30. And it was just one heroic. In LK, that would have been a fun raid night, killing 5-7 bosses in ICC.
5% loss - in my experience, its worse: there is now only 4 of us now out of that 6 - the rest just gave up playing.
Samusaran May 9th 2011 10:32PM
So maybe its' not "Kings Quest VI". TellTale would have to do some major refurbishing, but the episodic release schedule shouldn't be a deterrent given WoW's periodic content patches. I've been watching some Lord of the Clans on Youtube, and from what I've seen it's already better than the Sword of Shannara adventure game which I think tried to intentionally suck so that you'd read the book that was included.
I'm kinda interested in their BttF game and very interested to see how their Walking Dead game ends up.
Thyrial May 9th 2011 10:34PM
And people are surprised there was a significant drop in the same month as one of the biggest MMO releases since WoW first came out? lol I'd be willing to bet they are currently close to if not over 12m and will definitely be over 12m when 4.2 drops.
Rich Smith May 9th 2011 10:46PM
As new MMO's are released they will continue chipping away at Blizzard's subscriber numbers. Blizz needs to be more proactive about releasing quality content QUICKER before declining subs becomes a even bigger issue.
Frankly I think having some healthy competition would give Blizzard the kick in the butt it needs to churn out new content faster.
Blizz may lose another 500k-750k subs when SWTOR comes out.
Amaxe May 10th 2011 12:38AM
Well said.
The new MMOs will always draw some people away to try it. Ultimately whether they come back to WoW will depend on two things:
1) Whether the new MMO is fun enough to keep people there.
2) Whether Blizz can introduce new content to keep the interest of people finding the game stale.
Obviously Blizz can't do anything about another company creating a fun game. All they can do is work on making WoW fun, looking to patch the weaknesses and emphasize the more popular parts.
I was interested in Conan and WAR during the pre-WOLK doldrums until I heard of the shortcomings to the system. I have no interest in the Superhero games or Rifts. I've tried GW and LOTRO and found them ultimately boring (even with its weaknesses, Cataclysm is better).
The only game I find as worth a try right now is SWTOR. WoW is stale right now, so I will be more inclined to give it a try. If they have a good, fun product which captures the spirit of KOTOR and KOTOR2, it might conceivably pull me away and keep me away from WoW.
To compete in such a situation, Blizz would have to work on making the game more fun and taking care of the complaints we have with Cata.
Darkos May 10th 2011 12:55AM
That's a very reserved number, depending on how good Star Wars ends up being, that will triple/quadruple easily.
Regardless, looking forward to Blizzard's 'surprise' content that will be released, give or take, at the time as Star Wars.
Nadie May 9th 2011 10:59PM
I'd like to know how Blizzard defines "content" here. Indeed, the leveling curve in this xpac got people to 85 too quickly, and yes, many raiding guilds have taken down the 10-man versions of the expansion's bosses on normal, but 25-man? Heroic? Not so much.
One of the issues that has been a major problem with staying power in my guild is heroic burnout. Our best players are mostly people who have been around since BC at least. For them, heroic modes are really not "content" - it's truly boring to go into a boss fight you've (necessarily) already beaten and bang your head against the wall for 4 hours because the boss has 20% more health and some cute new gimmick on heroic. It doesn't feel like progress - wiping on a boss you already know how to kill is humiliating. It feels like your raid force is getting weaker, not stronger. This is so regardless of the fact that you know it's heroic mode. It's still wiping on fricking Magmaw for hours four months into the xpac.
There are plenty of other problems that may be to blame for this decline in playerbase, but for me and mine the drudgery of heroics is a significant part.
Al in SoCal May 9th 2011 11:34PM
Minimizing and making excuses for the drop in subscribers doesn't do much good for anyone - the readers, the company or this site. Yes while your points seem valid, they actually validate what many people have been saying for quite awhile now. Cataclysm is not the end-all of expansion packs and it did not reinvigorate the user base.
You can bet if Blizzard offered up your reasons for the drop in subscribers the investor relations folks would be in hot water. They need to "man-up" and take responsibility for the drop and then plan on how to make things right moving forward.
Skarn May 9th 2011 11:51PM
You might be responding to me or maybe not, but that's ok, I'm gonna run with it. :)
You bring up a good point. Investors and the like will not be happy to hear about declining subscription numbers. Here's my question for you: Do you want the game changed so the investors are happy? What makes the investors happy? Obviously, big numbers. Money. Do the investors, for the most part, actually care about the game? Not likely, no. They won't care what Blizzard does, so long as it makes money.
So, do you want Blizzard to shift to a model where their sole focus is to make the most money possible? Because this is exactly the complaint that crops up whenever someone mentions the pet store or race changes. "Blizzard doesn't care about US, they just want MONEY." This subscriber drop may well prove that Blizzard does, in fact, care about its customers. That they tried to make an expansion that would actually make the customers happy. Were they wrong? Maybe. Certainly 600,00 customers are unhappy.
Do you really want Blizzard to toss "caring for customers" and "loving games" out the window and focus solely on money? I sure don't.
Amaxe May 10th 2011 12:54AM
I don't think Blizz needs to pander to investors. What they need to do is to make sure people want to log in even after they hit 85. If they can do that, their numbers will remain steady or rise, and that will please the investors while pleasing the players.
pyrostorm1 May 9th 2011 11:48PM
People on a wow fan site talking about how they left the game..... No you haven't, you are just as hooked as you have always been.
Amaxe May 10th 2011 12:44AM
Some of us are bored with the game but like talking about it. Hence we come to WoWInsider even if we are sick of the game.
I'm probably going to be on hiatus for a bit, as lately I'm feeling "Do I **really** want to do this?" every time I log on. No point in spending money on game time when I feel like this.
Will I be back? Probably. Am I as "hooked" as I always was? No. This Xpac is notably disappointing, and has less to pull me back in.
Scoobydruid May 9th 2011 11:56PM
This is the unmistakable peaking of WoW. It starts with a sub base that stops growing, hangs flat for a while then begins to decline. Losing 5% of their subs 4 months into an expansion is evidence that people are tiring of the game. I've been playing for over 5 years and for the first time, not only have I not done a single raid, I haven't even completed half the instances. I go more than 2 weeks without logging and it's pretty I'll be closing my account soon. The game has stopped being interesting.
Suss May 10th 2011 12:09AM
The losses were from Western subs, which means WoW lost about 10% of its Western subscribers. Those subs generate a lot more revenue; their loss will hurt WoW's long-term profitability.
It's not "just 5%."
Ant May 10th 2011 5:34AM
Because the data clearly shows all people who quit the game are from the Western market and none what so ever from Japan or Aus, or heck, even China.