World of Warcraft subscriber numbers dip 100,000 to 10.2 million

by Adam Holisky Feb 9th 2012 at 4:33PM

During this afternoon's Activision Blizzard investor call, it was announced that WoW's subscribers numbers dropped another 100,000 players from September 2011 to 10.2 million at the end of December 2011.

World of Warcraft's subscriber numbers peaked around 12 million back in late 2010 and early 2011 and have been in decline since. The game slipped to 11.4 million subscribers in May 2011, then down to 10.3 million in September of 2011. While subscriber numbers continue to fall, the rate of lost subscriptions has slowed significantly.

In further clarification of the game's subscriber numbers, Blizzard President and Cofounder Mike Morhaime said that Blizzard has seen no significant change and that "December was a good month for us." This past quarter was, according to Morhaime, the "most competitive quarter ever." World of Warcraft's competition primarily came from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Blizzard believes that the success of patch 4.3, community engagement, and the Annual Pass contributed to the subscriber retention it's seen.

Tags: activision, activision-blizzard, activision-investor-call, blizzard-investor-call, breaking, subscriber-numbers, world-of-warcraft, world-of-warcraft-subscriber-numbers, world-of-warcraft-subscribers, wow, wow-subscriber-numbers

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

thedavesignal Feb 9th 2012 4:40PM

That contract racket they rolled out during the peak of Blizzcon's fervor certainly kept that number from going higher.

Kunikenwad! Feb 9th 2012 5:35PM

Even though you've been downrated into oblivion, I concur that your analysis is at least partially right. The free copy of D3 and MoP beta opt-in, plus the attractive pricing of the annual pass, was certainly a deterrent to the subscription decline.

That being said, we're probably not giving enough credit to the effect that the Annual Pass had; sub numbers may have been lower had it not been for this because the incentive to sign up was incredibly attractive, and placed at the right time so that consumers didn't have to think about the upcoming MMOs; the ultimate 'no-brainer' purchase for any WoW fan. It was a perfectly delivered blow timed so that it had maximum financial impact. The interesting call will be next year's investor call in February, when the majority of the Annual Pass subscribers will be forced with the decision of whether to renew or not.

The Annual Pass was a brilliant strategic move that not only helped staunch the decline, but may very well put WoW in the positive sub loss/gain numbers on the next call.

DarkWalker Feb 9th 2012 6:03PM

Besides the 1M Annual Pass players, keep in mind that:

- WoW released in Brazil. Demand was strong enough Blizzard had to add 5 realms, thanks in part to the $8 subscription rate here.

- I'm guessing 1M Annual Pass players means something between 500K and 1M less D3 sales, since those players already received the game for free. Also, 1M players that might potentially purchase that angel horse got it for free. While I think the Annual Pass might have had a positive result for Blizzard - and should have an even larger result in the next year, as players are not able to unsubscribe - it was not without costs.

- TOR released December 20. There was not enough time for most players that might leave WoW for TOR to cancel their subscriptions, and for those subscriptions to run out, before December 31. We will need to wait for Q1 2012 to actually see the effect TOR had on WoW.

Kunikenwad! Feb 9th 2012 6:20PM

@Darkwalker

Excellent points! I completely forgot the Brazil launch. As for the D3 copies, you're absolutely right. They'll lose potential revenue from the Annual Pass free copies, but they more than make up for it with the sub fees from an entire year. Great post!

Snuzzle Feb 9th 2012 6:41PM

I would never have bought that stupid horse, or D3. I only wanted MOP Beta. Of course I'll try D3, snce it's free. Maybe I'll like it. Who knows. Sneaky Blizz, trying to hook me into another franchise...

thawedtheorc Feb 9th 2012 7:37PM

For all the ones who hang out on forums and bash Blizz endlessly -

No one has ever forced you to play the game. Calling a business 'greedy' or prophesying the end of WoW only shows the majority of us how much of a miserable and petty person you are.

If I get tired of a game, I just stop playing. If I think the devs of a game listens for feedback, I give it. One thing I do not do is wish ill will on people.

WoW is no where near going away. Because most of us like to play it. Hell I still play TFC with friends.. 14 years later.

Marius W. Feb 10th 2012 1:45AM

Expect sub numbers to go higher when MoP launches. Also remember that subs aren't just US and EU. MoP will be widely popular in Asia and add a lot of new and returning subs. In Asia they are also behind our schedule in the US and EU so expect a fall before a rise when they get to the doldrums of cleared endgame and waiting for new xpac to come out.
I would be curious to know what the subs are for just the US and EU and what that decline was.

Bapo Feb 9th 2012 4:41PM

For a second I thought it said that subscriptions dipped to 100,000 from 10.2mil, and was like WTF when did this happen?!

kingoomieiii Feb 9th 2012 4:42PM

OH NO! A death spiral!

Oh, no, actually, that's a 1% drop.

Argojax Feb 9th 2012 5:11PM

Hey a 1% nerf to a pally would bring about tons of nerd rage why not massive hyberbole about that.

Ilmyrn Feb 9th 2012 5:20PM

Time to pack it in. Kill Deathwing while you can, 'cause the servers are shutting down forever tonight.

Oh well, it was a good run while it lasted.

Boz Feb 9th 2012 6:02PM

Anecdotally speaking, my server has lost a lot of well-known raiders and high-profile guilds due to end of expansion blues, the release of SW:TOR, changes to raid mechanics (25-man vs. 10-man), and simple burnout. I suspended my own account recently not due to any of the aforementioned, but because so many of the people I loved to play with had left. Just as people bring friends into the game, they bring them out, as well.

I had thought this number would be bigger, as a result. But I'm glad it's only 1%, and not the downward spiral I had feared. I'm looking forward to account-wide achievements and all the other goodies that Pandaria promises to bring!

DarkWalker Feb 9th 2012 8:23PM

@Boz:

Players still count as subscribers until the days already paid for run out and the account is frozen.

4.3 released November 29 (and most players would need at least a few weeks to go through all the content). TOR released December 20. WoW subscriber numbers were consolidated December 31. I bet most of the players that left the game back in December due to end of expansion blues or TOR still had some game time left by December 31, so they were still counted as subscribers.

Chris W Feb 9th 2012 8:58PM

If you actually crack open the quarterly financial statements, blizz lost 2.95 times more wow revenue ($68 million vs $23 million) in Q4 by losing only 100k subs than they did in Q3 by losing 800k subs.

Pretty cool trick huh? lose 3x the money on 1/8 the sub loss.

Lishalacey Feb 9th 2012 9:03PM

WE ARE THE 99%

(I know these jokes are old, but it was too perfect to resist...)

Everclear Feb 9th 2012 4:43PM

Still about 10 times more then any other MMO out there? Here come the trolls.

"WOW IZ DONE 4! LOLERZ! L2SWTOR!11 WOW IS EZMOAD"

RogueJedi86 Feb 9th 2012 5:01PM

10.2 million is only 6 times more than TOR's current 1.7 million. It's not quite 10x, at least for what looks to be the current #2 on the ladder. :)

jordan Feb 9th 2012 5:36PM

Actually swtor is starting to lose some subscribers because of lack of content and bugs. Still kind of sketchy on if the loss is bigger than the monthly gain. Not bashing the game, I still like it. Just saying that it is running into the exact same problem that wow is now.