World of Warcraft Incurs 600K Subscriber Base Drop Post-Cataclysm

by Mike Bendel on May 9, 2011 @ 6:08 pm


Despite the constant boasting from Blizzard over World of Warcraft: Cataclysm’s record sales numbers, the effective subscriber base actually took a hit in the following months. This was revealed in the company’s 2011 Q1 earnings conference call today.

Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime told investors that the current WoW subscriber base hovers around 11.4 million, representing a drop of approximately 600,000 subscribers since the company last publicly divulged figures in October 2010.

Of course, it’s entirely possible the Blizzard lost a sizable chunk of subscribers during the near two year gap that separated MMO expansions Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm. Even if that’s the case, however, it means that quite a few players haven’t come back for Cataclysm. Has WoW hit its peak? Regardless, 11.4 million is still a very healthy figure. Blizzard need not worry, for now.

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Read more: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Shifts 3.3 Million In 24 Hours,  World of Warcraft Hits 11.5 Million Subscribers,  Blizzard Generates $1.2 Billion In 2007,  World of Warcraft Subscriber Base Reaches 12 Million,  Quicker Turnaround for Next WoW Expansion, Says Blizzard

Comments
El Diablo says:

Nice to see I wasn't the only one who couldn't take another wotlk but worse expansion. I think WoW has seen it's time, game needs to be destroyed because what it's turned into is just garbage imo.

May 10, 2011, 2:03 am
Granite says:

Not surprising really, think World Of Warcraft needs its next content patch to be something really special otherwise the loss of subscriptions will drop into the millions.

You can only supply people with an imbalanced PVP system and repetative lackluster hardmode content until they wonder why they bother paying such a subscription. I dont wish Blizzard a larger loss than this but if the next content patch is as boring as the rest of the stuff they put out they honestly deserve all the problems they get.
May 10, 2011, 6:40 am
Seroczynski says:

I've played hardcore vanilla WoW and stopped when they released their first expansion. Why? Because I'd wasted 1,5 year (or was it 2,5 when their first expansion came?) grinding, farming, raiding and pvp-ing to get the best possible gear. And then with one "little" expension pack all that hard work was made obsolete. I couldn't grasp my mind about the fact a simple level 61 blue item would be better then my epic equipment (figure of speech). I think more and more people are thinking the same thing. Every time an expension comes you'll get new content, ok that sounds fair. However, if the efforts you've made in the past are made obsolete with every expansion than it might get annoying to put in so much time -AGAIN- to be one of the top-players.

May 10, 2011, 9:17 am
eldiablov says:

Aren't you wasting valuable WoW time by posting here? HUH GRANITE!?

May 11, 2011, 1:18 am
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