 |
| Andrew Barker |
But perhaps it's only a temporary lull before the new expansion?
08.07.14 - 3:49 AM
According to Activision Blizzard, World of Warcraft has lost 800,000 subscribers since March 31st earlier this year. Since June, there have been 6.8 million subscribes, still a huge number, but significantly down on its height of 12 million during 2010.
It seems this drop was expected by Blizzard. "We anticipated fluctuation in subscribership due to seasonality and the fact that the current game content is at the end of its life cycle," explained Michael Morhaime, CEO and president Blizzard Entertainment.
"And as expected, we did see a decline in subscribers, which mostly came out of the East. This pattern is right in line, percentage-wise, with the drops that we saw at Cataclysm's cycle in Q2 2012. That drop in 2012 was followed by an uptick in subscribers just ahead of Mists of Pandaria's launch. So we're hoping to see players return once we draw closer to the release of Warlords of Draenor later this year."
Interested in how subscribers have come and gone over the years? Check out this chart, courtesy of MMO Champion:
No release date has been announced for Warlords of Draenor yet, though it will be coming 2014.
