Posted on November 8, 2011, Phil Owen World of Warcraft Loses 800,000 Players Over Three Months
So we knew WoW was losing folks, but I guess we didn’t know it as losing folks at this rate. Blizzard announced today (via Gamasutra) that the most popular MMO on Earth had at the end of the quarter ending on September 30 only 10.3 million subscribers, down from 11.1 million at the end of the previous quarter.
That’s a big loss, and I can’t help but think this news had a lot to do with the introduction of the annual pass subscription Blizzard introduced at BlizzCon last month, and also the free Diablo III promotion that came with it. They can’t let their baby die that easily, you know.
Of course, they also just announced a new expansion, and they expect that they’ll get a bunch of new subs when that comes out. It could be that we’re just at the downturn of a cycle right now, and that this drop really isn’t anything to worry about. Yet. I bet if it gets worse, they’ll worry.
Follow Phil on Twitter: @philrowen