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WoW Lost 600k Subscribers, down to 11.4MFollow

#1 May 10 2011 at 12:30 PM Rating: Good
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From MMO-Champion:

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Activision Blizzard's earning call was today and we learned, among other things, that the WoW playerbase is down to 11.4M players. That's 5% less than before the expansion and it seems that players went through the Cataclysm content faster than expected.

Blizzard also promised faster release of new content and expansions during the call.

From Curse.com
During today's Activision Blizzard earnings call, World of Warcraft and its expansion Cataclysm were two very hot topics. Listeners asked a number of questions related to the game, more than any other title or franchise in the publisher's stable.

Of note, World of Warcraft's subscriber base has reached pre-Cataclysm levels, according to Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment. He then later stated an actual number, with subscriptions at the end of March clocking in at right around 11.4 million.

That's down by about 5% from the announced 12 million mark late last year. Interestingly enough, that was right before Cataclysm released. In fact, it's actually lower than the milestone reached in 2008 with the release of Wrath of the Lich King.

But one important thing to point out, and Mr. Morhaime touched on this as well, is that World of Warcraft's subscriber base does not change linearly. It fluctuates based on content consumption, which players seem to be doing a whole lot of -- at a more rapid pace -- with Cataclysm. "Subscriber levels have decreased faster than previous expansions," he said.

Surprising? Not really. We have to remember that when these numbers were pulled, Cataclysm was in a bit of a lull. The expansion had been out for close to four months, and most of its content had been consumed by a large percentage of the player base -- aside from heroic raids.


This isn't surprising.
#2 May 10 2011 at 12:36 PM Rating: Good
I had cancelled my subscription (ends at the end of the month), but it doesn't mean I won't come back. I just need to take a break.
#3 May 10 2011 at 12:44 PM Rating: Excellent
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More for me. Smiley: grin

Really most of my old guild quit in late WotLK or early Cata for a variety of reasons from burn out, to kids growing up and stuff.
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#4 May 10 2011 at 12:46 PM Rating: Good
someproteinguy wrote:
More for me. Smiley: grin

Really most of my old guild quit in late WotLK or early Cata for a variety of reasons from burn out, to kids growing up and stuff.


Yeah, I'm in the process of trying to switch jobs, along with prepare for the summer semester of classes, and being swamped at work. It's just tiring.
#5 May 10 2011 at 12:50 PM Rating: Good
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Not shocking. With the ****** queue times and the lack of effort on the part of most players, it's not surprising at all that people are quitting.

I hit a wall; I realized I'd been doing the same stuff for years now and it just wasn't fun anymore. Almost all of my friends have quit, and my brother was only logging on for raids (he's since stopped altogether).
#6 May 10 2011 at 12:56 PM Rating: Good
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I quit for 2 months. Then came back and it's fun again for now. But I plan to play any other new fun game that comes out soon as well.

It's pretty amazing that WoW has even held on to as many subscribers as it has for so long. I know many go and come back for new content but no other game produced has had the long term subscriptions.

Anytime the fun is gone by all means though people should take a break imho.

So GW2 or SWToR? Which will take the next bite? I think Rift is already bleeding and they need the miracle patch 1.2 badly as many people are saying that's the make or break point for them on that one. I already got bored and quit it but it lasted longer than AoC or Warhammer did for me.

It's just too easy to gobble up content in MMO's these days.

Edited, May 10th 2011 11:57am by Shojindo
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#7 May 10 2011 at 1:02 PM Rating: Decent
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Do they only work off of cancelled subs, or do they also count people like me who just let the game time lapse every few months?
#8 May 10 2011 at 2:00 PM Rating: Decent
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i think its partly due to the economy as well. not everyone has the income they used to have and just cant afford the extra $15 a month.

the other part is probably that they over-tuned the content this time around and the casual player that likes to raid and do instances is just finding it too difficult. there are way too many mechanics that can one shot players in heroics. And in raids if you lose one or two people in a boss encounter then its usually a wipe for the group.

Just on a side note i think blizz had it right in BC for difficulty of raids and heroics they were difficult but not impossible. You had your difficult mechanics but they usually would not one shot the player.
#9 May 10 2011 at 2:32 PM Rating: Good
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The thread appears to have been nuked, and I don't remember if it was on the US or EU Druid board, but some poster theorized that the 5% subscribers lost were equal to the amount of subscribers playing Balance Druids.

He apparently used this decrease in subscribers as evidence that his Moonkin was broken or something.
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#10 May 10 2011 at 3:26 PM Rating: Good
It's not yet, but it will be once 4.2 hits if they do what they're planning to do to us.

That's pretty funny though. =x
#11 May 10 2011 at 4:06 PM Rating: Good
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I thought it was the Ret pallies that quit like me.
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#12 May 10 2011 at 4:17 PM Rating: Good
Really, it is pretty clever. He might as well have said, "We lost more subscribers than most MMO's have, and we're still well over 11 million."

I haven't played WoW in ages but can appreciate that they tell you their numbers.
#13 May 10 2011 at 7:35 PM Rating: Default
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Personally I have mixed feelings.

I quit about 2 months ago, but have continued to follow the game. (Hoping for a reason to return)

There's one side of me that says, "Yeah, the damn thing is getting boring. I've killed X mobs and turned them into Y NPC's Z number of times... Let's move on... Where is the change. Where is the new-ness. A new background (Read: Zone) isn't changing the fact that in Vanilla, TBC, Wrath, Cata - I still basically did the same crap."

However, there is another side.... That side says, "Wow, RIFT wasn't that great. I mean it was ok, but I'm really not that excited. They basically took "Cartoon" Graphics (WOW) and replaced them with Quasi-real Graphic (RIFT). The story line is OK, but... Ummm Who gives a ****? So this world has some issues and **** falls from the sky occasionally... And... why am I concerned?"



In reality - I'm mad at Blizzard. They have F'd up my favorite pass-time. I fish (In real life) and I have a work softball team (Also in RL - for those of you with a WoW Softball team).... But WoW was my way to burn time. My wife watches stupid reality TV. I prefer to play something like WoW... Sadly it's the BEST game out there, but it has lost my interest. I'm not 100% sure why - But it has. They need to remedy this situation though...
#14 May 10 2011 at 9:02 PM Rating: Default
I was waiting to see if this happened and I'm not surprised. 2 Questions;

1) Did they break it down by market? (US/EU/China/Korea/Japan/etc.)
2) Does anyone not pay $14.99/mo or the equivalent quarterly/annual fee? If so
their part in the head count is worth less financially than someone who pays
the full rate.
#15 May 10 2011 at 9:16 PM Rating: Good
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I think alot of it is people simply don't like the changes to the game. I have really been unhappy since patch 4.0 when they nerfed ae threat generation for tanks and made healing miserable. Lvl 85 is just crappy right now for casual players, I am surprised more people didn't quit to be honest. I had enough time left to finish up my holiday events for proto drake, I don't plan to play for awhile.

I like how there solution is churn expansions out faster.. How about going back to how the game was in BC and WOTLK where both casuals and more hardcore players could both enjoy the game.

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#16 May 10 2011 at 10:03 PM Rating: Good
fronglo wrote:
I think alot of it is people simply don't like the changes to the game. I have really been unhappy since patch 4.0 when they nerfed ae threat generation for tanks and made healing miserable. Lvl 85 is just crappy right now for casual players, I am surprised more people didn't quit to be honest. I had enough time left to finish up my holiday events for proto drake, I don't plan to play for awhile.

*blink* *blink*
What tanks are YOU playing?
#17 May 10 2011 at 10:17 PM Rating: Good
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Eh, I dont know. People come and go all the time. Wow still have more subscribers than some country have people.
Still, I only log for raids right now and play Rift in the meanwhile.
Waiting for D3 right now, finished portal2 and Dragon Age 2.
#18 May 10 2011 at 10:39 PM Rating: Good
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Quote:
2) Does anyone not pay $14.99/mo or the equivalent quarterly/annual fee?


The five million or so players in China. We pay per unit of time used, 30 RMB buys something like 4,000 minutes.

Quote:
Did they break it down by market? (US/EU/China/Korea/Japan/etc.)


I haven't seen any indication of how the loss breaks out by area, but we certainly lost a lot of players during the change over from The9 to Netease and being behind the rest of the player base has continued to hurt them. Patches have been on accelerated release since we got WotLK, with Ruby Sanctum just opening up this Tuesday. If I recall correctly, one of the articles made passing mention of the problem with the Chinese market.
#19 May 11 2011 at 1:03 AM Rating: Excellent
I see 3 problems with the game right now that aren't patchable.

1) It sounds cliche but it's true - you get out what you put in. One of the main mechanics of MMO's addictiveness is that the player invests so much into their character(s). Back in EQ days, even getting to level 50 or having a set of armor that matched was a huge accomplishment in-and-of-itself. This game, though, despite all the moanin' and groanin' about how hard it is to gear up, is far too quick and takes far too little time.

2) End game badass-ness factor has been eradicated... somehow. Basically, in previous expansions the level of difficulty was lower for most intents-and-purposes, but the payoff seemed more epic. Not only in raids, but in dungeons, and even PVP. Somehow, accomplishments have been reduced across the board. In fact, the only place that factor still exists is in Questing. Unfortunately, people fly through quests so fast that it goes right over their heads.

3) Homogenization has ruined a lot of flavor in the game. There are certain things I cannot complain so much about, but most of the signature spells of classes have been reduced to a bland amalgamation of other classes spells, which are all then made to be on equal playing ground and not stack. You can get every buff and CD needed for 25 man raids with, what, 5-7 players maybe? Sure it's nice for 10s, but honestly... this is NOT something to help players. Its to make it easier to balance for the designers. It's boring. And what's funny is that much of the game still isn't balanced. Certain classes are far easier to play than others, and often times those easier classes are simply more fun to play.

That being said, I'm still here. I've solved problem one by having 3 'mains.' I've invested in each of them time for different goals, very few of which are accomplished, so at least its something to keep playing for. For number 2, I and guild mates/group mates/etc simply do stupid things during encounters to make them funnier. Barring very few raid bosses and a good portion of ZG/ZA, screwin' around is a perfectly good way to solve the badass factor, as you're adding your own flavor to the encounters by doing horribly stupid things. Homogenization is still a plague on the game and I very much hope to see classes diversify again... somehow.
#20 May 11 2011 at 4:04 AM Rating: Excellent
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11.4 million subscribers is still more than, say, the population of Sweden, so not really that bad I guess. However 5% less is quite a dent.

I quit a few months back, though I still check boards and all that. I've reached the (probably flawed) conclusion that the LFG tool killed it for me. Before the LFG tool came out in its current implementation I strived to play with guildies or friends from my friend list. Whenever I had a good run or casual raid (I did most my raiding with my guild back then), I'd add people to my friends list. This gave servers a sense of community I believe slowly (or maybe not that slowly) died away in the months following the release of LFG and certainly with Cata. As a tank, I've used the LFG tool a damn lot, clearing probably 99% of the runs, but the feeling of getting to know goooooood players and chatting with them later did die. Which ultimately led to me feeling I was doing the same content over and over again (nothing new here) with complete strangers, most of whom are asshats.

In essence, the LFG tool is a great tool which does solve some problems, but at least for me created a much, much larger one, it killed the social aspect of the game.

Nothing fundamentally wrong with Cata for me. I did like harder content (Heroics being hard = good), archeology was a fun past-time, the revamp of the world was awesome, as were the new races. But without the luxury of time to raid I once had, and with no real social interaction, I'm better off spending my time doing other things.

Still, with 11,4 million subscribers, Blizzard has plenty of time to address this issue and/or work in their next mmorpg.
#21 May 11 2011 at 6:22 AM Rating: Good
You know, that's a very good point. I don't interact with anyone on my server except for my guildies 99% of the time (other than my bf E of course). I hadn't really thought of it before, but I talk about how awesome Proudmoore is as a sever, and I really have no idea since I don't know anyone outside the guild.

The LFD tool is great as you level, and it can definitely be convenient since you don't have to sit in the city while waiting to get a group together. But it definitely might be worth looking in to trying to make some friends outside the guild. =x
#22 May 11 2011 at 6:51 AM Rating: Good
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selebrin wrote:
*blink* *blink*
What tanks are YOU playing?


Warriors and Druids were pretty weak in early Cataclysm. At least when you weren't decked in high level gear. They've sorted out the Druid threat now, but I haven't leveled my Warrior up yet, so I don't know how they are.

And the LFG encourages antisocial behavior, but it doesn't force it. You can still be social, it's not the LFG tool's fault if you're not. Chances are, if you were social before the LFG tool was implemented and no longer are, then you were forced to be social.
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#23 May 11 2011 at 6:56 AM Rating: Decent
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Warriors and Druids were pretty weak in early Cataclysm. At least when you weren't decked in high level gear. They've sorted out the Druid threat now, but I haven't leveled my Warrior up yet, so I don't know how they are.

And the LFG encourages antisocial behavior, but it doesn't force it. You can still be social, it's not the LFG tool's fault if you're not. Chances are, if you were social before the LFG tool was implemented and no longer are, then you were forced to be social.


Beat me to it, but yeah. Druids are pretty miserable AoE tankers pre 81 when you get thrash.

Second, I realize the LFG tool causes people to disassociate themselves from the people they're randomly placed with because chances are you'll never see them again, but it's a necessary evil. As an MMO progresses less and less people do content like reg dungeons. I remember pre LFG tool it wouldn't be uncommon for me to spend an hour and a half trying to get a group together for say...wailing caverns.
#24 May 11 2011 at 7:31 AM Rating: Excellent
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False alarm everyone. It was me, I canceled 600,000 of my accounts.
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#25 May 11 2011 at 8:16 AM Rating: Good
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I've also recently quit, more down to boredom I think than anything else. I just seemed to log-on on raid nights and log off afterwards, because there was not much else for me to do. I kinda knew the writing was on the wall while I was levelling my alts to 85, I just wasn't enjoying it.

I was the last of my RL friends left playing, some core members of the guild stopped playing, and you could see how the realm was beginning to quieten down. I won't be included in those stats because I unsubbed the following month, so it should be interesting to see what the next quarter figures will be like.

And, looking at the 4.2 patch, I won't be coming back for that. Grinding dailies is not my idea of fun, or wanting the legendary from Firelands, because it will just be more of the same, log-on for raid, then log straight off again.

Personally, I'm not even sure why this expansion hasn't seemed as good as the last two, TBC or WotLK (for all its faults).

Maybe Cataclysm just didn't have enough content for lvl85's, with most of the work going on the 1-60 content that most lvl85 mains aren't concerned with, unless levelling an alt from scratch or for new players.

No new continent this time, the new quest areas weren't that impressive nor were the quests. No group quests at all. Apart from JC, the dailies were over pretty quickly too.

Professions were quite bland, including the worse one ever, Archaeology....

I did like the difficulty of the 5mans before the nerfs, but I don't think there was enough of them. I dont't think bribing players with Call to Arms was a good idea either, because to me the queue times are down to game design if nothing else. If Blizzard wanted group play in 5mans/heroics a better experience in a guild group, wtf did they think the unguilded players were gonna do?

Flying mounts in Azeroth, only allows for quicker levelling and not really seeing all the hard work they put into updating the old areas. Fly in, do quest, fly out....

#26 May 11 2011 at 8:59 AM Rating: Default
I’m down to 1 account and don’t play much, still a good pass-time when the wife is out of town and I’m drunk at 1 am...
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