World of Warcraft Numbers Drop Again

Blizzard's money-making monolith took another hit in recent months, according to Blizzard's latest financial reports. And yes, I do consider this more important than Gamescom news.

Last time we checked the subscription numbers for World of Warcraft last May, they were sitting at a steady 7.1 million—barely over half of the subscribers the game enjoyed at its height, and a sizeable dip from the 10 million they got with the release of Warlords of Draenor. But now, three months later, we’re finding that number has dropped even farther: losing 1.5 million subscribers. They’re currently sitting at 5.6 million, a record low for the company. Now that’s still a respectable number, but if the trend continues, we’ll soon reach a point where Blizzard simply won’t be able to sustain those massive server and development costs from subscription fees alone. And if that happens… no saying if they’ll bother keeping the game up and running just for the few players who remain, as a sort of public service.

The good news is that Blizzard has got an announcement for a new expansion at the ready, which will be revealed sometime during Gamescom: and historically, expansions have been enough to bring some of those lost souls back to the open arms of Azeroth. However… that’s just becoming a band-aid solution at this point, and have, at best, slowed the losses. Whatever this next expansion has to offer better be big: otherwise we might not be getting another. Presumably, however, I’ll be eating my words later this week when Blizzard reveals Warcraft: The Free Taco and Puppy Expansion.

Also, interesting note, despite World of Warcraft’s failings, all of Blizzard's other games—Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and Starcraft 2—are doing fantastically, so don’t expect Blizzard to go out of business anytime in the near future.