Blizzard has not spoken about subscriber numbers in quite some time. After reaching 11.5 million paying customers almost two years ago, World of Warcraft hit a few snags, plateauing the numbers. Mainly, the total closure of the servers in China, which contributes a healthy number of paying customers. The re-launch of WoW, coupled with launch of Wrath of the Lich King in mainland China is the likely culprit that enabled Blizzard’s product to edge past the dozen mark. Excuse me, the million dozen mark.
WoW Reaches 12 Million Players!
Today we announced that World of Warcraft has passed another major milestone and now hosts more than 12 million current subscribers around the globe. Check out the press release for the full announcement, and thank you to all of our players for making this possible — we’re grateful for all of the support and enthusiasm you’ve shown over the years, and look forward to continuing to provide you with great entertainment experiences for a long time to come.
I can only imagine the numbers increasing further in the upcoming months. Naturally, the release of Cataclysm on December 7 will see the return of thousands of accounts that went dormant these past few months. And Chinese MMOG players have become bored with the grind-heavy MMOGs that region is known for. Both should add more to WoW’s impressive number.
How high do you think WoW can go? Will Cataclysm draw in enough new and old players to break the baker’s dozen? Or has it already hit its high-water mark?
*Clap* *Clap*
It’s quite an impressive number, and one of the reason’s most company’s fear MMO’s. This is something that takes Year’s and billion’s of dollar’s to achieve. I applaud Blizzard’s dedication and ability and I’m sure there’s always room too grow.
It’s just too bad most of those subscriber’s consist of hacker’s and gold farmer’s.
/cheer. Now lower the monthly subscription charge to 10-12 bucks and get the rest of the world under your control. :P
@ nextgener:
Did you know 95% of all online statistics are made up on the spot?