Support NeoGAF

[qa_engineer]

What goes up must come down. I guess this refresh or add-on they're releasing is going to make that number jump back up to 7 or even 10 million users, or so they hope. Hopefully, for Blizzard's sake, this isn't a sign that the series is just getting old and dying a slow death.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

I think WoW is in its dying years now.

 

[Obliterator]

Crazy WoW drop

Diablo IV pls

 

[Zareka]

Jesus Christ that drop.

 

[idlewild_]

5.6m? That's not too far above where FFXVI was last quoted, iirc (which I think was 4m)

Those are lifetime numbers (anyone that has ever bought the game.) FFXIV is well under 1mm concurrent.

 

[mnannola]

Time for World of Warcraft 2. Honestly, the game is a relic, they should do a restart.

Agreed. I can't be excited for any expansion to a 10 year old game. The game has run it's course and then some, it's time for a new MMO experience, with completely new gameplay systems.

 

[Nirolak]

Crazy WoW drop

Diablo IV pls

I think we're likely to get one more expansion pack first, but it is possible they just moved on to the next game.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

5.6m? That's not too far above where FFXVI was last quoted, iirc (which I think was 4m)

Nope. That's just clever wording by Square. The game sits below 1m normally - it's just had over 5 million people buy the game since launch. Not subs.

 

[Adaren]

Wow looking at the graph and realizing I haven't played since 2010, damn time has flown by. How the fuck did they lose so many people in such a short time? Don't tell me they still have huge content droughts.

It's a lack of content combo'd with a lack of the roleplaying and social elements that enchanted people during the Vanilla days (when the game sold itself as a world instead of a hamster wheel).

WoW being a social game also means that there's an amplifying effect: when your friends leave, you leave too.

 

[Begaria]

I remember when Diablo 3 first launched. Amidst always online complaints, it not working well for the first few days, the auction house complaints, the complaints about the mechanics and game design...

And yet after one expansion and a lot of fantastic game design changes, here we are at 30 million sold. Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls is a hell of a game. Can't wait for 2.3. I have to force myself to stop playing Diablo and focus on other games otherwise I just get caught in the endless fun loop of grinding.

 

[Deku Tree]

Oof.

So wow has really been well below 10M for most of the time since 2012 except for one short temporary WoD spike.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

I think we're likely to get one more expansion pack first, but it is possible they just moved on to the next game.

With this sales figures, I sure hope so.

 

[Recall]

I wonder how much profit Blizzard has made solely on subscription fees? Then again I wonder what the overheads are?

 

[fedexpeon]

WoW's drop is impressively quick

When you keep doing chores, you tend to get tired of that BS and rather take a break and play outside.

 

[mysteriousmage09]

Well deserved loss and sheds light as to why they are announcing the xpac at Gamescom rather then waiting until Blizzcon as usual.

 

[Couleurs]

Lol, no. 5.6 million is still huge for an mmo with a subscription.

It is, but they've lost approximately half their subscribers in just 6 months and the next expansion is around a year away, so shit is looking dire.

 

[Kikujiro]

Isn't this natural? The game is really old and nowadays there are plenty of different and popular social games.

 

[Lain]

Yeah.... I'm actually shocked that WoW is down to 5.6 million now. What a huge/fast drop.

I'm not shocked at all. WoD started strong but turned out to be a shallow expansion and the devs at the helm of the expansion are just clueless about what they should do or say.

 

[ConceptX]

No king rules forever my son.

Not surprised, WoW is B-Tier for Blizzard now.

They figured out they can create projects with smaller teams, smaller development costs and bring in higher revenue and margins, ala Hearthstone, HoTS and Overwatch.

It's quite something to watch though, how dramatically fast it's falling.

 

[StereoVsn]

Diablo 3 next expansion is a complete no-brainer at this rate. Maybe we'll see it mid to end of 2016. As for WoW, I think it's the combo of it being simply old and then of course having a terrible expansion.

Blizzard really needs to get another real MMO going.

Edit: As far as revenue, I don't think anything Blizzard has could beat WoW at it's height, Hearthstone or HoTS combined would not come close. That sweet subscription $$$ was pretty darn great. Well, plus revenue from Asia.

 

[cw_sasuke]

+5 million is still a very high number... They still have way to goes before they go f2p and/or release a streamlined version on mobile platforms.

 

[Iadien]

Isn't this natural? The game is really old and nowadays there are plenty of different and popular social games.

Absolutely not normal. If the new expansion isn't releasing until June or so, the numbers are going to just continue to drop, and the numbers haven't been this low since 2005.

 

[Jira]

Diablo 3 next expansion is a complete no-brainer at this rate. Maybe we'll see it mid to end of 2016. As for WoW, I think it's the combo of it being simply old and then of course having a terrible expansion.

Blizzard really needs to get another real MMO going.

They already did...for something like 6-7 years of planning Titan, then canned it. Overwatch is what Titan's PvP was going to be.

 

[Tovarisc]

Post-RoS D3 is absolutely worth of purchase, Reaper of Souls and patches that has came since have really remade D3 and it's strong game now. Upcoming 2.3.0 is adding more features and content while improving existing stuff.

 

[AmaterasuOni]

Expected. Well, I was expecting this since WotLK. Game is just a borefest. I even tried to hop back in Cataclysm. Quit after two months. It's just not the game it used to be. F2P expansion coming out.

I'm curious to see how Blizzard will try to transfer these subs to their new MMO.

 

[orochi91]

Patch 2.3 is going to ruin me another 600+ hours..and i don't mind! fantastic game for sure so happy how it turned out. But seeing those WoW sub numbers dropping hard well Blizzard it is time to step it up and make me exciting again for the new expansion since WoD was good but not mindblowing or anything also i blame the garrisons they ruined the whole game.

I got a Furnace to drop for my Wizard and a Calamity for my Demon Hunter recently, but held off playing for a while until Kanai's Cube is released.

I'll finally be able to to do damage in the billions!

 

[RespectThySole]

Diablo 3 RoS is a stellar game. Well deserved.

 

[ConceptX]

Blizzard really needs to get another real MMO going.

Why? They cost far too much to develop and maintain, it's not worth it vs what they can create and bring in with f2p games.

They won't make an MMO again, they already tried. cancelled it, and salvaged side content from it to create Overwatch.

 

[Knox]

Well earned.

The content for non-raiders was shit. People enjoyed the 90-100 leveling but then they were left with the realization that the best use of their time was to sit around and monitor their Garrison missions. They took all the things that could have been used as compelling rewards for actual content and put it in a shitty management sim.

The raids were great though, enough for me to log on for a couple times a week (until recently). But there was really no reason to do anything else.

 

[StereoVsn]

They already did...for something like 6-7 years of planning Titan, then canned it. Overwatch is what Titan's PvP was going to be.

Well, they need to release a real MMORPG is what I mean. Clearly Titan was going to be a disaster if they canned it like that.

 

[Berordn]

I'm curious to see how Blizzard will try to transfer these subs to their new MMO.

What new MMO? They scrapped Titan and moved everyone onto smaller F2P projects.

Titan got reworked into one of them, in fact.

 

[vinnygambini]

Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone®: Heroes of Warcraft™ and Heroes of the Storm™, and Activision Publishing’s Destiny combined now have more than 70 million registered players and over $1.25 billion in non-GAAP revenues life-to-date.

Previous quarter both Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft & Destiny equated to $1 billion in revenue.

Why did they lump Heroes of the Storm to that sum this quarter now? Seems odd.

Lack of transparency here.

 

[Rhaknar]

thats a hell of a drop. I actually played a lot of MoP but Warlords I barely touched after getting to 100 on 1 character. Also for the first time I felt "done" with the game, we'll see. Not even a stab at the game, just, 10+ years of 1 game is a lot, it has probable run its course for a lot of us

 

[Won]

Impressive drop. They earned that one. Keep up the bad work, Blizzard.

 

[1st Course]

I wonder how long it will be before the game goes Buy 2 Play? At this point they almost ought to be looking at a Destiny-type monetization strategy, rather than a monthly subscription.

Last quarter they blamed China for loss of subscribers, seems like the game is losing steam fast there.

Blizzard Entertainment had the largest Q1 online player community in its history, up a double digit percentage year over year despite no major launches in the quarter. As expected and consistent with our experience following prior expansions, we saw a decline in the World of Warcraft subscriber number. Subscribers ended the quarter at 7.1 million. World of Warcraft’s revenue performance at constant FX has been more stable, driven by continued strong uptake on value added services, and price increases in select regions, which partially offset subscriber declines, particularly in the East. World of Warcraft remains the No. 1 subscription-based MMORPG in the world.

Maybe they will make China F2P version like they did with Diablo III (Players in China have 2 choices for D3: F2P or B2P).

 

[Granadier]

What day are they talking about the new xpac?

Thursday

Expected. Well, I was expecting this since WotLK. Game is just a borefest. I even tried to hop back in Cataclysm. Quit after two months. It's just not the game it used to be. F2P expansion coming out.

I'm curious to see how Blizzard will try to transfer these subs to their new MMO.

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[Lucumo]

Is it really 30 million copies of Diablo III actually sold? I mean, they gave away a lot to WoW subscribers. The report also states it just simply as that.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I think WoW is in its dying years now.

Yep, but just looking at the graphs it certainly looks like their missteps with WoD hastened its demise...

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

WoW

 

[Dahbomb]

Bring on the next D3 expansion already!

 

[AmaterasuOni]

What new MMO? They scrapped Titan and moved everyone onto smaller F2P projects.

Titan got reworked into one of them, in fact.

I know they scrapped Titan, but they have to have something in mind where they try to transfer these people and that revenue. MMO, F2P, Freemium, something Warcraft coming in 2018 or something like that.

 

[Obliterator]

I think we're likely to get one more expansion pack first, but it is possible they just moved on to the next game.

Yeah I would be ok with either really, Diablo III has turned into a fantastic game.

The good news is you don't move 30 million units and not follow up on that so we are getting more Diablo 1 way or another sometime soon

 

[Weebos]

Do we have any numbers for the other subscription MMOs?

I have the impression that WoW still has several times whoever is in second place, but I'm interested in any actual data.

 

[idlewild_]

Previous quarter both Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft & Destiny equated to $1 billion in revenue.

Why did they lump Heroes of the Storm to that sum this quarter now? Seems odd.

Lack of transparency here.

HotS was in beta until June, they probably lumped it in since it has been fully released now.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Well, they need to release a real MMORPG is what I mean. Clearly Titan was going to be a disaster if they canned it like that.

I don't think this makes any business sense for Blizzard compared to introducing more things that their now smaller audience will spend higher dollar values on, like shop mounts, vanity pets, transmog items and all the extremely expensive character services people resort to now that server pops are dropping below enjoyable levels. Sinking another AAA budget into a genre that--as the bellwether--is collapsing rapidly strikes me as a very poor move.

 

[BebopMcJigglypuff]

Last quarter they blamed China for loss of subscribers, seems like the game is losing steam fast there.




Maybe they will make China F2P version like they did with Diablo III (Players in China have 2 choices for D3: F2P or B2P).

They jacked up the price of minutes by around 45% in late 2014 in china (they have a different subscription model)

 

[lazygecko]

When your design philosophy is completely centered around the content treadmill, you better damn well make sure you can deliver on a regular basis.

 

[Jira]

Well, they need to release a real MMORPG is what I mean. Clearly Titan was going to be a disaster if they canned it like that.

Blizzard already said they're done with MMOs. The company is now focusing on smaller, easier to develop, more casual games like HoTS/HS/Overwatch.

 

[vocab]

Blizzard made WoD to be anti mmo, anti social, and having nothing to do. They did this shit. Content delivery system sucks, it's slow, and barely worth waiting for. Either the next expansion blows our balls off, or its done.

I'm really shocked d3 sold that many copies. What a soulless husk of a game.

 

[g23]

isn't a new WoW expansion supposed to be announced today?