PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
In its latest earnings report, World of Warcraft publisher Activision Blizzard has revealed that the PC MMO has lost nearly three million subscribers in just three months.
The publisher stated that for the quarter ended March 31st, WoW has 7.1 million subscribers, compared to 10 million at the end of 2014.
Why the decline? Well, Kotaku has one theory, pointing out that the dip in numbers may have something to do with the latest expansion pack.
Looking at the below graph from MMO-Champion, it appears that the drop in subscribers occurred directly after a huge increase, which coincides with the expansion pack launch.
The expansion’s biggest selling point was the character boost, which lets players immediately leap to level 90. “This was a huge hook for both lapsed WoW fans and curious newcomers. But once they tried out the endgame, many of those fans likely left,” said Kotaku’s Gergo Vas.
It appears that once players hit level 100, there’s not a lot left to do. So ironically, the popularity of WoW’s latest expansion may indeed be the very reason why it now has an unfortunate dip in subscribers.
Despite the decline, WoW remains as the top subscription-based MMO in the world.
