'World of Warcraft' Lost 1 Million Gamers in Three Months. Is It Over?

[El Mahdi]

Remember World of Warcraft...? Chances are you've come across someone in the throes of its infamous addiction. Released in 2004, the massively multiplayer online game had 12 million subscribers at its peak in October 2010 -- but has been losing them ever since.

'World of Warcraft' Lost 1 Million Gamers in Three Months. Is It Over? - Yahoo! News

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It still has more players than all other MMOs combined. No, it's not over, especially since Blizzard does exit surveys -- on their earnings call, they said most people went to Diablo III until the next expansion comes out.

 

[ComradeGnull]

It's a pre-expansion lull. We won't really know anything about the health of the game until after Mists is released (not just because players who have lapsed because they are tired of the current content may re-sub, but also because we've yet to see what the changes to the game will do to participation).

It will be a long time before anything conquers WoW, if only because any new MMO really has to hit the ground running with content and quality that rivals a game that has been tinkered with and improved for 7 years. New games are not competing with WoW as it was new (replete with bugs, lag, and server queues) but as it is now. That's a hard target to hit just because of the complexity of a MMO.

 

[Nylanfs]

It's because of The Secret World

 

[El Mahdi]

It's because of The Secret World

I thought it was just because Cartman and his friends finally took a bathroom/shower break...

 

[Krug]

Well Everquest is still there right?

Even Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is going Free to Play from what I hear.

I used to be a WOW addict, but canceled my subscription after a month of the last expansion. Will probably do the same for Mists. I don't have time to take part in Raids, Dungeons are all right, but nothing really wants to make me stay on. Sure, some of the gear is pretty, but you know that the basic gear in the NEXT expansion is going to outclass that.

 

[Herobizkit]

WOW is pretty much a game where you make your own fun.

I've dropped and re-subbed many times over the past 3-4 years... I haven't been a very goals-oriented player until recently when I decided one of my characters was going to make the motorbike. With goal in sight, I now have purpose to play.

People who PVP, or Raid, or Instance over and over for rare goods... or just wander around Stormhole-er-wind and follow newbs through starting areas... or try and explore the entirety of the world map (which I've done, woot)... there are very few people in the WOW universe that have done EVERYTHING they could POSSIBLY do.

But when they're done doing everything they WANT to...

They'll change games. But like the above posters said, few games have the theming, style, and rich history that WOW offers.

 

[dammitbiscuit]

That game is enjoyable when you have constant uptime - when you're a lock draining the HP you need to survive the next fight, a pally healing amid smashing face, etc. The long downtimes of travel and drinking/eating really expose the grind and the artificial barriers, though.

Here's hoping with Mists they find a way to ensure more players experience constant action. I don't like WoW as it is now, but I'm not going to hate them just because they're the big fish in the pond. If a developer makes their game more fun, I'm willing to come back regardless of who it is and how many people have a vendetta against them.

 

[ComradeGnull]

That game is enjoyable when you have constant uptime - when you're a lock draining the HP you need to survive the next fight, a pally healing amid smashing face, etc. The long downtimes of travel and drinking/eating really expose the grind and the artificial barriers, though.

Here's hoping with Mists they find a way to ensure more players experience constant action. I don't like WoW as it is now, but I'm not going to hate them just because they're the big fish in the pond. If a developer makes their game more fun, I'm willing to come back regardless of who it is and how many people have a vendetta against them.

Hm, I had the opposite experience. The streamlined travel and very limited need to ever eat or drink while questing or running instances made the game feel less immersive to me and was a factor in me dropping my sub. I had the same complaint about Warhammer Online- the teleport-style travel from one region to the next made it feel less like I was exploring a real world, and more like I was warping from level to level in an arcade game.

Just illustrates how hard it is to get designing a MMO right- which explains why WoW will be around for a while, as they've gotten a lot closer to satisying the masses than anything before or since.

 

[El Mahdi]

Yeah. I agree with what most people are saying here. This is just a natural low right now, but WoW isn't going anywhere. Maybe subs will even continue to decline for a little while, but I think they'll eventually stabilize...even if it's at an overall lower average of subs. They're always going to have ups and downs, but they aren't going away anytime soon.