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World Of Warcraft Subscriptions Plummet To 5.6 Million
The next World of Warcraft expansion can't come soon enough for Blizzard.
Today during the Activision earnings call the publisher revealed that number of subscribers for its popular MMO have dropped to 5.6 million, continuing a downward trend for the title. Since the high water mark of 12 million subscribers in mid-2010, the number has vacillated between expansion packs, but we haven't seen a number this low since 2005. More than 10 million users were subscribed last November, when the Warlords of Draenor expansion released. That number dropped to 7.1 million in May and continued to plummet to its current level.
Six days ago Blizzard announced plans to reveal a new expansion for World of Warcraft during Gamescom this week.
Our Take
While a 5.6 million subscriber base is still nothing to scoff at, you can't fault Blizzard for pushing more furiously for another expansion given the huge drop in numbers since Warlords of Draenor released. New expansions typically bring back a large number of players who had abandoned the title, but to stem the tide of these fluctuating numbers Blizzard needs to come up with a plan to keep players in the fold.
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