Blizzard has announced that it now has over twelve million subscribers to its World of Warcraft MMORPG game, and if I were a betting man, I’d say that number will climb slightly in December, when the next expansion arrives.
“The support and enthusiasm that gamers across the world continue to show for World of Warcraft reaffirms our belief that it offers one of the best entertainment values available today,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We are as committed as ever to taking the game to new heights, and we look forward to demonstrating that with Cataclysm in December.”
One should note that the total number of players is based on total number of current subscribers, not necessarily the number of people who play on a regular basis.
7 Comments
I play and I’m proud, I might be wrong but it feels that’s its made online gaming acceptable. There are horror stories but hell isn’t there with everything?
I disagree with what was mentioned on the show, about WoW being released before it was ready/finished. One of the reason the game was such a success and that Blizzard itself is so successful in their game releases, is that they won’t release something till it is finished and polished. Since the beginning (player since closed beta here) there has always been a ton of smooth running content in the finished product of the game and therefore it has had massive staying power. I know that this is the top dog that people want to poo poo on because it is so popular but it really deserves its place. It is a really deep game that runs smooth and has a little something for everyone. I know this comes across as fanboy but so what.
Sure, but I live in Belgium and it is way cooler then Azeroth… :)
also, I think a game that requires subscribers to pay is a good indication of true popularity.
I played faithfully for about a year and a half after Wrath was released. I finally can see the appeal of the game, but the community drove me to quit. They’ve placed such a high emphasis on grinding heroics and getting raidgear for seemingly no reason, that that’s what all the new content patches serve to. In the end I favor story and gameplay more than maxing stats and killing a boss faster than anyone else.
I’ll stay over here in Guild Wars land and faithfully await the fantastic sounding Guild Wars 2. :]
Wow, 12 millions that’s something, maybe it’ll catch up to Ragnarok Online that has been around for 8 years and has 40 millions players…
Please don’t compare Ragnarok to WOW. It saddens the common sense fairies.