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World of Warcraft Now Officially Successful – Passes 10 Million Subscribers
Some may have doubted it, thought it had reached a plateau, but today Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft has officially hit 10 Million subscribers. With 2 million in Europe, 2.5 million in North America, and 5.5 million subscribers in China, Azeroth now has the 80th highest population of the 221 countries in the world.
Blizzard was also happy to remind us that the Burning Crusade was the highest selling PC game in North America in 2007, as well as the record for the fastest selling PC game ever, at 2.4 million copies sold in one day. Because they so totally earned it, here's a quote of Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime "gloating" over the news:
"It's very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft. We're always pleased to welcome new players to the game, and we're looking forward to sharing the next major content update with the entire community in the months ahead."
Blizzard also clarified that this subscriber number counts only those who have paid a subscription fee in the last month, use a prepaid card in the last month, or are using the free 1 month trial that comes in the box. Those using free trials or promotional codes, as well as expired subscriptions and prepaid cards, are not counted in this total.
I think it's appropriate to use the phrase here: Wow. 10 Million people all playing the same relatively hardcore game, all at the same time is really quite mind boggling. I myself have played World of Warcraft as much as possible for as little as possible (2 free trials and the 1 month that comes in the box), though I have always considering going back in if any of my friends would be willing to join me. The game really does have an addicting quality to it, one that I would probably have continued if I hadn't got my Xbox 360 just as the trial was ending. How many Gaming Steve readers and listeners count towards this incredible number?
I'd jump back in the only reason I got out was my P.O.S. computer crashed every 5 minutes while playing. If i ever get a Video card or anything I got a nice Orc waiting to kill centaurs.
Posted by Cobra at January 22, 2008 7:06 PMI played heavily over the (australian) summer after in was released. I forced myself to stop before university started as it was far too much of a time sink. I was level 45 when I stopped and the game was feeling fairly repetitive. Don't people get bored of it eventually? I'm amazed at how many people are still playing years later.
Posted by Jer at January 22, 2008 7:48 PMI simply avoid this game. I don't doubt it's lure and great gameplay. I just don't want to become a statistic of those victims who've had their time and life drained from them. I don't have the will power to play this in moderation, I'm sure of it.
Posted by Eligecos at January 22, 2008 7:59 PMI was never a fan of MMO's so I never tried it out. I have no doubt it's good, but it's just not for me.
Posted by Sub at January 22, 2008 8:23 PMI'm still a fan, and still playing on and off since launch. Over the years I played and stopped for a few months. Until the desire to go back to Azeroth came back. I tend to play with moderation, having a family, real life is more important for me than games...
But I do love the world of Azeroth...
Posted by Bataillon at January 22, 2008 8:49 PM5.5 million gold farmers. Blizzard must be proud.
Posted by Snap at January 22, 2008 9:10 PMI've said it before, but their B-rated actor advertising campaign was brought in at the perfect time to make a final push towards 10,000,000. Now they just move on from there.
Many people will say WoW isn't a good game, and my personal wants for an MMO agree in that respect, but it IS a good game with Activision Blizzard's backing of experienced and well-paid personnel.
They knew what they were doing by making WoW. Unfortunately, they probably also knew that they couldn't make a Warcraft IV without making some screwy lore twist. Maybe they even planned Starcraft 2 to come out around this time...
Posted by Paroxysm at January 22, 2008 9:42 PMI grew tired of the game. Played it for the free month, and went on and off it for like two more weeks out of two more months that I bought.
I just can't do it. Not anymore.
This game has pretty much killed any and all interest I have in MMOGs.
I'll stick to multiplayer cooperative games between friends, thanks.
(I'm writing up some little design document in notepad about a game I'd like one day; maybe I'll share it sometime)
what they don't tell you is that they count deactivated accounts in their numbers,
ya they've had a total of 10 million accounts, there aren't that many people playing it though.
Now that Azeroth counts as a country, I think America should invade it.
That's a war I'd get behind. :D
Posted by Mr. Wizard at January 23, 2008 2:27 AMActully Clayface I think you will find they don't count deactivated accounts. Steve talked about this a while ago. Blizzard make a point of the numbers they give are the active player list.
Posted by Cobra at January 23, 2008 5:24 AMI love blizzard games, i started playing them at warcraft I, with older brother, i still want to play wow, but i think i like halo 3 more.
Posted by PikMini at January 23, 2008 9:27 AMI don't play it, haven't even tried it.
I've played similar games, I know what the draw of the game is, and I know I'd get hooked, but I don't want to. These games constantly give you a feeling of accomplishment, and as long as you keep investing time you'll get a bit more and then a bit more, but when you quit, what did you really accomplish?
It's frighteningly pointless. With all that time you could do something meaningful. Playing WoW is easy, it's a game! Doing things in real life demands much more of you but you'll get more in return. If all you do when you live is play a game then why live?
Yes I know "it's not a waste of time I'm having fun!"... etc but in the end it's pointless. Popping pills can make you happy too. Of course, not everyone let's it take over their lives, but oh so many do
Posted by teo at January 23, 2008 10:42 AMWell Blizzard, it downhill from now on, you`ve past the klimax.
When will this game die out and how can ppl. stand the boredom of it?
After 6 months of playing i couldn`t stand it so i threw it away :)
There are more satisfying, complex and deeper mmo:s out there like EQ2, the fantastic LoTRO and soon to come Age of Conan.
The one good thing with WoW is that it makes playing other mmo:s much more fun because then there are less annoying kids around.
There is no such thing as a deep MMO. The very nature of the genre won't allow for it. I myself am I recovered WoW addict. I've been off WoW for about two years now I think.
I tried the LoTRO MMO just this past weekend with a free trial. I wasn't all that impressed. No, reason to drop WoW to pick it up in my opinion. If I didn't already own WoW though it would be worth it.
Posted by n10sity at January 23, 2008 1:57 PMI played wow for about two years before i quit to focus more on school. I really enjoyed it, simply cause I raided on a fairly high level. We cleared all of SSC and got to P4 kael before i quit. I experienced 11 bosses in Naxxramas before the expansion came out as well.
I would try other MMOs, but the only thing that I would really care about is an experience similar to raiding, cause thats what really made WoW shine in my opinion. I loved that experience, and I really don't know what other MMOs offer for that kind of an end-game experience.
Otherwise, WoW is just like any other MMO, grinding to the highest level, and of course thats no fun, but raiding with 25 guildies was. Yes its a commitment that has no physical value, but socially and mentally, I think it did.
Posted by Mystic Esper at January 23, 2008 2:27 PMLots of MMOs have raiding, WoW didn't exactly invent it so don't worry about that.
The thing with hanging out with people in online games a lot is that when you or they quit the game, suddenly you might not have anything in common anymore. As long as you have this huge common interest, the game, they feel like your best friend, but that can change really fast. A raid as a shared experience doesn't compare to sharing experiences in real life, at least in my experience.
I'm not trying to diss online social contact, but it's easy for it to get out of hand and behind a computer you hardly have to commit anything of meaning (IMO) and it just makes everything worth a lot less.
Doing something for 4 hours a day with the same people for 2 years would never compare to doing the same thing in real life, in terms of the bonds you'd develop.
Posted by teo at January 23, 2008 2:45 PM"5.5 million gold farmers, Blizzard must be proud"
lol, true.
Posted by swerv at January 24, 2008 5:22 AM"With 2 million in Europe, 2.5 million, and 5.5 million subscribers in China,..."
And the 2.5 million are where? North America? US? In a galaxy far, far away?
Posted by Karen at January 24, 2008 3:23 PMHahaha, I'm from SERBIA :D LOL
[im not playing WoW]
Posted by DieH@rd at January 24, 2008 7:50 PMI'm to from Serbia.Much of my frends are trying to convince me to play WoW,but i will not,because its so time/money consuming.I could go in the bar,hangout with my girlfrend,do some sports or whatever.I know the whole WoW story/history blah blah blah,but in the end,when u sit down and think for....10 seconds you can see that there are much more things to do beside WOW.
Posted by Black_Waltz at January 25, 2008 10:19 AMAnd another hello from Serbia, I played WoW for about 8 months last year, I think it's great game, but needs to much time...
(BTW, that is not picture of Serbia, but of Serbia & Montenegro, our former country :))
You said it in one word, Clayton: Wow!
Posted by Doubleclick at January 28, 2008 6:30 PMPlease keep your comments relevant to this entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.