World of Warcraft Hits 10 Million Subscribers
Blizzard Entertainment, owners of World of Warcraft, announced this morning that the game now has more than 10 million paying subscribers around the world. Online gameplay costs an average of $15 USD per month.
That's a huge number and one that I honestly think signals that with sufficient value delivered, consumers will still pay for software. This might be an anomaly of historic proportions, too, though.
Blizzard said today that those 10 million paying subscribers include 5.5 million players in Asia, 2.5 million in the US and 2 million in Europe. Consider that, advertisers, when insisting that only US audiences are monetizable. Niche blog (or is it niche?) WoW Insider asks in its coverage whether Blizzard has reached market saturation. The Warcraft brand was first introduced in 1994 and World of Warcraft was launched in 2001.
For readers unfamiliar with WoW, there's a lot of video on YouTube, including the following parody of Weird Al's "That's Your Horoscope Today". It's not the catchiest tune but it's a good tour of what goes on in the game and it's been viewed more than 4 million times. When you build software that becomes a platform for user generated content all about your software - then you're in a pretty sweet spot. Perhaps that goes without saying for a company that has 10 million people around the world paying $15 per month.
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Holla!
I for one think World of Warcraft isn't worth the $15,000,000 per month it gains. It never attracted me, but that doens't mean I'm being biassed. I, for one, think Buying 'Oblivion' for $70 Approx for XBOX 360 is better value then paying the equal for under 5 months. Oblivion has better graphics, gameplay & Value.
For all I think, you might as well play a free MMORPG online. Dragonfable? 2Moons?
~Keith
Oblivion has better game play and value? Man, you really missed the mark. WoW is on a different level altogether. OBlivion is a single player role playing game man. WoW has a huge community and thats what makes the game fun. Oblivion MIGHT have better graphics in some areas, but unless you've really experienced the PvP and PvE encounters WoW has to offer, you won't really understand,
Not all of that subscriber base is paying $15/mo. Their pricing models in various markets vary significantly. Especially in Asia.
just a note, World of Warcraft was released in late 2004
It's interesting to see Blizzard making the announcement on the same day another MMORPG starts selling: Pirates of the Burning Sea ( www.burningsea.com ). Was that just a coincidence?
"I for one think World of Warcraft isn't worth the $15,000,000 per month it gains."
*150,000,000 per month...pretty big difference
Spot on, and I just posted this weekend about WoW's revenue and how that relates to social networks. At least within the context of Facebook. Facebook is nothing but a game and they could learn a lot from MMO's, especially WoW.
LOL - my husband stopped playing it because the popularity of the game is skewing younger. there is supposed to be another game coming online that is supposed to combine best of WoW and Dark Ages. another time suck on the way, that's all.
@8 - referring to www.warhammeronline.com
take a look at this: http://www.spymac.com/details/?2331213
Is this 10 Million active accounts?
They claimed 9.3 million November 15, so I am thinking that this is hostorical, and the number of active accounts is much lower.
How are subscriptions handled in Asia? I can't imagine they are done by CC...
"They claimed 9.3 million November 15, so I am thinking that this is hostorical, and the number of active accounts is much lower."
Actually, according to blizzard the number of suscribers they count are soley the currently paying ones, and not including previously paying or trial accounts. So the number of people who actually play WoW is probably quite a bit over 10 million (including trials and people who take breaks for a while, then come back to the gam)
the game was released 2004 not 2001.
@Keith
"Holla!
I for one think World of Warcraft isn't worth the $15,000,000 per month it gains."
You lost a 0 :l, yes it is $150,000,000, giving an astonishing $1,8 BILLION annually.
You've make a point!
look at this: http://www.spymac.com/details/?2335736
they don't make that much money. only the US pays $15 per month. A lot of Europe and Asia's numbers come from paying per hour in web cafe's, and if someone plays for one hour, they get counted in Blizzard's numbers. So don't take too much stock in the total.
Here in Europe we dont play in Webcafes. and we pay more then $15. We pay about 12 euro.
I was a WoW addict once, its a waste of time don't bother with it. I'd rather be hanging out with real friends rather than Extacyi and Enzomine in Burning Steppes. Its a waste of time based on farming constantly, I know every WoW player out there is gonna flame me, I would flame myself if I posted this a year ago. But honestly, if u wanna throw away ur life play this game, luckily I quit right in time before I screwed up too bad.
wow.. http://www.amazing.video.mactanque.com
"yes it is $150,000,000"
No, it's much less cause Asian players pay around 2$/month for it.
Comparing those free online Rpgs to wow is like comparing two chimps playing tic-tac toe to a couple of russian chess masters playing, well, chess.
not that Wow is the pinnacle of gaming, I prefer Tabula Rasa, but i enjoy Wow.
I also believe that at this point Blizzard should lower the monthly cost, because I personally know about 10-12 people that would play if it were less money.
i played the 10 day trial acct. i'd pay to play for a month or two but i don't have time so i play cod4 to get my gaming fix. however if the game was like $50-100 one time fee i'd feel more comfortable playing it instead of sinking $15/m into it and feeling like i'm wasting my money if im not spending my time playing it.
pablasso, yes it was lauched in 2004, now we are in 2008. 4 years passed. But... probably next year a new Blizzard bestseller will be launched. D3.
Marshall: Coming from a gaming perspective, it's also an indication (along with Heroes of Might & Magic and EA's Battlefield Heroes, and all the casual gaming sites), that gaming online goes across levels of intensity and interests. In other words, Popcap, WoW, and our bee's wax (www.instantaction.com) are all part of the same continuum. As people get more and more comfortable online they see their browser as the ultimate platform.
This is really and Hot amazing!
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