

World of Warcraft Loses 800,000 Subscribers
In the latest earnings report from Activision-Blizzard, it was revealed that World of Warcraft has lost 800,000 subscribers between March 31st and June 30th. The report before had listed the amount of active subscriptions at 7.6 million players, bringing it down to 6.8 million. The publisher was quick to note that most of the 800,000 lost were in Asia's player base. While many people are quick to chant that World of Warcraft is dead the major drop in players is something common between each expansion pack, though it has been more severe since the end of Cataclysm, the expansion pack which saw the player amount at it's peak of 12 million subscribers.
Developer Blizzard has consistently fallen short during the second year of each expansion pack, where players are left to run the same content repeatedly as they await a new expansion, and in a time where MMORPG popularity is on the decline the amount of players it bleeds draws much more attention than it did years ago. Does this mean the end is nigh? Hardly, as very few high production MMORPGs ever drop to numbers that put it in that danger zone, and WoW is still far out in front in terms of subscribers. What this does mean however, is perhaps things should be taken to heart to help stop the subscription bleed. Numbers are expected to jump back up with the release of the new expansion, but only time will tell if the expansion will hold the returning players in. As reported yesterday, Blizzard plans on revealing the release date and the official cinematic for Warlords of Draenor next week on August 14th.