World of Warcraft: Blizzard Reveals Rise in Subscriptions

SBFord

During today's investor call-in, Activision-Blizzard revealed the fourth quarter results for 2013. Bobby Kotick stated that World of Warcraft subscriptions were up to 7.8 million, slightly higher than last quarter's 7.7 million. In addition, Starcraft II was the best selling PC title in 2013 and Diablo III has sold over 15 million copies across all platforms.

Blizzard Entertainment has a n expansion to the top - selling PC and console game Diablo® III and another major new release. Also in our pipeline for 2014 and the next few years are at least three potentially groundbreaking new free - to - play franchises — Blizzard’s Hearthstone™: Heroes of Warcraft™ and Heroes of the Storm ™, and Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty Online . We believe these games have great global potential. Free - to - play as a business model has now achieved scale, both in the West and in China. Hearthstone , which released in open be ta on PC last month and which Blizzard Entertainment plan s to expand this year to tablets and smartphones, is already attracting millions of players with strong engagement and monetization in the West and China, putting it on track to join World of Warcraft ® , Diablo , and StarC raft ® as their fourth mega franchise.”

Read the financial overview here.

expresso

I must re-install Starcraft 2, thought id wait for 3rd expansion but there appears to be no sign of that anytime soon. 

Dreamo84

Uh oh... This is gonna get a lot of hate from the people expecting it to keep dropping. In before "those aren't real subscriptions" and "so what that's barely anything" even though most MMOs would kill to gain 100,000 subscribers in one quarter.

adderVXI

100,000 is more than most have totally I think. Seriously though, Wow is on life support!!! :-)

inoxcopia

Frankly, i'm surprised that the subs stop falling.... i stopped playing 3 weeks ago... and the activity on servers was the lowest i have seen. Where are all those subscribers? 2 possible scenarios: Blizz is not telling the truth or there is a secret place in wow where all ghost subscribers gather and play pet battles.

 

 

Dreamo84

Originally posted by inoxcopia
Frankly, i'm surprised that the subs stop falling.... i stopped playing 3 weeks ago... and the activity on servers was the lowest i have seen. Where are all those subscribers? 2 possible scenarios: Blizz is not telling the truth or there is a secret place in wow where all ghost subscribers gather and play pet battles.

 

 

I was waiting for the lying! They told the truth and admitted to losing millions of subs but now they decided to lie and say they gained 100 thousand. Makes sense...

And let's be honest, you don't mean activity on servers, you mean activity on your server which really isn't an indication of anything. I resubbed myself about a month ago and my server is pretty hoppin'.

inoxcopia

Don't be so naive m8... i wouldn't say something judging only from my server. I was using oQueue most of the time. So i was mostly on other servers. 

Nephelai

That's the Sep-Dec period when MoP patches were being released. It'll drop this quarter with no content schedule for 6-9 months.

I wish they would report subs based on NA, EU and Asia as the Asian model of being counted as a sub for paying at least a minimum amount of time during the quarter isn't consistent.

deniter

They offered -75% discount just before the end of Q3 2013.

And some time ago subs went down 1.3 mil to 8.3 mil, and Blizzard stated 'the majority of the sub losses came from China'.

So, would it be safe to assume the majority of this rise comes from China as well?

sportsfan

The OP was wrong.

The rise was 200K, not 100K when you compare it with 3Q results....

Most MMO publishers would kill for a 200K subscription rise.

And WOW is 9.3 year old.

The influence of Hearthstone is already starting to show.

WOW's Hearthstone is already the hottest new game on Twitch. It is practlically made to be viewed on the internet and played on iPads.

So the on line revenue increase for games and subscriptions for 2013 against 2012 is no surprise really.

WOW will be hot again for the next 3 years and the movie will make the franchise explode or implode (for the haters)

TY Hearthstone for saving the skin of so many at Irvine.

 

 

 

syriinx

Originally posted by deniter

They offered -75% discount just before the end of Q3 2013.

And some time ago subs went down 1.3 mil to 8.3 mil, and Blizzard stated 'the majority of the sub losses came from China'.

So, would it be safe to assume the majority of this rise comes from China as well?

They don't count people on their free month so those people wouldnt count for Q3

kosaboy

Originally posted by syriinx

Originally posted by deniter

They offered -75% discount just before the end of Q3 2013.

And some time ago subs went down 1.3 mil to 8.3 mil, and Blizzard stated 'the majority of the sub losses came from China'.

So, would it be safe to assume the majority of this rise comes from China as well?

They don't count people on their free month so those people wouldnt count for Q3

Actually they do count the free month. Says so on what "subscriber" means on the fiscal report.

syriinx

Originally posted by kosaboy

Originally posted by syriinx

Originally posted by deniter

They offered -75% discount just before the end of Q3 2013.

And some time ago subs went down 1.3 mil to 8.3 mil, and Blizzard stated 'the majority of the sub losses came from China'.

So, would it be safe to assume the majority of this rise comes from China as well?

They don't count people on their free month so those people wouldnt count for Q3

Actually they do count the free month. Says so on what "subscriber" means on the fiscal report.

I stand corrected.  Must have got it confused with another games subscribers.  I did remember the internet cafe one though.

 

Subscriber Definition: World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have 

an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their 

free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also 

counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or 

cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same 

rules

Arakazi

This game will never die.....

Dreamo84

It's a safe bet we will see Ultima online perish before we ever see the death of WoW.

Bruhza

But certainly this must spell doom for it! DOOM I SAY

reeereee

I'm surprised, but not that surprised.  Blizzard is finally moving away from the heavy emphasis on quest grind/daily grind and has the first expansion (though somewhat cheesy with time travel elements) since wotlk that I didn't just groan in disappointment and disgust when hearing about it. 

 

I think the fact that WoW has managed to retain so much of it's customer base over two very lackluster expansions in the face of rapidly increasing competition speaks more to the endurance of the game than rising subscriptions now.

rojoArcueid

Originally posted by adderVXI
Seriously though, Wow is on life support!!! :-)

dont insult the rest of the mmos like that.

RebelScum99

Originally posted by inoxcopia
Don't be so naive m8... i wouldn't say something judging only from my server. I was using oQueue most of the time. So i was mostly on other servers. 

I'm resubbed and my server is hopping, too.  And why would you think Blizzard is going to lie about GAINING 100k subs when they've been truthful about dropping millions?

Good logic.  

 

Theocritus

I could see a rise in subs for the 4th quarter.....People may have given the last expansion as a gift or bought time cards.....Now if they gain 100k subs the next 3 quarters I'll be surprised.

reeereee

Originally posted by Theocritus
I could see a rise in subs for the 4th quarter.....People may have given the last expansion as a gift or bought time cards.....Now if they gain 100k subs the next 3 quarters I'll be surprised.

You're forgetting that WoW subscriptions have always been fairly cyclical with expansion releases.  They always get a bounce in subscriptions with a new expansion so I'm expecting a lot more than 100k for the quarter that comes out then a natural drop as people get bored with the expansion.

Murugan

Originally posted by inoxcopia
Don't be so naive m8... i wouldn't say something judging only from my server. I was using oQueue most of the time. So i was mostly on other servers. 

Ahhh love this community where opinions are facts, and facts are downright lies.

 

I wonder if in the near future we will do away with all facts, studies, financial reports, textbooks etc. since your generation has so completely embraced your own inflated sense of worth regarding your completely biased anecdotal observations of the world.  Blizzard and all companies really should tailor their financial reports after a "choose your own adventure" style.  Then people can just have their own personal agendas readily confirmed every quarter without having to pick and choose which ones to blast all over the internet, and which ones to denounce as conspiracies.

GoldenArrow

I know a lot of people that returned to WoW after Hearthstone and FFXIV boom calmed down.

WoW subs always take a hit when an AAA MMORPG gets released and after month or two they gain back _some_.

Precusor

This thread seems kinda quiet. ...So uh, not the news everyone was expecting? lol!

tawess

Well that does lend it self to the theory that there is a market for a few sub games in the sea of F2P

 

But yes there will be a dip as TESO and WS releases but as always people will find their way back from time to time.

Arthasm

Uh-Oh, I expected sub drops and 30+ pages long thread about "dead horse needs to go to F2P". My next prediction - release of Wod,1-3 million subs increase and only 2 pages thread!!!