World of Warcraft Reaches 10 Million Subscribers

Blizzard's World of Warcraft is played by over 10 million subscribers worldwide.

World of Warcraft continues to grow as its user base hits the 10 million subscriber milestone. The MMOG is home to more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, 2.5 million in North America and another 5.5 million throughout Asia. It is currently distributed in seven languages, with a Russian version in development.

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard defines a subscriber as anyone who has paid a subscription fee, has an active prepaid card or used an internet game room in the last 30 days. This figure doesn't include free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid card.

Blizzard Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Mike Morhaime said, "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."

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... and the rest of us arn't looking forward to what WoWs (and other MMO's) continued success will do to the rest of the PC game industry.

I fee like the Imperial March should start playing every time I see that logo.

YOU CANNOT KNOW THE POWER OF W.O.W.!!!!!!

10,000,000 x US$15/month. $150,000,000 per month. Hey Blizzard could I get some meaningful content that doesn't involve raid-grinding please?

...Wow. WOW has actually attracted so many people, it's rivaling "The World" for popularity... and the figures in .hack// were mainly created to imply that the game is more popular than FFVII.
(If you don't know what "The World" is, you need to play more .hack//.) ;)

Man, I've watched people play WoW and I just don't see it. I've done my share of MMOs (usually the free korean type and for a brief time City of Heroes) and I still can't understand what puts WoW over the top. I guess it's for the people who's computers don't rival NASA in performance ability.

It all seems like level grinding to me.

10 million lost souls....

Fire Daemon:
10 million lost souls....

When will we LEARN?

Hehe, im playing WoW with an IRL friend. Its quite fun when played with someone u know. Ive also ended up finding a friend in WoW to from Holland :D
Its no Project EvE but the simplistic gameplay (grind grind grind - return q´s, empty precious loot, sell crap - repeat repeat repeat...) make it easily accessible to ppl who arent hardcore gamers. And hardcore gamers play to be 1337 over everybody else ;D

Mix advertising, the former Warcraft rep and especially easy gameplay and you have a winner. Example is my guild in WoW, I asked around everybody their age. I was the oldest! I´m 24 go figure... Only a couple over 18, most around 12-16 years old. Some didnt even know what a forum was and after awhile i noticed that the youngest players usually quit playing a char at level 20-35 of 70!...
Thats what a too easy to play game ends up like especially with heavy advertising.

Another comparison is Project EvE where i played a mining char. I was in a very large industrial corporation and the age differences was almost reverse to those in WoW.. I was among the youngest and we only had a couple of dewds and dewdettes under 18. The commitment to the game was better and it was more fun to play. The backside of EvE however was when you played alone,, boooring. In WoW all I do when Im alone is battlegrounds to farm honorpoints and better equipment.

And finally, the 10million mark isnt that special. From what ive heard, Lineage II and another asian MMO is bigger than WoW. But thats in asia so noone notices over here?

Lance Icarus:
I guess it's for the people who's computers don't rival NASA in performance ability.

Well YEAH. Most new MMORPGs coming out these days make my computer cry like a little baby. I like playing a game that I can actually run! It's fun.

Lance Icarus:
It all seems like level grinding to me.

True, 'dat. But it's pretty GOOD level grinding, in comparison to the competition! If you like to grind levels? You could do worse than WoW. And boy, do I like hitting the bar to get my tasty, tasty snack pellet.

As much hate as wow gets it got the successful game formula right. Work at something and be rewarded, able to play on low end machines/macs, have lore but don't make it important, appeal to both the casual gamer and the 1337 gamer.

I survived that dreaded world. I escaped and ended my subscription, destroyed my character, and gave about 3000+gold to some random in Iron Forge. I made sure I wasn't going back! No one has followed my example of course, there's now 10,000,000 people doomed to live out the rest of their WoW-lives as zombies.

hypermonkey:
... and the rest of us arn't looking forward to what WoWs (and other MMO's) continued success will do to the rest of the PC game industry.

You mean.. expand the accpetance of gaming? We don't want that now?

slyder35:
10,000,000 x US$15/month. $150,000,000 per month. Hey Blizzard could I get some meaningful content that doesn't involve raid-grinding please?

In fairness, not everybody gets charged that amount. Over 5.5 million users in Asia, and they get charged by purchasing pre-paid cards which allow them to play for a certain amount of hours. I believe the price is around 6 cents (american) per hour.

Kwil:

hypermonkey:
... and the rest of us arn't looking forward to what WoWs (and other MMO's) continued success will do to the rest of the PC game industry.

You mean.. expand the accpetance of gaming? We don't want that now?

Say what you will about WoW, but it's a good enough game to draw in people that wouldn't normally give PC games or MMORPGs a chance. My best friend? Thought the whole thing was stupid... then I convinced her to make a trial account and come play with me for a bit. Now? She's level 70, in a major raiding guild, and PvPing every chance she gets.

It's a bit alarming, if you think about it.

Why can't they also bring that stuff to the consoles massively?

Fire Daemon:
10 million lost souls....

The Elder God is watching...

Natsu_Blaze:
...Wow. WOW has actually attracted so many people, it's rivaling "The World" for popularity... and the figures in .hack// were mainly created to imply that the game is more popular than FFVII.
(If you don't know what "The World" is, you need to play more .hack//.) ;)

I definitely agree, although in my opinion The World looks like a freer place (albeit different) than WoW. However, this next expansion with hair cuts and new dances etc. looks to be quite fun and immersive.

deftune:
And finally, the 10million mark isnt that special. From what ive heard, Lineage II and another asian MMO is bigger than WoW. But thats in asia so noone notices over here?

Yeah, and if the figures in this article are accurate, WoW's success is mostly in Asia anyway.