World of Warcraft is down to 7.1 million subscribers, from 10 million at the end of last year.
World of Warcraft, despite riding a massive 10 million high following the launch of Warlords of Dreanor last year, has just experienced its biggest drop in subscribers in history. The game is down to just 7.1 million subscribers according to Blizzard’s Q1 2015 earnings call, meaning it has lost 2.9 million players in just three months.
To put things into perspective, check out this cool graph MMO Champion put together showing World of Warcraft‘s subscriber numbers over the years:
As you can see, the game peaked right around the end of Wrath of the Lich King and has been steadily declining since, with the occasional short-term burst in numbers. Despite the decline in subscribers, Blizzard does say that actual revenue from the game has remained fairly consistent, thanks to a strong uptake on value added services (such as paid level 90 boosts), and price increases in select regions.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Blizzard, however, as their earnings report also announced that Hearthstone is up to 30 million players from 25 million last year, and 11 million people have signed up for the Heroes of the Storm beta.
Source: MMO Champion
