At the Game Developers Conference 2024, Blizzard representatives showed a graph depicting the subscriber development for World of Warcraft over the past ten years. They also explained why the Shadowlands expansion was disappointing.
Why is the subscription information special? In 2015, Blizzard last published official information on the monthly paying subscribers of World of Warcraft. At that time, the counter showed 5.5 million WoW subscriptions worldwide.
After that, the quarterly reports only provided figures for MAUs, meaning monthly active users, across all Blizzard games. This meant that no conclusions could be drawn about the player numbers of the MMORPG.
What’s currently happening in WoW? Well, Battle Royale fun:
What does the graph from GDC 2024 reveal? The slide shown during a panel includes the expansions from Legion to Dragonflight. Unfortunately, it does not show how the number of subscribers for Legion and the others compares to previous add-ons or what the specific subscriber numbers were during the displayed period.
However, we can deduce the following from the graph:
- Legion managed to acquire more subscribers at launch than the subsequent expansion Battle for Azeroth (which achieved a record for the fastest-selling expansion).
- Not surprisingly: After the launch of Battle for Azeroth, the subscription numbers fell faster than during the Legion expansion, reaching the lowest point in the past eight years.
- However, with the launch of WoW Classic, Blizzard managed to bring the subscription numbers to the highest level since at least 2016.
- Although the release of Shadowlands caused another peak, the number of subscribers then drastically plunged. The developers speak of a “historically high churn” – despite Burning Crusade Classic and Wrath of the Lich King Classic.
- The slide shows that Blizzard expected a significantly weaker drop in subscription numbers after Shadowlands due to the two Classic versions.
- With Dragonflight, there was again an increase, but the graph ends at a significantly lower level than during the launch phases of previous expansions.
Are there really no indications of the exact numbers? In the financial report for the first quarter of 2017, Blizzard stated that the player numbers for Legion were slightly above the numbers for the previous expansion (via Bellular).
From this, we might derive the following insights:
- The lowest level of subscription numbers may have been around 4 million players in Battle for Azeroth.
- During Shadowlands, the low point was about 4.5 million active players.
- Bellular assumes that the subscription numbers have risen so significantly with the current season of discoveries that around 7.25 million players might be playing WoW right now.
- At the start of WoW Classic, about 8.27 million players likely had a subscription. This aligns with the associated financial report (more than twice as many players as at the low point of Battle for Azeroth).
The Reasons for the Failure of Shadowlands
In another slide, the developers analyze where the issues of the Shadowlands expansion lay. They identified one problem with the story and setting. The Shadowlands were not tangible for players as a setting, and the new antagonist was poorly developed. Popular heroes were pushed into the background.
However, the responsible parties also identified weaknesses in the gameplay. The systems did not meet players’ expectations, and there was again a development in character strength that is not relevant for the future (Borrowed Power). Additionally, there was a lack of variety in the content.
Finally, the communication with players was not effective. The community felt unheard, and the developers were not transparent enough. There were also long phases without new content.
How do you evaluate the graph, the numbers, and Blizzard’s analysis of Shadowlands? Let us know in the comments!
Currently, there are again reasons for heated discussions in WoW:
“Stop being so negative” – Big WoW streamer complains about players criticizing Plunderstorm
