World of Warcraft needs new expansions – especially from a financial perspective. This is shown by the information from SuperData and highlights the importance of addons.
New expansions for World of Warcraft are a great thing. After all, there are fresh contents, new systems, and always a small boost in new players. But new expansions are also essential for WoW from a financial standpoint. At least that’s what SuperData says, concluding that the releases of expansions are “the lifeblood” of World of Warcraft.
Where does the information come from? The information comes from SuperData. They analyze a lot of data around the gaming industry and regularly produce comprehensive reports, such as on revenues and player numbers. They then sell the complete reports to the industry, but part of the information they make publicly available.
New expansions increase WoW’s revenue by 160%
What was specifically shown? Although the exact revenue figures are missing from the graphic, the graph from SuperData illustrates what WoW earns at the start of an expansion compared to the rest of the time. Thus, revenue at the start of the last two expansions (Legion and Battle for Azeroth) increased on average by 160%.
This is not surprising when you consider that at the release of a new expansion, players have to purchase it, often paying the price of a full title – in addition to the subscription fee.
However, the graphic also shows the decline in revenue. While the value normalized after the launch of Legion, it continued to drop with Battle for Azeroth – apparently many players canceled their subscriptions or were unwilling to invest more money into WoW.
What does this mean? Looking at the graph, it should be clear why World of Warcraft tries to maintain a high frequency of new expansions. After all, the player base then increases suddenly, and so do the revenues. How long players stay engaged depends on the remaining content – it didn’t work out so well in Battle for Azeroth.
Expansions are also a good entry point for returning players. Few players want to jump into an addon later and then catch up on content for weeks until they are caught up. At the launch of a new expansion, all players start more or less “from scratch” – this should lower the entry barrier.
So far, this strategy seems to be working well, since although WoW is regularly declared dead, new expansions keep appearing, and their scope appears to be increasing. However, after 2-3 major patches, it generally ends, and work begins on the next addon. Will this also apply to the upcoming expansion Shadowlands?
