The subscription numbers for World of Warcraft have been in free fall for almost half a year. At least that’s what the analyses from SuperData suggest.
With WoW Classic, Blizzard and especially the Warcraft franchise experienced a new surge. The subscription numbers exploded in August 2019, bringing WoW a second spring. But that didn’t last long. The latest analyses paint a grim picture, indicating that WoW is now in a worse position than before the release of Classic.
This was the last status: Just over 2 weeks ago, there was a financial report from Activision Blizzard. J. Allen Brack emphasized that WoW Classic has more than doubled its player numbers compared to the second quarter of 2019. WoW Classic led to a new surge in subscriptions. But evidently, it was just a brief pleasure before the next plunge began.
Then it continued: As reported by SuperData, the subscription numbers took a nosedive after the sharp increase with the release of WoW Classic. 64% of players reportedly dropped out between August and January, leaving both WoW variants behind them – at least here in the West. We have already analyzed here why players stopped with WoW Classic.
Patch 8.3 helped only a little: SuperData also discusses the release of WoW Patch 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth. Although it managed to reverse the downward trend and resulted in a 17% increase between December and January, it makes the loss of 64% of players between August and January seem even more bitter.
Also, the outlook for the upcoming months in WoW looks rather bleak. There are still many months until the release of Shadowlands, but at least the beta should start in a few days. In WoW Classic, however, the release of several raids is still pending, which could potentially bring back old players.
China as an unknown variable: A problem with the data is that SuperData does not include the Chinese market, as they cannot access this data. Particularly there, WoW Classic is said to have been especially popular and retained players for a long time. The information thus refers only to the Western market – but it paints a rather grim picture there.
All this information should be taken with caution. Blizzard has not released official subscription numbers for years, so the information from SuperData cannot be easily verified.
Do you think the downward trend will continue? Or will modern WoW and WoW Classic see a new upward trend by the release of Shadowlands?
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