Place 4 – World of Warcraft
Setting: Fantasy | Developer: Blizzard | Platform: PC | Release Date: November 23, 2004 (February 11, 2005 in the EU) | Model: Pay2Play
What is known about the total number of players? Since 2015, the Blizzard officials have refrained from giving concrete player numbers for World of Warcraft. At that time, the counter stood at 5.5 million WoW subscriptions worldwide.
An overview of total player numbers is even older: In December 2013, an anniversary infographic on wow-europe.com revealed that until then they had welcomed 100 million different players.
More than eleven years later, the number is likely to have increased significantly. Due to the combination of The War Within, the various Classic variants, and the return to the Chinese market, they even reached what is purportedly a new high of active players in September 2024.
But why is this only enough for 4th place? Well, because the top two spots play in a different league… 3rd place, however, could be within reach as soon as Blizzard reveals more up-to-date numbers.
Here you can see the trailer for the current WoW Patch 11.1:
What kind of game is this? WoW has brought the MMORPG genre into the mainstream with a colorful and unusually accessible theme park and has dominated, influenced, and restricted the entire market for many years.
The mix of quests, dungeons, raids, PvP, and many other activities still works so well today that Blizzard can still require a subscription for WoW. How well or badly you can play the MMORPG for free is explained in this experience report.
Although the game has now also been around for more than 20 years, the graphics upgrades have ensured that WoW looks significantly younger and more modern today than various MMORPGs that were released years later.
Who is this game worthwhile for? WoW remains one of the best theme park MMORPGs on the market, allowing you to choose from a whole range of different versions (Retail, Classic, Seasonal, Hardcore) for your preferred gaming experience.
You can expect a fine-tuned, accessible MMORPG packed to the ceiling, where you can have a great time either alone or with friends, as a PvP or PvE fan, with a lot or little time: With The War Within, starting fresh with WoW – is it worth it?
