Thanks to WoW Classic, pirate servers are losing a massive number of players

Has WoW Classic heralded the end of private servers? It seems so, as player numbers are dwindling.

World of Warcraft Classic has been released for just over two weeks. While the official servers are bursting at the seams and there are still long queues in the evenings, another type of server is currently losing players massively: pirate servers or private servers. At least that is what the colleagues from Kotaku report, who have spoken with the operators of these servers.

Private servers are losing players: Since the release of WoW Classic, the number of players on private servers has dwindled. Some, like “Light’s Hope”, have even completely closed down, which some operators see as a “relief”. The long work has now come to an end. They are somewhat proud of what has been achieved, as the years of commitment from the operators and players of such private servers have contributed to the fact that WoW Classic exists today. After all, Blizzard even met with the developers of the largest private server, Nostalrius.

The two private servers Kronos and Elysium, which were previously extremely popular, have now lost 25% of their player base. The operators expect that this number will rise to 50% to 60% in the coming weeks.

Less “fear” on official realms: One reason for the player exodus is that official servers generally run “smoother”, display fewer errors and bugs. Additionally, they offer official support from Blizzard and there is no risk of the server shutting down suddenly, causing players to lose all their progress.

Some remain loyal to private servers: However, there are also some fans of private servers who are attached to them and are not willing to switch to the official “WoW Classic” realms. They cite several reasons for this, such as:

They do not want to pay €13 per month for a 15-year-old game and feel ripped off.
Their PC can only handle the “original” WoW from back then, not WoW Classic.
The layering technology makes many people skeptical.

Additionally, there is the concern that Activision Blizzard will later introduce loot boxes or other forms of additional monetization in WoW Classic, which is why they prefer to stay with private servers where this is excluded.

In any case, the number of players on private servers is decreasing – whether they will completely disappear is rather unlikely. The hype around WoW Classic seems unbroken. Even two weeks after the release, there are still regular queues when logging in.