World of Warcraft hits 9 million subscribers worldwide

by Elizabeth Harper Jul 24th 2007 at 3:10PM

Though World of Warcraft's growth has slowed (at points, reversed entirely) since the release of The Burning Crusade, today it's finally hit 9 million active subscribers world-wide. The game reached 8 million subscribers in January, hit 7 million last September, and had 6 million last March. For those of you not trying to do the math at home, these numbers tell us that they averaged 160k new active subscriptions a month from 8 million to 9 million, 250k new active subscriptions a month from 7 million to 8 million, and 330k new active subscriptions from 6 million to 7 million. Though with a new expansion coming (I imagine we'll be getting plenty of news about it at this year's BlizzCon), I can only imagine we'll see another subscription bump -- and perhaps actually see the predicted 10 million subscriber year.

So grats to Blizzard for reaching another MMO milestone!

Tags: blizzard, subscribers, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, wow

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Me-So-Hornay Jul 24th 2007 3:23PM

Hmm... rough estimates are that 1/4 of all accounts are gold farmers. And I don't doubt that.

So that's 2 million accounts actively farming gold.

And people wonder why Blizz really only pays lip service to gold sellers?

Ever wonder why NO ONE knows of anyone who's been banned for BUYING gold?

Do the math?
2M accounts @ ~$15/m = $30,000,000 USD PER MONTH in revenue. Add to that the new fees the farmers incur whenever they do a farmer purge, and it's quite clear:

BLIZZARD DOESN'T REALLY WANT THE CHINESE TO STOP SELLING GOLD.

Do you think the bigwigs at Blizz sit around at their shiny boardroom and say:

"Gee, Bob, let's stop all this gold selling and cut our revenues by about $350M a year!"
"Wow, Bill, you're absolutely right! Who cares about a third of a BILLION dollars!"

You know who cares? The CEO, the Chairman of the Board, the CFO and the stockholders.

You try and explain to them that revenues went down that much a year and not watch yourself get shown the door.

They talk a big game, but really, that's all it is... TALK.

And anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. The accountants run the game, not the developers.

So continue to buy gold, people... Blizz won't do shit about it. And nor should they. If you're willing to spend real money for virtual currency, go on with your bad selves.

RogueJedi86 Jul 24th 2007 3:30PM

"Dinged 9 million"
"Gratz"
"Grats"
"Gratzi"

Xonate Jul 24th 2007 3:40PM

@1

I highly doubt there are 2 million gold selling accounts. However, your points are still right. Blizzard isn't going to suddenly beat down their profits like that. They are going to work to ensure that gold sellers have a harder time communicating with those who don't want to hear it though, as that could also cause profits to drop, if people quit because they're sick of the gold selling.

Eldiablohijo Jul 24th 2007 3:42PM

I'm curious to see the percentages of that 9 million that each country accounts for.

Slayblaze Jul 24th 2007 3:47PM

@1

There is no way that 1 out of every 4 players are gold farmers (you did say "1/4 of all accounts" right?)

Not even close. I'd say more like 1 out of 100 as a very aggressive estimate, probably more like 1 out of every 1000 players are paid-gold-farmers under the employ of a farming company.

loltrainz Jul 24th 2007 3:48PM

@1
Wow your so off in your statements...Blizzard has been known for being one of the top gaming companies fighting against gold farmers. Oh and BTW I know people who have been banned for selling accounts and gold...gg

Me-So-Hornay Jul 24th 2007 3:50PM

@3:

Well, I don't know if that's the correct number, it's just something I've seen thrown out there.

And you're spot on: they may try to stop people from "advertising" in-game, but the websites are alive and well. And they're not going anywhere.

Some thoughts to ponder:
Why won't Blizzard ban gold buyers? Well, first off, since the monetary transaction takes place *outside* of the game, there's really no way for Blizz to be 100% sure the recipient of the gold actually PAID for it. If Blizz was cracking down on gold buyers, and I knew of someone I really didn't like in-game (and boy, I can think of at least one)... I could spend a few bucks and have the gold sent to them. So really, there's no conclusive evidence that money changed hands between the buyer and the seller.

As far as the numbers go, well, there are 1bn people in China. You've got to think that maybe 10% of them are between 15 and 30... probably closer to 15%. That's 100 million potential employees... if even 1% of them are working farming (and from the sounds of it, besides sweating it out in a factory to produce goods for the west, there's not really much else for a young person to do), then that's 1 million active accounts. Still works out to about $175 million US a year in revenue for Blizzard.

So, it just makes financial sense for Blizz to turn a blind eye. And they do.

Omegi Jul 24th 2007 3:50PM

Players in Asia do not purchase the game or pay a monthly subscription. They pay by the hour and the game is free to download. So its possible to have one person playing 20 accounts 10 hours a month.

If I last recall the majority of players are actually in Asia. Though I think they have the lowest impact to lore or wide sweeping changes in game play compared to other regions the game is played. Only thing I can recall the Asian players impacting is the way spam is filtered. And thats due to gold sellers.

Omegi Jul 24th 2007 3:53PM

And in Asia gold selling is perfectly acceptable and a viable business. It's the western countries that frown upon that business model.

But if an Asian player is capable of selling to one western country it more than makes up the trouble they went through to sell it.

Me-So-Hornay Jul 24th 2007 3:54PM

@6:
Use some basic logic.

Of course they're hard against FARMERS. When did I say they weren't?

I said they look the other way to the BUYERS.

If they periodically purge farmer accounts, the farmers have to spend another $30 on a new account. Which they will happily do. Their return on investment makes it financially viable.

If people didn't buy, or Blizzard started banning BUYERS, in no short order would the farming cease and ALL of those accounts would leave WoW and go serve other gamers on other MMORPGs.

Do you REALLY think that the executive at Blizzard would cut that much money out of their revenues?

Welcome to the real world, kid. It's not about the game, it's never been about the game. It's all about the money.

Me-So-Hornay Jul 24th 2007 3:55PM

@8: I wasn't aware that they paid by the hour in Asia.

Nice.

It doesn't invalidate the main point though: that Blizzard stands to lose tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars annually if the farmers went away.

James Jul 24th 2007 3:56PM

@1

Rough estimates? Where is your source for that rough estimate? Your friend's cousin's dentist? If you're going to put that much math and thought into your post, congrats, but it all means nothing unless you cite your source. And if your source is the aforementioned dentist, friend or some loudmouth off the WoW forums, don't bother.

I don't know of anyone that has bought gold, let alone got banned for it. The people I hang out with in WoW aren't that stupid, and I doubt the people most of us hang out with in WoW are that stupid. Thats why 'no one' hears about it. Just because you've never heard anything about it, or your close personal friends doesn't mean it doesn't exist. That's like arguing that Australia doesn't exist solely because you've never seen it.

If you can provide a legit source for your 1/4 of accounts are gold farmers, please do, as I think that could actually lend credence to your statement that Blizzard isn't in much of a hurry to ban them all.

RogueJedi86 Jul 24th 2007 4:03PM

@#7/Me-So

You forget one minor thing: NOT ALL GOLD FARMERS ARE WORKING ON WOW's GOLD. There are many many other games. From FFXI to City of Heroes to EQ2 to SWG to Dark Age of Camelot. It isn't 999,999 Chinese people on WoW Gold, and 1 guy working on all the gold for the dozens of servers for FFXI, EQ2, CoH/CoV, SWG, and DAoC all at once.

So no ,not even that 1% of the 10% of 18-30 assumed gold farmers are working on one game.

Me-So-Hornay Jul 24th 2007 4:03PM

@12, sorry, if you read down, you'll see I amended my figures.

The NY Times estimated that in 2005 there were over a quarter of a million gold farmers employed in China.

Using simple extrapolation, it's obvious that number could *conservatively* be over a million now.

And, no, I'm not going to link my source. You go find it. I told you where it was. It's there.

Me-So-Hornay Jul 24th 2007 4:05PM

@13: Of course not. But I guarantee the numbers are proportional. If 60% of MMORPG players are playing WoW (and I don't know what the number really is, I just picked one), then you can reasonably expect 60% of the gold farmers to be farming WoW gold.

Pent Jul 24th 2007 4:11PM

Looks like WoW has 52.9% of the market, therefore shouldn't a rough guess be 132 thousand players are gold farmers?

Pent Jul 24th 2007 4:12PM

oops, source: www.mmogchart.com

Elizabeth Harper Jul 24th 2007 4:16PM

I might add... for the gold farmer accounts they keep, they also lose business of players annoyed by the spam and disliking the practice.

I do not think that banning gold farmers is such a bad proposition for them -- yes, they lose money from the gold farmer account subscriptions, but at the same time they keep or gain money from players disliking the practice.

Also, there are no concrete estimates on a number of gold farmers in the game and no way to verify any estimates people are giving in these comments. Any guess people are making here regarding the amount of profits Blizzard gains from gold farmers are pure speculation. The answer, though unsatisfying, is that we just do not know.

h8rain Jul 24th 2007 4:18PM

/roll

You rolled 54. So there are 54 thousand gold farmers :)

My math for ya.

Omegi Jul 24th 2007 4:20PM

@15

Not entirely true :)

There are a ton of Korean based games that are free to download and play and you can still legally buy gold and items. There are many other games that are pay by the hour and you are able to buy gold and other items legally. So if every person is able to sell gold or items to a mass selling site does that constitute them as "gold farmers"? And if they are considered gold farmers then you would have to break down exactly how many are doing it professionally with zero time for enjoyment of that game.

So the answers needed to justify any sort of budget impacting negligence on Blizzards end are.

1.) How many Asian players, not including multiple accounts for the same person.
2.) How many are doing it for profit in Asia
3.) How many are doing it for profit in western countries
4.) How many do it as a "job"
5.) What percentage of the Asian MMO's are played for item/gold trade/sell and what percentage of those does WoW hold

To say 250k wow players are gold farmers in Asia may be grossly misconstrued by the amount of accounts a single player may possess and play at the same time. I would say that in order to justify a true western number of gamers you would have to take an equivalent of total monthly income and divide it by the estimated monthly subscription we pay in the western countries.

Ex.
$1,000,000.00(monthly income)/$15.00(typical subscription fee in western countries) = 66k players

So when considering the player base vs actual gold farmer you need to consider that Blizzard counts paying accounts as a player. Regardless if 1 person has 20 free copies of wow and only pays $6 a month total to play a few hours.