Activision Blizzard recently revealed that cash cow World of Warcraft lost 1.3 million subscribers during the first quarter of 2013. It's a significant drop as the subscription-based MMORPG played host to more than 12 million back in 2010. The good news for the publisher, however, is that WoW is still the world's largest game of its kind with 8.3 million players in the fray. They've even got a Guinness World Record to prove it.
Subscriber decline isn't anything new for World of Warcraft as gamers have slowly but steadily been moving away from the game for a few years. The title received a boost late last year when Mists of Pandaria was released but the new subscribers weren't sustained.
The company noted that drop-offs were mostly seen in the East although there were declines in the West as well. But what does the future hold for Activision Blizzard's hit title?
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said he believes further declines are likely and they expect to have fewer subscribers in a year than they do now. That said, the executive revealed plans to release more content for the game on a more regular basis. What's more, the team wants to make it easier for lapsed players to pick the game back up after taking a break all while keeping existing gamers engaged.
Kotick concluded that they believe in the long-term value of the franchise and will continue to commit substantial resources to the game.