Blizzard: 70% in WOW don't pass level 10

By Robert Purchese Published 10 February, 2010

Has 11.5m subs. SCII closed beta in Feb.

Blizzard has revealed that only 30 per cent of new World of Warcraft players make it past level 10.

That's the tipping point at which people either stay or go, which make's the game's 11.5 million subscriber base all the more impressive.

In an investor call following the release of Activision Blizzard's financial results, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said the game had a stable subscriber base of 11.5 million players - the same figure announced in July 2008.

Mindful of that dropout rate, Morhaime restated WOW expansion Cataclysm's goal of bringing the existing 'old' world of Azeroth up to "current design standards". That add-on will be released sometime this year.

He also announced that the closed beta for Starcraft II would begin this month, with thousands of players expected to take part across the world, while the revamped Battle.net platform would be released to allow the RTS sequel to be made available digitally as well as in boxed form.

He had a few words on the current situation WOW is facing in China, too - claiming operating partner NetEase was running the game "normally right now" and that the suspension of new registrations was linked to a public holiday, rather than yet another political row over content.

However, he did admit that while the company was hopeful that expansion Wrath of the Lich King would be released there soon, that and prior expansion, The Burning Crusade, had been submitted to the authorities for checking.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • sarcasmoidosis #1 2 years ago

    It's a shame, really. Most classes don't have their personality cut out yet at that level. And the game improves a lot in the next levels.

  • Rirekon #2 2 years ago

    Fewer than I'd expected, good on them

  • Orange #3 2 years ago

    white_frank_white has it spot on!

  • LazyDan #4 2 years ago

    If all the classes started like the Death Knights do, then I reckon more people would stay on. Each class should have a DK style phased questline which deals with teaching players how to use their spells/skills in an interesting way, then spits you out at level 10 with some nice items to get your started.

  • rodpad #5 2 years ago

    Still, having 40 million people feel the need to at least try and install the game is no small feat.

  • Gurgeh #6 2 years ago

    "Gold. Sellers. "

    Hmm, there's a fair percentage of those, but it would be easy to overestimate their numbers as it only takes a few of them to be very annoying. I would say that most people just dont see it as worth a subscription, and if Blizzard think that revamping their starting zones and simplifying the game is going to alter that I suspect they will be disappointed. It's difficult for newcomers to see what they get for a monthly fee over (say) a FPS with free servers, or XBox Live, and many will be just curious to see what the fuss is about.
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 00:03

  • Shikasama #7 2 years ago

    I seriously, SERIOUSLY question any number Blizzard ever releases.

    11.5 subs sounds impressive for example, until you realise that the vast majority of them come from China who pay next to nothing to play the game.

  • Eury #8 2 years ago

    #9 Wrong. Around 50% is from Asia but that also include countries like Korea that have similar payment as here in the West.
    Chinese players pay for the hour, and that can be quite a bit if you play several hours each day.

    #10 There is a difference between subscribers and characters.
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 00:16

  • Benno #9 2 years ago

    Yeah, that makes it really unimpressive

  • Eraysor #10 2 years ago

    I wish we could pay per hour, it'd probably work out better for me. I'm not free for 30 day blocks at a time.

    I think Blizzard are doing the right thing with Cataclysm; the early levels are so bad especially compared to the WotLK content that I'm really discouraged from making any new characters.

  • Nephirion #11 2 years ago

    Most veterans are looking for a completely new WoW experience which never materialises the fact the engine is looking pretty old nowdays doesn't help

  • Vyggo #12 2 years ago

    I think it's gonna bring old players back in to see whats up. Not sure how long they are gonna stay.

    I just started playing WoW again after a few years break. I have BC and Northrend to look forward to so I am not bothered with new content at the moment. I really like some of the changes they made, the dungeon finder is great for a casual player like me.

    That only 30% plays past level 10 is very shocking, I guess they know the figures but it sounds crazy..

  • otto #13 2 years ago

    It's official: I'm in the top 30% of WoW players! :D

    /flex

  • sneetch #14 2 years ago

    If they revamp the starting zones to the same quality as in the Burning Crusade or WotLK then it could make a huge difference. As it is the start areas have you running over and back all over the place for boar meat and herbs, change that to an area with a decent plotline and sensibly grouped quests (like the Blood Elf and Draenai starting areas) and people would see a different WoW.

    The quests and storylines in the expansions are a massive improvement over the original game but people don't know that until they trundle through the old world and even with the increased leveling speed that's a bit of a chore to do.

  • ircaddicts #15 2 years ago

    ahh i see the usual lies from blizzard are still being told. IT DOES NOT have 11.5 million players it has about half that if its lucky and about half of those are gold famrers. I'm not supprised wow is the most boring game I've ever played. I lasted 2 hours and quit.

  • Shikasama #16 2 years ago

    Actually sneetch, they'd see the saem WoW.

    Regardless of what they do with new zones and what not, after a week/month/couple of months you're back to where you were. Raiding or Arena.

  • Mattnik #17 2 years ago

    "ahh i see the usual lies from blizzard are still being told. IT DOES NOT have 11.5 million players it has about half that if its lucky and about half of those are gold famrers."

    Care to back that up?

  • Silvervein #18 2 years ago

    11.5 milion subs, and 70% of them don't make it past ten. So, we have 7 million with a bit of gold farmers, and 3 million people playing that game. Wow. Nuff said.

  • hiruu #19 2 years ago

    Are some of you people retarted...that isn't 70% of 11.5 million...the 11.5 million are the active users...so basically...the 11.5 million is 30% of people who try WoW...I think LTD, it's has probably reached it max (maybe a million more or so), and it will slowly start to decrease in the coming years...maybe 2-3 more years.

  • AphoticCosmos #20 2 years ago

    But 100% don't pass beyond the threshold of their basement.

  • SlackMaster #21 2 years ago

    I'm wondering what sort of spec laptop or desktop I'd need to run WOW at reasonable graphics settings.

  • Seoh #22 2 years ago

    @slack master

    even quite a basic laptop should be able to play world of warcraft quite well, couple of gigs of RAM and dual core CPU and a dedicated graphics card (something Nvidia or ATI) and you should be laughing

  • geeza2020 #23 2 years ago

    ^^ ho ho ^^

  • tossetaz #24 2 years ago

    I wonder if they, when counting early dropouts, filter out accounts with other characters of level above 10, because a lot of people might have one level 80 character and several mule/chat/auction characters which would mean that the number of highlevel characters would be outweighted by those < 10.
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 09:39

  • dingo75 #25 2 years ago

    Is it accounts or characters?
    All my bank chars are lvl 1-6 for example (6 because you could disenchant items back in vanilla reaching this level).

    Concerning the changes in Cataclysm:
    Well the people playing since vanilla can brag about how Desolace pre-Deathwing altering was etc.
    It's like saying "I did Onyxia 40 man before you even installed the WoW-client young grasshopper!"

  • actionfitz #26 2 years ago

    to be fair, they really do need to sort out the old world.
    anyone playing at level 80 or so can tell you that the quality in design and visuals and content from 1-60 just does not hold up against the last 20 levels (outland and Northrend).
    updating the 1-60 content makes sense if they ever want to entice new players to replace those that will eventually quit / burnout raiding etc.

    I just hope they have the sense to update the character visuals for the older racers too. Not a chance in hell new players are gonna want to play with fugly humans/orcs/cows when there are higher poly characters with better textures etc to choose from -> bloodelves, draenai, Worgen and Goblins.
    tis a shame, because the awful undead male animations were the only thing stopping my rogue being one.

  • the_mtfr #27 2 years ago

    @frod_ "yeah, I don't really feel it until at least 25 "

    So that's why I'll never spend precious time with games where I cannot "feel it" until AT LEAST level 25... Seriously, after trying the trial and playing the heck out of it in 10 days, I got the feeling this game is for people stuck in a while loop. Age of Conan gives it to me right from the start.

  • mingster #28 2 years ago

    I'd never played WOW before but i just hit level 10 last night.
    Hmmm should i quit or should i carry on...
    still have 8 more free days of my trial so i think i may get a few more levels yet.

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #29 2 years ago

    Everyone's so busy with WoW chatter the important bit they missed..

    SCII beta starts this month - give a bit of time for the Blizzcon ppl to feel like it's worth the trip - Any thoughts that the Cata CE will come with a key too? Probly end of March? Things are stacking up for a close release of it :)

  • Lionheart #30 2 years ago

    @frod_

    Agree completely WoW really starts hooking you around level 20-25. You start developing your own unique way of playing.

  • butler` #31 2 years ago

    In the spirit of "most people are idiots", this is sadly predictable. I remember in beta when I hit level 20, the talent tree started to open up, I had two professions, and I hit the gates of Ironforge for the first time. THAT'S when I was hooked.

  • Sunyavadin #32 2 years ago

    Wow. I'm seeing mathematical fail here.

    The skewing of the figures - people thinking this implies that WoW has over 40 million players.

    *Edit - I'm going off the fact they cite a percentage of PLAYERS rather than Characters, as it implies not getting a single character on your account beyond that level*

    What it means is that the STABLE number, the number subscribed at any one time, is 11.5 million. OF THOSE, 70% will be people who are currently trying the game out. As one quits, another subscribes to try it. 8 million players at any given time are trying the game out, while 3.5 million are those hardcore players who remain on indefinitely.
    Of course, those numbers will skew more or less towards a particular side based on other factors. I expect number of long-term players increases slightly faster than it decreases, as someone moving from the "testing the waters" 70% into the "dedicated player" 30% is more likely than someone with several years invested in it quitting. So, that number's going to rise pretty constantly (And has done, to get so far into the millions).
    However, sometimes that 70% will grow bigger, like when an expansion is released, as the game takes on more new subscriptions of people tying it out.

    And yeah, gold farmer multiple accounts make up a noticeable, but probably not overly large number of those. Usually in an MMO never more than about 1%
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 11:09

  • FooAtari #33 2 years ago

    So currently it has 11.5 million subscribers? Thats 11.5million active accounts, that would not included closed accounts?

    So I wonder what the total number of account subscriptions would be (including closed/removed) for the whole life of the game.

    I don't really think it matters what spin you put it on, for a game to continue to be so hugely popular 6 years after release in bloody impressive.

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #34 2 years ago

    TBH even if your throw out China and cut out the farmers - your still looking at what 5 million tops over here and in the US? thats still massivily profitable if you remember 300k was the norm for MMOs to be deemed a 'hit'.

  • sneetch #35 2 years ago

    @Sunyavadin
    Wow. I'm seeing mathematical fail here.

    I'm seeing logical fail myself. ;)

    What it means is that the STABLE number, the number subscribed at any one time, is 11.5 million. OF THOSE, 70% will be people who are currently trying the game out. As one quits, another subscribes to try it. 8 million players at any given time are trying the game out, while 3.5 million are those hardcore players who remain on indefinitely.

    No, look at the statement again "Blizzard has revealed that only 30 per cent of new World of Warcraft players make it past level 10." Your maths would be correct only if everybody playing WoW was always considered a new player who was deciding whether or not to keep playing on past level 10. They're obviously not (most characters logged into the game at any given time are level 80), now I don't know how many new players there actually are at any given time but it's sure as hell not 100% of the entire subscription base.

    Imagine for the sake of argument that the number of new players at any given time is equal to 1% of the existing players, these are guys on their 10 day trial or who just bought the game, this would be 115,000 players give or take, of those 115,000 players 70% won't get past level 10, the other 30% will carry on, for a while at least, these 30% will roughly cancel out the people leaving (due to the fact that he said WoW had "a stable subscriber base of 11.5 million players", implying that the people joining are roughly the same number of people who are leaving).
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/10 @ 14:16

  • sneetch #36 2 years ago

    @dingo75
    Is it accounts or characters?
    All my bank chars are lvl 1-6 for example (6 because you could disenchant items back in vanilla reaching this level).

    They say players so it's accounts not characters.

    Concerning the changes in Cataclysm:
    Well the people playing since vanilla can brag about how Desolace pre-Deathwing altering was etc.
    It's like saying "I did Onyxia 40 man before you even installed the WoW-client young grasshopper!"

    Hehe, "I remember when all this were trees. Level 10 trees." :)

  • tobsen #37 2 years ago

    So 70% of WOW players do actually *not* piss away their whole spare time for this game, that's good news and gives me hope for the human race.

  • Vyggo #38 2 years ago

    @tobsen
    Yeah, like posting in comment threads of a gamer site, way more useful use of spare time. And you are right, all WoW players do nothing but play it.

  • tobsen #39 2 years ago

    @Vyggo: I didn't post this in my spare time. In the afternoon, I am actually at work.

    The destructive effect that this game has on the lifestyle of many people is well documented, and I happen to know some of them first-hand. I really hope for you that you are not one of these WOW players who are in denial about their severe addiction.

  • Vyggo #40 2 years ago

    @Tobsen

    Everyone knows that these type of games can be destructive, but it seems you like to put all WoW players under the same banner. I probably should not be offended by it as I am sure you didn't meant it that way, but I have to admit it did.

    And thanks for your concerns about me, but it is not necessary. The vast, vast majority of players are perfectly capable of incorporating this game into their life in a healthy way, and I am one of them.

  • Sharzam #41 2 years ago

    Depends on the class but i dont think that you really get an idea till around level 40, sure you have plenty spells before then but the gamestyle changes a bit shamans being a very good example as they go onto Mail armour which due to the nature of there spells is a bit of a game changer.

    But i can see why only lvl10 when i played it at launcho only did around 30 minsand wasnt intreasted, a few days later i went back and got talking to someone it was then that i past level 10 as i made a friend if wasnt for him i wouldnt of stayed.

  • Gurgeh #42 2 years ago

    Kotaku pointed out something potentially interesting - before WotLK in September 2008 WoW passed 11 million subscribers, then in March 2009 (post WotLK) it reached 12 million - and now it's down to 11.5 million. With a likely 9 month gap till the next expansion I think the subs may well fall below 2008 levels.

  • davisorle #43 2 years ago

    Well ppl dont know jack shit from MMOs and ofc you dont know what the classes deliver before about 20 that most of classes get their first worth skills. Too bad tho that not even Cataclysm isnt enough to bring me back to WoW. Maybe a graphical update instead of surface change would get stuck in their empty heads and go and freaking do it. DX10 in WoW pownage would be awesome.