WAR tops 800,000 active users mark

By Robert Purchese Published 31 October, 2008

Subscriber base still growing strong.

Warhammer Online now has over 800,000 "current players", according to financial result papers for EA.

That's not terribly exciting in itself, as the MMO had just 50,000 fewer players at the start of October. But this does mean numbers are still going up and not - as some stories would have us believe - down.

This will also make Mythic and owner EA a modest but substantial but substantial income, assuming the 800,000 players will fork out GBP 8.99 once the free trial month has run out. Warhammer Online has also sold 1.2 million copies, which is a number that silver-haired fox John Riccitiello recently deemed a success for EA.

But all of this will seem fairly insignificant to the towering form of World of Warcraft, which recently posted subscription figures of over 11 million, and expands again on 13th November with Wrath of the Lich King

Still, Mythic plans to be here for the long haul, and has already promised Blizzard a lengthy battle.

The first actions of the Mythic WAR-plan will be a major patch in December, which will introduce two new classes, server transfers and improved RvR rewards - both for instanced and openworld battles.

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.

You may also like...

Comments (49) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Inigo #1 3 years ago

    I'm really tempted to give this a shot.... but i need to get my hunter up to level 70 in WOW.

  • Eraysor #2 3 years ago

    I was enjoying it for a while, but it's ultimately inferior to WoW, especially when you add in the Echoes of Doom content.

  • hammerV1 #3 3 years ago

    Terrible support, game kept freezing up and turning blocky for ages. Countless emails and tickets went unanswered.
    Suffice to say I didnt even bother subscribing, just let my free 30 days ( which was more like 4 days ) run out and now I'm waiting for Lich King

  • InfiniteFury #4 3 years ago

    Oh for gods sake must everything to do with MMOs be compared to WoW, especially for a game doing better than predicted by many.

    B-B-B-But.....WOW has MORE subcribers! Therefore news story concludes as not as important news.

    New comparison - GTAIV sold more box copies than WAR. WAR fails.
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/08 @ 11:23

  • Benno #5 3 years ago

    I'm glad this game is doing well, it deserves to sit alongside wow. I am planning on resubbing soonish.

  • SentientNr6 #6 3 years ago

    I am enjoying it albeit mostly for the RvR, pVp.

  • rudedudejude #7 3 years ago

    I think as their support issues go down and peoples machines generally get upgraded over the next few months, new pc's for Xmas etc, more people will try this out, myself included.

    No point running it on the bag of shit I currently have.
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/08 @ 11:26

  • Dizzy #8 3 years ago

    Gz WAR team... awesome game. Loving it every day!

  • Chimpy #9 3 years ago

    Well done EA.

    From the figures it seems a large majority of players who purchased the box copy have continued with subscription.

  • Gl3n #10 3 years ago

    Good news, kinda surprising in a way.

  • porkman #11 3 years ago

    Well I played it and at first I thought it was great. But it becomes so boring after a while even the rvr stuff.

  • ZuluHero #12 3 years ago

    Its not really that surprising, it does have its merits. As some people have commented, its one hell of a retention mind, ha ha to all the 'analysts' that said it would come out with a third of that!

    And boohoo to all the wow ‘fanboi's’ who predicted this would be a failure ;)

  • Fleisch #13 3 years ago

    Its a great game, im not subbed currently (nor to WoW) as needed the 20quid to fund red alert 3 :D

  • Chimpy #14 3 years ago

    Victory for the WAR fanbois!

  • BiscuitBase #15 3 years ago

    Just for the record, I played both WoW and WAR for the first time this month. I found WoW really dull and stopped playing after a few days, but WAR was much more fun and I'm still playing it after a couple of weeks. Don't know if I'll extend my subscription yet as there's so many good games out on console at the moment.

  • tap #16 3 years ago

    Superb game but the stuttering/hitching is killing it for me.

    I've let the 30 days expire and will sub the instant Mythic get this sorted.

    Anyway, back to Dead Space ...

  • paulf #17 3 years ago

    @ InfiniteFury - WoW is the market leader so some comparison is inevitable, however comparisons should be limited to gameplay etc rather than subscriber numbers.

    Judging by the game itself I'd say War is the most solid of the 'other' mmorpgs Ive played apart from wow (conan, war and lotro) but its still not as good as wow, the real problem here is however that there are far too many good games out at the moment for war to get a look in so I think i'll stop my sub after this month and maybe resub when the games drought kicks in the new year

  • Gl3n #18 3 years ago

    Give it 6 months, things'll be much more interesting.

  • Chimpy #19 3 years ago

    Wow has had server glitches and long queues lately as well, ironically.

  • Pirotic #20 3 years ago

    But the 'free month' doesn't expire for another few days, so it's little surprise they've decided to announce these numbers now, which is pretty much akin to saying 800,000 purchased the game and got around to creating an account. It doesn't give any sort of indication of how happy those 800,000 players are and how many are going to keep playing.

    I'm certainly not subscribing once my free time runs out, so that's 799,999 :)

  • Gaol #21 3 years ago

    Quite right Pirotic. If they announce growth figures next month, or any kind of figure above 500k in fact, then I'll be seriously impressed.

  • Fleisch #22 3 years ago

    errr...dunno where you count your dates from but the game came out for retail on the 18th of September 2008, this means that by the 20something of October everyone who pre-ordered it has finished they're initial month. Lets assume some people bought it a week after release, they'd still be finished with their free time. So its still should be mostly resub numbers by now and a few stragglers who got the game late!!
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/08 @ 12:39

  • I_Have_The_Power #23 3 years ago

    @Pirotic

    What? Explain how you got longer than me? My sub renewed like a week ago!

  • magicpanda #24 3 years ago

    Yup War came out on the 18th. I'm surprised the figures are this high considering the resub date fell a good week or 2 before payday. I suspect they will go higher again today when most people get paid.

    The main reason the WoW story and other links are shoehorned in there is for the Googley bots to lap up and get higher up the search engines.

  • makeamazing #25 3 years ago

    Mine ran out a week or so ago, been busy and havent resubbed yet... but intend to, just probably in another 2-4 weeks when I have alittle less work to do.

  • gmmonkey #26 3 years ago

    It's nice to hear that it's retained it's numbers. Let this be a lesson to people like failcom and $oe that people won't tolerate a rushed piece of crap. Mythic made the right decision to cut some content to polish their game. They also listen to their userbase more than other company's. Letting people transfer servers, tackling uneven server populations with xp bonus, feedback on UI etc. WAR's not perfect, neither's their csr, but it has ten times the polish that other recent releases have had. In fact, I can't think of a more polished mmorpg since wows release. Obviously there is some people that are having problems but less so thant other games on release, from what I can tell. I let my sub expire but I'll probably pick it back up later when I'm less busy. Got tons of singleplayer games to play.

  • danteire #27 3 years ago

    Just started my 30 free days after my computer borked 2 days before end of headstart. While it has a fair few problems and glitches, I have experienced just as many on other MMO's, even WoW, that had months and years to tweak.

    I can see a decline in subs after WoTLK lands, as many expect. Maybe some of the ex-WoW players on WAR will pick up LOTRO's expansion in a few weeks instead. But after people get bored of the lvl 80 rep/ gear/ arena grind, we will see WAR pick up again. I hope Mythic and GOA keep up the great work bug hunting and giving nice treats (Witching Night and Heavy Metal).

  • warlockuk #28 3 years ago

    Shurrup Fluffy :p

    I became one of the 800,000 last night and I now no longer have any interest in WoW at all.


    No, Fluffy, you can't have my golds.

    ...but I'm finding it more FUN than WoW was, and considering it is still in early days it can only get better. Unlike the turd that was Conan :(

  • Gl3n #29 3 years ago

    I'm sure people will leave between now and wotlk, this sorta thing always waxes and wanes, i'm thinking of having a little break soon myself to make way for xbox stuff.

    Incidently i *still* haven't been billed. Played since September 11th, according to my account, first sub is due on the 9th.

  • figgis #30 3 years ago

    £8.99 a month is a little expensive.

  • butler` #31 3 years ago

    "I was enjoying it for a while, but it's ultimately inferior to WoW, especially when you add in the Echoes of Doom content. "

    Pretty much sums it up. Enjoy it whilst it lasts those who are still ranking up to 40. ;] Or those with an aversion to WoW, ofc.

  • UncleLou #32 3 years ago

    But the 'free month' doesn't expire for another few days

    The free month for people who bought it at the release weekend has already expired a week or so ago.

  • Phattso #33 3 years ago

    I'm on a monthly renewal with this. I've never hit games of this type with the dribbling fervour of the "hardcore" so I'm still only Rank 20 on my main with a couple of alts in the 5-12 range. Plenty of fun still to be had, and looking forward to playing it in the months to come.

    I have no real beef with WoW, but it has run its course for me. I'd miss a lot of the WAR game mechanics if I went back, and Wrath of the Lich King isn't really appealing to me at all at this point.

  • Fleisch #34 3 years ago

    @ figgis

    The pricing is exactly the same as WoW so it may seem a lot if you've never played an MMO but you get a lot of bang for your buck and if your working its really not that much outta your wallet each month.

  • Apologie #35 3 years ago

    This is the best MMO at the moment, not even WoW can offer the same engaging and exciting gameplay, the Realm Vs Realm concept is great... buy it, you wont regret it. I have a Shaman lvl 18, a sourcerer Lvl 19 and a Chosen LvL 24... Destruction all the way baby, altough i would really like to try and play with a bright wizzard...:p

    Dont listen to thouse WoW biased guy's... buy the game and make up your mind, satisfaction guarenteed.
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/08 @ 15:17

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #36 3 years ago

    Glad to see it's a good 'failure to WoW' then.. :)

    I do see many disliking the game as the real reward isn't a shiny new item you show off in the capital, but the fact your faction controls a location, theres really no 'personal gain' in it, which these days many 'require' to feel the need to play, thats where WoW's strength is.

    Even if players do drop the sub now unlike a few other MMO titles WAR still has 'it', and players will return, it's a bit buggy and has issues here and there BUT it's not broken nor needs a complete rebuild for it to work, again WAR (like EVE) is becomming a great counterpart to WoW or LORTO, it's nice to see that curse of MMO launch disasters has finaly been broken :)
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/08 @ 16:00

  • Velios #37 3 years ago

    I bought this game expecting to be blown away. It's just like every other MMO save for a few small differences hardly worth mentioning I got as far as lvl 7 and then became bored. The grind is just so dull - So I bought Fable II instead and now have the kind of experience that it worth the money in my opinion.

    EVE Online, now THATS an MMO that tastes different from the usual cookie-cutter templates for MMO's

  • jetsetdemo #38 3 years ago

    @Phattso +1

  • ZuluHero #39 3 years ago

    "EVE Online, now THATS an MMO that tastes different from the usual cookie-cutter templates for MMO's "

    but i use Excel all day at work :(

  • Drogul #40 3 years ago

    @Phattso +2

  • Apologie #41 3 years ago

    World of Warcraft is boring as hell, i tryed, really did, but got tired of the same mecanics over and over again... WAR is much better, more dinamic and objective to what really matters, PVP/RVR... great classes, very well balanced.

  • Orange #42 3 years ago

    It is better than WoW, but I'm sceptical of the numbers. An awful lot of people dropped off after the first month, have to wonder if that's being fully reflected.

  • Blackloch #43 3 years ago

    Starting to get old I guess hehe, gone are the days where 250k+ subs were impressive ( I started with Asheron's Call 1 and DAoC). Nowadays all one hears is WoW this WoW that....
    Enjoying WHO (and LOTRO and yes also WoW hehe).

  • sneetch #44 3 years ago

    @Velios
    "I bought this game expecting to be blown away. It's just like every other MMO save for a few small differences hardly worth mentioning I got as far as lvl 7 and then became bored. The grind is just so dull - So I bought Fable II instead and now have the kind of experience that it worth the money in my opinion."

    All the way to level 7 huh? Woah. Like every other MMO? Few small differences hardly worth mentioning? Well, at least no-one can say you haven't done your homework.

  • Mooks #45 3 years ago

    I bought the Collectors Edtition but won't be subscribing. Mark Jacobs has admitted that the game doesnt run well on lower end machines in an interview and it has been almost two months and the hitching, sluggish performance still remains. While WoW is very familiar no other MMO can touch it on engine perfromance and the ability to scale well with hardware. Both AOC and WAR suffer from extremely poor engine coding. If WAR can fix the performance then I may return in a few months but I don't believe that users should pay through subscriptions for a buggy and unfinished game. In its current state WAR is not worth the subscription.

  • hiruu #46 3 years ago

    "That's not terribly exciting in itself, as the MMO had just 50,000 fewer players at the start of October. But this does mean numbers are still going up and not - as some stories would have us believe - down."

    Errr...from EA's report, they sold 1.2 million copies of WAR, and they have 800K subs...seems like a 400k delta, and that's a 1/3 of people who purchased the game, so the WoW comments were spot on. I think it was very un-wise of the mythic staff to start up the "beef" with Blizzard, and I've no sympathy for them, as they get smacked the hell down by WOTLK.

  • Benno #47 3 years ago

    I wouldn't say this is better than WoW like. It's an awesome game and does plently of things better, but I don't think any game for many years will achieve as much as blizzard has with WoW.

    Remember, just because you got bored of WoW (me too) doesn't mean the game is any less. It's been going for something stupid like 5 years now right?

  • Lemming81 #48 3 years ago

    Played WoW for a year, got to 70 yadda yadda...

    WAR is best. Keep it up Mythic!

  • Vandrius #49 3 years ago

    Sigh.... this game is about PvP. WoW PvP is crap. But if you want to raid dungeions for epic lewtz, go play WoW.

    Different focuses.

    WAR is awesome. WoW is... sort of awesome.