WoW hits 8 million mark

By Robert Purchese Published 12 January, 2007

[Ow! - Mark]

Once upon a time MMOs were a fantasy reserved for hairy people with Elven nicknames.

Today, Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft is played around the world by more than eight million people. Shift-one. It's also reached a significant subscriber milestone of more than 2 million players in North America, 1.5 million in Europe, and 3.5 million in China.

"We're ecstatic that the World of Warcraft community has continued to grow steadily since we launched the game," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, speaking from his golden yacht in a river of silk. "This milestone wouldn't have been possible for us to achieve without the incredible support of our players.

Tuesday 16th January sees the release of The Burning Crusade across North America and Europe, with previously announced stores offering special midnight launch bonanzas.

This first expansion pack aims to increase the size and content of the game by one third, as well as increasing the level cap to 70. It will also introduce two new races, flying mounts, and jewel crafting.

Will it help push the figure to ten million?

The only other online game to have come remotely close to the success of this was Lineage in January 2003, boasting around 3.25 million players. Lineage II peaked at just over two million in 2005, whilst household names EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI both hovered around the 500,000 mark.

If you assume that the subscriber milestone means roughly seven million people are paying GBP 8.99 a month to play the game, that's an income of GBP 62,930,000 ... a month! If I was Blizzard, I would fill a swimming pool with the money and buy a chimpanzee to enjoy it with.

Head over to freshly launched Burning Crusade flash site for more information.

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 (60) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • killest #1 5 years ago

    first!!!!!!

  • Thamuhacha #2 5 years ago

    "GBP 62,930,000 ... a month"

    Good lord. Even if you knock off 25% as a precaution that's still more than some publishers are making a year for their whole portfolio.

    So can we have a new Diablo please? And not a MMO one either ...

    >first!!!!!!

    Are people still doing this? WTF for?
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 15:51

  • Pike #3 5 years ago

    Third!!!

  • JediMasterMalik #4 5 years ago

    They should reduce the monthly fee and I may bite. They can afford it after all.

  • UncleLou #5 5 years ago

    They don't seem to need to, to be honest. :)

    I guess the montly fee is carefully calculated, taking into account higher subscription numbers with a lower monthly fee, but higher server costs, etc. etc.

  • TheSnotGoblin #6 5 years ago

    Are those numbers only the active players or inclusive of all the players who have since quit (Or like me played the 30-day trial then called it a day)?

  • AOFanboi #7 5 years ago

    The people who made the Diablo series left Blizzard and are busy finishing Hellgate: London. WEhich apparently will have an optional persistent-world (paid MMO thingy or Battle.net style cheatorama) element.

    For your Diablo II fix there's always Titan Quest. And for the older Diablo, best clone around is F.A.T.E.

  • SpeedyThing #8 5 years ago

    Shouldn't that be Final Fantasy XI?

    Which makes me wonder how long the Final Fantasy series can continue with its naming before journalists and consumers alike despair at getting all the roman numerals in the right order!!

  • MrAtheist #9 5 years ago

    Are those numbers only the active players or inclusive of all the players who have since quit (Or like me played the 30-day trial then called it a day)?

    Its currently active players. The numbers dont include free trials or cancelled accounts.

  • chupachups #10 5 years ago

    "Good lord. Even if you knock off 25% as a precaution that's still more than some publishers are making a year for their whole portfolio. "

    That's just what I was thinking, they've got a money printing machine going there. That comes to 744 million pounds a year, or about 1.4 billion dollars a year. Can this really be right?!!??

    That's more or less the same as the whole of Nintendo's yearly profit. Can one game really be making as much money as the whole of Nintendo?

    If they're getting over a billion dollars a year in income, surely they'd be doing a lot more with it than just keeping WoW ticking over?

    One thing though: How much does it cost to run an MMO with that many players? You'd have to knock that off their income from subscriptions to find out how much Blizzard really get.
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 16:19

  • Nova5lag #11 5 years ago

    As Vivendi quite rightly put it... Blizzard are not the jewel in the crown they are the crown.

    And for the Diablo fans D3 is WIP however so I hear they have taken it back to the drawing board at least once already.

    And seriously though... HOW MUCH MONEY! Can Blizzard gift me some cash please.

  • Thamuhacha #12 5 years ago

    >One thing though: How much does it cost to run an MMO with that many players? You'd have to knock that off their income from subscriptions.

    Well, yes. And all the other costs involved in being a company. But it's still a huge amount.

    >If they're getting over a billion dollars a year in income, surely they'd be doing a lot more with it than just keeping WoW ticking over?

    Other than going "Amuhahahaha" and constructing space weapons?

  • ZuluHero #13 5 years ago

    i bet Blizzard and Vivendi are rubbing their collective hands togeather at the thought of the 16th :p

    They already have my money :)

  • thefishmonger #14 5 years ago

    So from that (correct me if I'm wrong).

    8,000,000 X £8.99 (if all players were paying the same monthly subscription) = £71,920,000 per month (Gross)

    71920000 X 12 = £863M per year.

    OR

    (1 month = 4.34812141 weeks)

    71,920,000 / 4.34812141 = £16.5M per week

    16,540,477 / 7 = £2.4M per day

    2.4M / 24 = £98,455 per hour

    98,455 / 60 = £1,641 per minute

    1,641 / 60 = £27.35p per second
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 16:30

  • Kuma #15 5 years ago


    Let's not forget that they all bought the game in the first place as well and will buy the add-on. Which puts a few more pence in the pot.
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 16:29

  • symmetry #16 5 years ago

    From Joystiq:-

    According to Blizzard's and The9's web sites, the subscription model for WoW in China is different from other parts of the world. Instead of a monthly subscription fee, Chinese gamers purchase WoW Points cards for 30 Yuan ($3.64) that are worth 600 points. Points expire at a rate of 9 per hour of play, so this amounts to 66 hours and 40 minutes of play for each card at an average of .45 Yuan ($.06) per hour.

    From somewhere else:-

    MMORPG gamers spend on average 21.0 hours per week playing

    So that works out at... /calculator...about $5 per month for Chinese players.

    3.5m of the 8m players are Chinese, so that's $17.5m per month from the Chinese and about $90m from the rest of us - call it $80m in case some parts of the world are cheaper.

    So, nearly $100m a month... that's not bad.

  • ComradeSheep #17 5 years ago

    ... all I can picture is the scene from the Simpsons.

    "Money fight!"

  • JediMasterMalik #18 5 years ago

    They should change all MMO subscription models to a pay as you go system imo, would remove the fear of necessary comittment for some people. Like me.

  • chupachups #19 5 years ago

    With money like this, why isn't EVERYONE doing MMOs?

    Even if only one in 100 attempts succeeded like WoW, it would still cover the costs of all the others (assuming an MMO costs about $10 million to create).


    "They should change all MMO subscription models to a pay as you go system imo, would remove the fear of necessary comittment for some people. Like me. "

    If they're making 1.4 billion dollars a year I don't think they need to change anything, at least from a business point of view.
    Edited by 2 at 12/01/07 @ 16:40

  • JediMasterMalik #20 5 years ago

    You're right , it's probably bad for business, but it would be good for customers and players. imo

  • Cuke #21 5 years ago

    "MMORPG gamers spend on average 21.0 hours per week playing"

    Really... bugger, don't people have better things to do with their time? I started playing WoW over Christmas for the first time and while its kinda fun if it ever got to that stage I'd be forced to slap myself round the face and remind myself there is more to life...

  • DarkTimes #22 5 years ago

    But how much of that cash turns into pure profit? Blizzard have got, like, thousands of people working for them and a huge world-wide infrastructure, plus the game took a lot of money to make in the first place, I'm sure. I'm not saying they're not raking it in, they are, but you cannot compare it to the business model of a normal publisher. Blizzard are in the service industry now, so you'd be better comparing them to a cable TV company or something...

    Also they'd be absolutely insane if they weren't pumping that money into making new games, they're bound to have a few big projects on the boil at the moment, even if they pretend that they don't.
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 16:46

  • yazooo #23 5 years ago

    Well now it's difficult for others making MMO's I think. How many ppl play more than one at a time, cant be many...plus now they have such a grip on alot of ppl, it will have to be a really good game to tempt some of those away.

    I know alot of the experienced WoW players are frustrated and looking for something new, but with the combo of the press WoW gets, so attracting new players, and if they play it sensible and keep the older players happy with expansions, they could be dominant for a while yet, and not give any other MMO's a sniff!

  • Fatallyflawed #24 5 years ago

    I want a Murky for god's sake Blizzard. I think 2 years at £8.99 a month deserves a Murky. I would have attended Blizzcon but what with me living in the UK.......Tight arsed money bags...Grrrr (And so on)

  • symmetry #25 5 years ago

    WTF is a Murky?



    scratch that, I really don't care.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #26 5 years ago

    Yes it should be FFXI, sorry!

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #27 5 years ago

    Aye, Blizzard's overheads must be massive for the game. It's still an impressive cash-machine though.

  • MaxiSleep #28 5 years ago

    "I know alot of the experienced WoW players are frustrated and looking for something new, but with the combo of the press WoW gets, so attracting new players, and if they play it sensible and keep the older players happy with expansions, they could be dominant for a while yet, and not give any other MMO's a sniff!"


    I would love to try something different (Lvl 60 tank, finished mc, but not willing to do the time needed for BWL/AQ/Naxx), but anything i have tried so far (EQII, SWG, Vanguard) just lacks the polish of WoW. Deeper is fine, but I want something that has the same quality of animation, initial ease of use etc, graphics speed etc.

    LOTR online MIGHT be it, or maybe Warhammer , but warhammer looks a bit too pvp for my taste

  • waffle #29 5 years ago

    I'd just like to point out that the budget for producing the game in the first place was pretty god-damned huge. The only reason Blizzard could afford to make WoW was because of the huge successes they've had with Diablo1+2/Warcraft2+3/Starcraft. Their consistently excellent output lead to a healthy business model and a very expectant and loyal fan base. All they had to do was release a product that was as polished as anything else from the Blizzard brand and their success was assured. Where they really nailed it on the head was releasing an MMO that actually frikin worked and was in a finished form (content updates notwithstanding).
    WoW is now an absolute leviathan and anyone hoping to enter the same market place has a stark reality to face... Until WoW kills itself, you can't win. By all means try for second place though :D

  • chupachups #30 5 years ago

    Another advantage MMOs have over normal games is that with normal games you get bored if you play them too much and eventually you never play them again, but with MMOs if you've invested so many months in building your character and possessions you're going to want to stick with that MMO rather than try something different.

    Wasn't there a guy in Korea who died last because he played an MMO for three days solid?

  • Pablo2k5 #31 5 years ago

    chupachups said... "With money like this, why isn't EVERYONE doing MMOs?"

    Two reasons spring to mind...
    1) Most game developers aren't primarily driven by greed.
    2) If every game was a subscription based MMO's then the market would be saturated, therefore each game would receive a smaller portion of the pie.
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 17:35

  • George-Roper #32 5 years ago

    Big numbers but I estimate that 250 billion flies eat shit, every second. Does that make shit tasty? Or does it mean that flies mindlessly grind away at eating it because they're drones who don't know any better?

    Food for thought.

  • Ikari2001 #33 5 years ago

    34th!

  • Xypher #34 5 years ago

    @George Roper

    Yes! In terms of WoW... it's some mighty fine shit!

    Mind you not everyone grinds instances all day everyday, that is the preserve of high end raiding guilds that on entry demand 8+ hours a day, 6 days a week for the rest of your life or until they find someone better :).

    Some of us just like getting together with friends and PvPing while laughing at the stupidity of the Alliance in Battlegrounds
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/07 @ 19:59

  • Fozzie_bear #35 5 years ago

    If I was Blizzard, I would fill a swimming pool with the money and buy a chimpanzee to enjoy it with.

    From now on i vote that Mr Purchese is referred to as "The Voice of Reason"

  • Lemon Project #36 5 years ago

    MMOs are evil. And I say that having played and loved WoW for a /played of around 25 days. Utterly softcore compared to a great many including those people I know who still give it their lives through playing/raiding and guild administration/politics.

  • TheRealBadabing #37 5 years ago

    So, it is roughy 1:1 Western gamers to Gold farmers. Nice.

  • Amazing Bryan #38 5 years ago

    Play the game, don't let the game play you.

  • Nillsens #39 5 years ago

    /dynamic entry

    BAN THIS SICK FILTH!!!

    /coat

  • pantbash #40 5 years ago

    Not bad for a spreadheet simulator....

  • ZuluHero #41 5 years ago

    I think you're confused. This is World of Warcraft - not EVE :p

  • Royal Fool #42 5 years ago

    Probably one of the most cringeworthy headline puns in EG history. Keep at it!

  • Mr_Brown #43 5 years ago

    Great game. I guess its accessability is what makes it such a great game, that and the fact that it is easily very deep enough for hardcore and commited gamers too. I just wish I could reactivate my account...been trying for days but the Euro website just won't work. Can't belive it, must the first time a company doesn't want my money!

  • Xerx3s #44 5 years ago

    Give us the fucking D3 ffs you greedy bunch of moneycounters! Enough of this mmo crap. You make more money than god in a month and you still refuse to release D3 or SC2.

  • chupachups #45 5 years ago

    "Two reasons spring to mind...
    1) Most game developers aren't primarily driven by greed.
    2) If every game was a subscription based MMO's then the market would be saturated, therefore each game would receive a smaller portion of the pie."

    1) Game developers don't fund games, publishers do, so it's publishers that decide what happens and what doesn't. Publishers have a duty to their shareholders to make as much money as possible, so games that make $1.4 billion a year are exactly what they would be interested in.

    In any case, why is it greedy to want to make a game that makes lots of money? Are you saying most game developers would turn down that kind of money because they want to "keep it real"?

    2) Obviously too many games is bad, but if one game is making $1.4 billion a year then the market clearly isn't anywhere near saturated and there aren't enough games to satisfy it.

  • fawe3 #46 5 years ago

    I don't get it they get so much money jet they can't put 1m€ and twenty guys to make sc2 or d3? I think they could found all their previous games just by one weeks earnings from world of junkies.

  • George-Roper #47 5 years ago

    @fawe3

    The reason is that Vivendi Universal are a bunch of greedy motherfuckers, who's one and only cash-cow has been and currently is World Of Warcraft.

    Why do you think it's taken this long to put an expansion pack together? Because of the content? The reason is that VU have been milking WoW like a newborn on the tit, with MINIMAL content output for the player base.

    Yes, there's been content added via patches but nothing even approaching the level of an expansion pack and most of it has been in the form of high-end gaming, purely and simply to give the 60's something to do rather than hitting 'Cancel account'.

    It staggers me to think that WoW players have next to nothing, end-game, to look forward to aside from mindless button-bashing in Raids or BGs. I'd sooner hammer my bollocks, repeatedly, than grind the same Raid instances and BG content over and over and over and over and over and over again. I realise this is the way most onliners go nowadays but the time required for WoW Raiding just kills the opportunity for most adults. Hence the 'kids play WoW' tag, because they have the least to lose by dedicating so much time online.

    WoW is the gaming equivalent of shooting up. Instant high (via almost immediate, hand-held, on-rails, leveling to 60) and then nothing but mind-numbing, brainless, scrabbling.

  • Pirotic #48 5 years ago

    level 60 is dull as hell, but thanks to the expansion it'll be fun again for 2 weeks before we all reach the dull as hell level 70, which is a bit like 60, only you can grind for rare items in new areas :p

    Also, didn't the TV advert say "over 8 million subscribers" a few weeks back? was that a lie then :p

  • DocTep #49 5 years ago

    I hope EG plan on running a news piece about how many people who pre-ordered the Collectors Edition (including seemingly all who ordered via HMV) have had their orders cancelled at the last moment. Apparently HMV cancelled all their online pre-orders at the request of Vivendi, who asked that all CE's be reallocated to the London branch of HMV for their special midnight opening.

    There are stories of people who pre-ordered the CE on the day it was originally announced who are now getting emails saying their order is being cancelled. I've even read one story tonight of someone who pre-ordered it from the London HMV which is holding the launch event who was phoned and told that his copy was now being held at the store, but upon going to the store was informed that his pre-order had been reallocated to the midnight launch.

    The whole thing has been a complete joke. And from what i understand it's much the same situation in the rest of Europe.

  • Burton2000 #50 5 years ago

    meh ill stick with guild wars tyvm

  • Kostabi #51 5 years ago

    If true, that really sucks DocTep.

    Vivendi should have just pressed more CEs instead of reallocating pre-orders, that's just mean.

  • JavaJawaUK #52 5 years ago

    Down with WoW. It doesn't deserve the success it's had. I'll stick to Guild Wars, BF2142 and R6:Vegas (360) tyvm.

  • Rambaldi #53 5 years ago

    8m? Who'da thought there were that many uber-nerds out there!
    Edited by 1 at 14/01/07 @ 19:23

  • ZuluHero #54 5 years ago

    they're talking over the world!

    erm... Including me! :p

  • Skooch #55 5 years ago

    WoW!

  • spaceman #56 5 years ago

    the whole point of CE is that they are limited, otherwise they lose their appeal.

    chances are hmv took too many pre-orders for it, and then were told that they werent getting as many as they thought / hoped.

    if vivendi / hmv had organised a midnight launch party, they would have made sure in advance that there were enough for the night long before.

  • DocTep #57 5 years ago

    No offence, but bull. HMV staff have been openly admitting that all the online preorders were reallocated to the midnight launch. Unless you happen to work at either the online store or the London branch holding the launch event, then i'm inclined to believe the companies own staff on this one.

    HMV did take more orders than they could have fulfilled, as did just about every retailer. However, the difference is that at least some people's preorders have been fulfilled with every other online shop, where as it seems all those who ordered the game via HMV have had their orders cancelled at short notice - including those who were the very first to place orders.

    And as for it being limited... The current guesses are that perhaps only around 100,000 copies were made worldwide. Yes, by the very definition of the word that makes it limited. But when there is an estimated 8 million active accounts (nevermind the many people who stopped playing and planned on starting again once the expansion was released), such a figure is ludicrous. It wouldn't be so bad if all the copies were going to the game's user base, but when a high percentage have already been listed on eBay for days there is clearly something wrong somewhere.

  • ZuluHero #58 5 years ago

    well i'm happy - my CE preordered from GAME (web) early september just turned up today, you can be sure that this CE won't be ending up on EBAY and will be activated tonight!

    Im really sorry that you've had loads of trouble DocTep...

  • DocTep #59 5 years ago

    Thanks ZuluHero.

    Well, looks like the last shred of hope just went out the window. My girlfriend who's over in Belgium actually went and queued up at the midnight opening of the main game store chain over there and was even first in line (the only way i got the original CE was thanks to her), and the store had 11 CE's, all of which had been pre-ordered months ago. At least the stores over there seem to be standing by their pre-orders. The guy she spoke to in the store said Belgium had been allocated 100 copies for the whole country, and europe as a whole was only allocated 2000 (which is actually about the fifth different figure i've heard so i couldn't vouch for it's truthfulness, although it does fit with stories i've heard about stock in other countries - such as Greece only being allocated 150 in total).

    When there's apparently over 100 copies up on eBay, the chances of getting one in a store (online or off, pre-ordered for months or just walking in on release day) really does seem crazily low. Looks like they've done what i was concerned might happen and only made as many Burning Crusade CE's as they did CE's for the original launch of the game, regardless of the fact that there's now millions more people interested. Ah well, bugger it. I'll live. ;o)

    Congratulations on getting your own CE ZuluHero by the way! Have fun. :o) And maybe keep it somewhere safe since it seems they're rarer than a next gen console on launch day(!).

  • zam786 #60 5 years ago

    they forgot thats 8 million around the whole world and the staes users pay half the uk price which whould make eurogamers estimate wrong.