WOW subs hit 11 million mark

By Ellie Gibson Published 28 October, 2008

Lich King launch just weeks away now.

Blizzard has announced the number of people playing World of Warcraft has now exceeded 11 million.

And just think, new expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King hasn't even launched yet. It's due to arrive in shops on 13 November.

"It's been very rewarding to see gamers around the world continue to show such strong support for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment and father of children who will never want for shoes. Or helicopters.

"We remain fully committed to responding to that enthusiasm with a high quality, constantly evolving game experience," he added, while throwing diamonds in a bin.

WOW first debuted in 2004 and has since become the most popular MMORPG in the whole wide world. It was the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006, and was only beaten to the post in 2007 by WOW expansion The Burning Crusade.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Machewman #1 4 years ago

    *Darth Vader music*

  • InfiniteFury #2 4 years ago

    Thought they'd already done the 11 million stroke?

  • lefizz #3 4 years ago

    'very rewarding' I am sure it has been $$

  • MaxiSleep #4 4 years ago

    "We remain fully committed to responding to that enthusiasm with a high quality, constantly evolving game experience,"

    Yes the gankfest that was the zombie invasion was particularily fun. Fly to new places and die. Go to the auction house and die. Levelling was never so interesting.

  • Canyarion #5 4 years ago

    Don't they mean 11 million accounts instead of people?

    As for me, I quit 2 years ago and I'm not going to start again. Although they had me doubting for a few seconds.

    I can't wait for the WotLK free trial! I hope you don't need TBC for that...
    Edited by Canyarion at 28/10/08 @ 16:43

  • Benno #6 4 years ago

    my two main servers now have 700 people queues on every night :)

  • ryohazuki1983 #7 4 years ago

    Out of interest how much do they charge? gotta be a lot of ££ regardless!

  • Retroid #8 4 years ago

    <a href=http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/news_images/4/47370_102470_1.jpg>Blizzard, yesterday</a>

  • DB2k #9 4 years ago

    so what amount of cash are they making with 11m subs on a monthly basis then? are all of those paid subscribers?

  • chrisjm #10 4 years ago

    what credit crunch?

  • magicpanda #11 4 years ago

    Is that current, active subscribers I wonder...

  • rudedudejude #12 4 years ago

    Have been going for about 2 years, starting to get bored and I dont honestly think that new locations & quests (which is pretty much all the lich king is) is going to hld my attention for long tbh.

    Still havn't pre-ordered and I don't think I'm going to tbh. The thing is as more add-ons come out their user base is only going to decrease as new players are left further behind in emptier locations.

    It's only a matter of time before they introduct a 'new char at 60' option for new subscribers to get them into the game I think.

  • Canyarion #13 4 years ago

    Hey, I just discovered I can play the TBC free trial AGAIN. I already did that 1.5 years ago, but I'm going to again. Just for old times sake. And to discover that WoW still bores me quite fast.

  • Benno #14 4 years ago

    11 million people actively subscribed.

    Actual account holders will be a lot higher.

  • viper_h #15 4 years ago

    If they let me create a level 60 character from scratch I'd play again immediately. I hate the old world.

  • Lebowski #16 4 years ago

    Pah! Small fry compared to the amount of Minesweeper players / skivers. ;-)

  • gmmonkey #17 4 years ago

    Benno - you sound quite chuffed that there is 700 people queuing to get on your server? The smiley face indicated that.

  • zoidberg #18 4 years ago

    you can get a 55 level character from start as is now.

  • BootLace #19 4 years ago

    The press release includes a full definition of what they count as subscribers: [link url=http://eu.blizzard.com/en/press/081028.html
    ]http://eu.blizzard.com/en/press/081028.h...[/link]

    Not too sure how the internet game rooms work with an mmo, but apart from that, it's just a count of accounts that have game time available.

  • UncleLou #20 4 years ago

    So are these active players or total subscriptions since day 1?

    Active. I am not sure if there are any figures how many copies of the game have been sold, but it must be dizzying.

  • Benno #21 4 years ago

    "Benno - you sound quite chuffed that there is 700 people queuing to get on your server? The smiley face indicated that."

    One of my first characters was on a severly underpopulated server. Shit economy, shot social scene and long battleground queues. Also it was a pain finding anyone to level with.

    Because of this, I always like server queues, it shows the server is full to the brim, and as long as it doesn't take longer than 10 mins to get on, I dont mind.

  • ZuluHero #22 4 years ago

    £8.99 a month - whats that? almost £100 mil? Yikes...
    Edited by ZuluHero at 28/10/08 @ 20:28

  • hula hoops #23 4 years ago

    Good for Blizzard and good for me as well.

    I like WoW and I'd like to see it survive many years longer.

  • Gaol #24 4 years ago

    I resubbed this month; and am impressed as ever by the constant refinement this game has seen. Looking forward to WotLK, no doubt the game will hold my attention for another 3-4 months of casual play, as it did at launch and after BC.

    I really like the events leading up to the expansion release, has made the world feel 'busy' and 'alive', and even 'dangerous' for my low levels :)

  • thebuzzard #25 4 years ago

    The zombie infection was fantastic shame so many got upset and dint get into the spirit of it, but I guess many like to play but ignore the actual story line.

  • Gl3n #26 4 years ago

    I'd love to play wotlk, unfortunately i lack the constitution to solo all those levels just to see the new content. It's a shame that i'll never see the old high end raids either, they must be as dead as a dodo.

    I'm really rooting for the other sides now, if only that it'll up everyones game and we'll be, hopefully, blessed by lots of awesome MMOs... as well as an evolving WoW.
    Edited by Gl3n at 29/10/08 @ 04:02

  • SliderNL #27 4 years ago

    You know what they say the guys who quit the habit are the worst critics. I was a fulltime game journalist (I still freelance) but no more MMO's for me. I know lots op people still love this game, but it's just to time consuming (and not rewarding enough) plus there are so many other great games out there I want to play. WOW-players are like people who only watch one SOAP or other television-serie the whole year. Because they don't notice anyhing else, they don't know what they are missing.

  • hjarg #28 4 years ago

    Slider, that is presuming that WoW players don't play other games. And frankly, that's presuming quite lot.

  • bigbadbeasty #29 4 years ago

    "WOW-players are like people who only watch one SOAP or other television-series the whole year"

    Spot on!

  • InfiniteFury #30 4 years ago

    Slider, that is presuming that WoW players don't play other games. And frankly, that's presuming quite lot

    Indeed, I have an active subscription on Warhammer, WoW and Eve and more than happy dividing my time between the three as the mood takes me. I gave up on WoW recently then went back, then realised that the upcoming texture pack isn't going to do a great deal for a PvP-er (have a 14:1 imbalance against Horde on my server so thanks but no thanks to Lake Wintergrasp). So currently waiting for the sub to run out on that one.

    Likewise it's not a 1 or 0 situation when it comes to subscribing to an MMO - there are shades of grey. You can spot the people with problems when they say they are QUITTING a game like WoW. You don't have to quit, just deactivate your sub when you're bored of it then go back when you fancy it again. Sadly, for some people, that doesn't seem to be an option. They have to give themselves entirely or not at all.

    A lot of people develop an in-game failure complex that if they don't give 100% to one game they cannot be the best and I know a lot of people like that who simply aren't having fun any more. They're just logging in because that's what they've conditioned themselves to do with their spare time and they're arguably not enjoying themselves doing it. If you're not the "best" (whatever that means in an MMO) at least you're giving your life to it and that's the important thing........
    Edited by InfiniteFury at 29/10/08 @ 08:50

  • dingo75 #31 4 years ago

    Good job Blizzard.

    I'm taking a time-out until WoTLK since I'm "prepared" with 35k in gold for my 2 mains + all the epix one can get without raiding 25 man content / pvp.
    I'm sure I will have fun getting them to 80 at least and maybe doing some 5-10 man shit with good friends I know for years in-game. Leveling was the most fun part for me in the past by far besides 40 man raiding which is dead now.

  • Chimpy #32 4 years ago

    Blizzard have made a lot of money making a fantastic game, so they get slagged off? Are people jealous or something and it makes them bitter?

  • ZuluHero #33 4 years ago

    @dingo75

    i dunno - looking at the prices for skills, mounts and stuff 35k will burn up quicker than you think.

    Almost 10g a pop in the barber shop, and ive changed my hairstyle every day so far since 3.0 went live... :(
    Edited by ZuluHero at 29/10/08 @ 09:27

  • dingo75 #34 4 years ago

    @ZuluHero

    Well the elk mount costs 15k it seems and since I have epic mounts / flying mounts already I don't see myself spending any money on them for the future.
    Expensive enchants / gems / inscriptions are only interesting for end-game raiding imo so I don't need to spend on them until level 80 at least. My professions are gaterhing mainly so I don't need to buy expensive mats to level them. (mining / skinning) and (herbalism / alchemy).
    Nevertheless I will get enough money questing so I think I'm set for now. :)

  • rudedudejude #35 4 years ago

    "you can get a 55 level character from start as is now. "

    Yes IF you have a high level char already - i.e are an existing customer.

    NEW players to the game are dwindling because the starting areas are so outdated and empty.

  • chrisjm #36 4 years ago

    love in south park the

    "OMG its the end of the world...


    ..


    ... of warcraft"

  • dingo75 #37 4 years ago

    @Adam_T:

    I'd argue that real newcomers won't be bothered with the starting areas not being that crowded.
    They are probably overwhelmed already trying to figure out the basics of the game even without retards spaming General with "LF members for my guild. Sign my charter please!" + random whispering every low level char...
    Also "Barrens chat" can be really annoying if you don't know how to stop it.
    Edited by dingo75 at 29/10/08 @ 10:15

  • InfiniteFury #38 4 years ago

    If you hate it, yes you're wasting bandwidth.

    If you love it, yes you've made a mistake

  • rudedudejude #39 4 years ago

    hehe potato, depends how obsessed you can get with things.

    If you like collecting items in games, watching number bars go up and clicking buttons to fight, then your social life will probably disappear and before you know it you'll be on a ventrilo server getting moist when talking about +53 spirit on a mace.

    If you're generally normal, go outside from time to time, and have self control, you will hopefully find a fun game you can dip into every now and then. Moderation is the key.

  • Chimpy #40 4 years ago

    @potato_fan

    It's much better when you play with people you know. Without any social aspect I think players miss a lot.

  • iokthemonkey #41 4 years ago

    I've never played WoW but I am downloading a free trial right now. Am I making a mistake?
    ----

    No, it's a great game but if you do stick with it, you may find toward the "end" it gets a bit samey. What it does, it does VERY well and it's a lot of fun. It's just the fun quotient drops the further you play and eventually it becomes more a chore than anything else.

    But don't worry, you'll have PLENTY of fun on the way there!