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WoW breaks the 5 million mark

Submitted by Abalieno on December 19, 2005 - 22:00.

But without saying much that would be worth a discussion:

WORLD OF WARCRAFT® SURPASSES FIVE MILLION CUSTOMERS WORLDWIDE

Customer base reaches new heights as Blizzard Entertainment®'s MMORPG continues its growth in North America, Europe, and Asia

IRVINE, California - December 19, 2005 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has surpassed five million customers worldwide. The subscription-based MMORPG launched approximately one year ago in North America, Australia, and New Zealand and has since released in multiple countries throughout Europe and Asia. This latest milestone comes on the heels of Blizzard Entertainment®'s recent announcement of a World of Warcraft expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade™, which will push the boundaries of the game and offer even more content and features for players.

It sounds more like a pitch for the expansion and a revindication of market leadership.

These reports don't tell much anymore since we have no clue about how the subscription numbers are divided between the zones. So we cannot know what actually would matter:

Given the nature of the business, of course, no company will post any useful numbers... But I bet they'd be interesting to compare between games. Especially the meta-data such as churn rate, return sub rate, etc.

The last relevant news were released at the end of August. Considering the last press release it's possible they reached the top.

Filed in: The Cesspit | Subscriptions

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Re: WoW breaks the 5 million mark

dEOS (not verified) on December 20, 2005 - 10:16.

Active subscriptions or all subs since the game launched?

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Re: WoW breaks the 5 million mark

Vendetta (not verified) on December 20, 2005 - 10:27.

"World of Warcraft's Customer Definition
World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players that have accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules."

The fact that I quit the game and they're still using me and everyone else who has quit or even bought a WoW Subscription card as a gift, makes me sick.

That 5 million brag doesn't mean anything.

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Re: WoW breaks the 5 million mark

Stranger Bob (not verified) on December 20, 2005 - 15:40.

The above definition EXCLUDES all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules."

If you cancelled your account last month or last year you WONT be counted here.

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Re: WoW breaks the 5 million mark

Grouchy Gnome on December 21, 2005 - 06:33.

What Stranger Bob said. ;) If you're going to rant, it's best to check your facts before doing so. I don't play WoW, although I did for a bit, but Blizzard deserves congratulations for the ding to 5mil. Now if 4 of those 5 mil dispersed into every other US-based MMOG evenly, we'd see this genre go through quite a boom. :P

GG, Nerfbat

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