World of Warcraft, population: 5 million

PC News | Azeroth > New Zealand.

Released last November, World of Warcraft has proven to many just how successful an MMORPG can be, as Blizzard announced this morning that the game's subscriber base is now in excess of 5 million. That means the total population of Azeroth is bigger than that of New Zealand (and much nerdier, too). The game was recently launched in Hong Kong and Taiwan, which is the likely cause of the increase.

Blizzard defines a "customer" as one who has "paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft," or someone who "has purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access." The company also counted "Internet Game Room players [who have] accessed the game over the last seven days" as paying customers. That would mean a customer is not necessarily an active player, merely someone who has paid to play the game recently.

"World of Warcraft's growth continues to exceed all our expectations," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard. "We want to reiterate our thanks to the millions of players worldwide and to all the retailers who have enthusiastically supported the game over the past year."

"Our commitment to continue growing World of Warcraft is stronger than ever, with development on future content patches and on our 2006 expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, well underway," added Morhaime.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is expected to be released on July 2nd, 2006. In the mean time, you could join the rest of the WoW addicts by picking up a copy of the game now.

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12 Comments

ObsoletE

6 years ago

if only Blizzard would stop zerging realms and let some of the more recent realms grow a little.

Sin Ogaris

6 years ago

Wow, that's a lot of people.

onggie

6 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

if only Blizzard would stop zerging realms and let some of the more recent realms grow a little.

I'll say! What's the point of creating more and more realms when the relatively new realms are so empty.

Thor

6 years ago

Hooray for WoW, good to know im one of 5 million.

LordPaludis

6 years ago

I played WoW before it was cool. Oh wait..

Xamerkapsy

6 years ago

According to the way they count that up, I am one of those 5 million subscribers - and I haven't played in ages.

But that's still a very impressive amount of people playing the one game, espicially since it is technically a niche genre.

Thor

6 years ago

If your account isnt active you arent one of those 5 million, they only count active accounts and dont count banned or inactive accounts.

ObsoletE

6 years ago

your article is a little misleading actually:

Blizzard Press Release wrote

Blizzard Press Release">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.

so:
everyone who has paid a sub fee.
BUT
not those using a promo account.
not those subs that have expired/been cancelled.

so this is 5 million ACTIVE accounts.

Cerebral

6 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

so:
everyone who has paid a sub fee.
BUT
not those using a promo account.
not those subs that have expired/been cancelled.

so this is 5 million ACTIVE accounts.

For their accounts to be cancelled or expired, would they not have had to purchase the installation box bundled with one free month access, and thus be counted?

ObsoletE

6 years ago

yeah that sort of confuses me too, but it does say:
"The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions"
which, to my understanding, only leaves presently active accounts.

Cerebral

6 years ago

However, I don't think purchases could be linked to use of accounts, since one could purchase the game then use any account on it. Considering that purchasing the game is not the only way to play WoW online, it would be impossible to tell how purchases are affected should a subsciption expire.

ObsoletE

6 years ago

i don't really understand what you're asking/saying.

the press release isn't saying "we've sold 5 million units" it's saying "we have 5 million active accounts". in order to have a full account (since promo/trial accounts are already exluded) you have to have bought the game (or had it bought for you, you have to own the installation box anyway).

so there has to be at least 5 million units sold to make this number of accounts, since the only way to play WoW is to have an account, and the only way to have an account is to have the installation box.

unless "Internet Game Rooms" work differently in the US. here you are still required to already have an account to log in, and like above, therefore have to own the installation box. it's either that, or start a trial account, which, we've already established, isn't counted.

and yes, there might be some people counted who are no longer playing, but their account is still paid for, and consequently could jump on anytime without any further immediate payment, if they felt like it.

two things i think we can agree on:
this press release has some weirdness attached, and doesn't make complete sense.
and, 5 million is a big number.

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