10 million WOWed

Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft reaches deca-million milestone; 2.5M NA, 2M Europe, 5.5M Asia users.

Ever since being launched by Blizzard Entertainment at the tail end of 2004, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft has proven monumentally popular. Its original installment set global sales records upon launch, selling 240,000 units in its first 24 hours. That number was reproduced tenfold with its first expansion, The Burning Crusade, which sold 2.4 million copies in its first day on the market.

With Vivendi reporting 9.3 million global subscribers as of mid-November, and the recent launch of The Burning Crusade in China, it comes as no great shock that World of Warcraft has reached the 10 million subscriber milestone. Breaking down its subscriber base today, Blizzard claims to have acquired more than 2.5 million North American and 2 million European players, with another 5.5 million Azerothians plugging in from Asia. WOW's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is expected to arrive later this year for the PC and Mac.

WOW is currently available in North America, Europe, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, with a Russian version expected to launch later this year. Blizzard noted that the term subscriber encompasses those who have paid a subscription fee, have an active prepaid WOW card, are within their first free month of game access after purchasing the game, or have logged into the game from an Internet cafe within the last 30 days. The tally does not include expired or canceled subscriptions, or those playing under free promotional accounts.

174 Comments

  • SSJ_Tenx

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:15 pm PT

    conga rats blizz

  • SeAmNiNjA posted Jan 22, 2008 3:16 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    SeAmNiNjA

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:16 pm PT (hide)

    OWNAGE MY FRIEND IS #2 IN WOW IN US, GOOD FOR HIM, BAD THAT IT SUCKS

  • infect999

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:20 pm PT

    they better apply that money to making Wrath of the Lich King awesome

  • samtheauburnfan

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:20 pm PT

    That is an astounding number of players
    never thought I'd see that kind of subsciption base

  • NWA_31

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:21 pm PT

    That's 10M people who will now neglect their social life Curse you and your addictive game, Blizzard !

  • sideoftheham

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:23 pm PT

    damn.

  • moocow21

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:24 pm PT

    Woah, they sure love Blizzard in Asia.

  • mwa

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:26 pm PT

    wow. congrats blizzard.

  • polsci1503

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:28 pm PT

    5.5 million in Asia? WOW indeed...

  • iebubu

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:29 pm PT

    This is crazy, thats over $1 billion a year in subscripion fees. That is CRAZY

  • Boo_looDODO

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:32 pm PT

    10 Million is big number, hehe and im sure so is Vivendi bank account no wonder that they could aquire Activision for nearly $17 Billion, congrats though! Im sure that no MMORPG is going to come close to that record within the next decade or two...

  • lamprey263

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:36 pm PT

    damn, that's a lot of money

  • fireblazerx

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:38 pm PT

    Blizzard has created one hell of a drug.

  • nate1222

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:41 pm PT

    Congrats! My sister in-law plays the hell outta WoW. I've seen the game myself (not a subscriber, though). It's definately deserving of its success.

  • Windblade91

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:46 pm PT

    damn....

  • speedjunkie4

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:49 pm PT

    damn.....

  • bestco

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:51 pm PT

    Amazing! for an MMORPG game to sell that many copies, it's just amazing!!

  • joeyfine

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:51 pm PT

    such an amazing game!!! better then any other game ever made.

  • Strommy

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:52 pm PT

    damn......

  • blackbeak123

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:53 pm PT

    5.5 million in Asia... What they forget to mention is that 4.5million of those are gold farmers

  • Thigeic

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:55 pm PT

    Hope they proves they cant only make MMOG anymore when StarCraft 2 comes.

    Congratz on the awsome number. Well deserved as it is one of the better MMORPGs out there

  • cloudstrife75

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:58 pm PT

    10 million suckers haha

  • --JakeB--

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:59 pm PT

    it's a good thing i'm not one of the 5.5 million asians..

  • OfficialBed

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 3:59 pm PT

    wow..

  • DarkSan00

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:00 pm PT

    think they can give some free cash?

  • PSP-topher

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:00 pm PT

    I've been "WOWed" by this story!

  • superbobo64

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:03 pm PT

    blizzard FTW!

  • RomisSandthief

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:03 pm PT

    I don't even want to see what this is doing for their wallet.

  • FF6fan

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:05 pm PT

    Man its kinda funny since with WoW u buy the game for 50 $ and then pay to play it... Not to mention the expansion packs which cost additional $50-100... but its kinda understandable for a MMORPG since it takes alot to keep up the server... Though i miss the free online play from blizzard.

  • Cwagmire21

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:05 pm PT

    Glad I got out when I did.

  • THE_PREZIDENT

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:08 pm PT

    They should see that south park episode.

  • Funkyhamster

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:10 pm PT

    Wow... and I mean that in more ways than one.

  • Jambi86

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:13 pm PT

    $$$

  • Gooeykat

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:13 pm PT

    I'd like to know how much growth came from the North America and Europe. I'll bet a majority of it is now coming from Asian markets.

  • EPaul

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:19 pm PT

    WoW how much bigger can it get

  • Zendric

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:22 pm PT

    To Iebubu

    Nothing mean, just want to point out that different regions have different subscription fees. Players in China do pay less than 10-15 a month for example. So they may or may not be pulling in 1 billion US dollars a year from subscription fees.

  • theclaw135

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:24 pm PT

    10,000,000 players x $9.99 monthly would be $99,900,000 per month.

    I don't even want to know the real amount of profit they might be getting here...

  • ScreamDream

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:32 pm PT

    I thought there were more than 2.5 million NA subcribers. I think I know about 10 people that play that game.

  • freitax posted Jan 22, 2008 4:33 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    freitax

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:33 pm PT (hide)

    quote:
    -----------------------
    cloudstrife75

    10 million suckers haha
    ----------------------
    XD
    xD I don't know why laughed so hard

  • scayan25

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:34 pm PT

    To FF6fan. heres what he says

    Man its kinda funny since with WoW u buy the game for 50 $ and then pay to play it... Not to mention the expansion packs which cost additional $50-100... but its kinda understandable for a MMORPG since it takes alot to keep up the server... Though i miss the free online play from blizzard.

    But the game only costs 20 not 50, the expansion only 40 not 50-100. are u that ignorant to post such things? plz look into stuff before u open your mouth

  • gasmaskman

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:36 pm PT

    "Man its kinda funny since with WoW u buy the game for 50 $ and then pay to play it... Not to mention the expansion packs which cost additional $50-100... but its kinda understandable for a MMORPG since it takes alot to keep up the server... Though i miss the free online play from blizzard."
    The game is only around $30 for both WoW and the expansion, and you get a free month. The servers must be a b to keep up because there are 10 million players...

  • finaleve

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:40 pm PT

    FF6fan > I think its down to 30 now, i forget though, really havent looked. Still, Blizzard still has its Battle.net servers up. Diablo and any of the other online games they got still run. Its just...they hardly ever patch that game. Maybe its because of WoW or because they are working on new projects

    I ended my subscription a few months ago. I had it for about a year and a half. There's a lot to the game I like and don't like, but the likes overpower the dislikes. I'm trying to start the game up again when I get a friend to play, since he and I both quit at the same time...

  • p0rkp1e74

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:42 pm PT

    i refuse to get sucked into this game for my life will end as i know it if i get started on this game.....i willl be happy to watch others lose their life in it's addictive ways!!!!!

  • nytemarex

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:44 pm PT

    Here's the number one reason why PC gaming is dying.... It's WoW FAULT!!!!! Damn Blizzard. How much more money can you make off of it!

  • imnodewd

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:44 pm PT

    Hmmm... 10 million players and how many WoW widows? I'd be curious to see the stats on that...

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:46 pm PT

    WOW.................................................................

  • bigelf72

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:49 pm PT

    Grats Blizzard *Time to log in*

  • higgs64

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:50 pm PT

    also in response to FF6fan's comment, they do release large content patches periodically, not just in the expansion packs. New dungeons, new gear, new objectives and quests, and they retool the different classes to try to keep each class balanced while giving players the ability to choose how they wish to play their class.

  • Qwert929 posted Jan 22, 2008 4:50 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Qwert929

    Posted Jan 22, 2008 4:50 pm PT (hide)

    The calculation is more like this:

    10,000,000 - 4,000,000 b/c not everyone who bought WoW is still playing it
    ------------------
    ~6,000,000 x $14.99/ month = $89,940,000 per month

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