“World of Warcraft,” also known as WOW, is one of the most popular and well-known games with millions of people playing it today.
That’s impressive for a game originally released back in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment.
It is the fourth game set in the “Warcraft” fantasy universe.
WOW is a MMORPG or Massively multiplayer, online role-playing game, that allows players to create their own characters and take them on quests throughout a huge game world.
It is a world that players have to pay a monthly subscription fee of 14.99 in order to play.
Most of the game involves completing quests to level up their individual characters, either alone or with other players online.
When the game was originally released, it received universal acclaim by critics, and players alike.
In 2008, “World of Warcraft” was honored along with “Neverworld Nights” and “Everquest” at the 59th annual Technology and Engineering Emmy awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG. It was the bestselling PC game of 2005-06.
At one time WOW had more than 11 million subscribers worldwide with more than 2.5 million subscribers in the United States alone.
In the last three months, Blizzard has said WOW has lost 14 percent of its total subscriber base. That totals 1.3 million players, but even that drop leaves it’s subscription base at ONLY eight million subscribers worldwide.
Even though the game has had three expansion packs to keep things fresh, the game is steadily declining in popularity possibly due to its monthly fee and aging graphics and gameplay.
In the past seven months, WOW has experienced a 54 percent decrease in revenue, according to gamerant.com.
The game generated $93 million in April compared to the $ 204 million the game made seven months earlier, according to Time.com.
The drop of subscribers began back in May, and the thinking is that player numbers wont improve any time soon.
With many of its direct competitors switching to a free to play gaming model, WOW has become archaic in many eyes.
It is likely Blizzard won’t go Free to Play and rather introduce a new hybrid model. This model would allow the company to continue to make money off of monthly subscriptions, but it would also offer a wider variety of in game content to purchase.
That would also help to make up for the loss of revenue as well. It is likely that Blizzard will plan to cash in on this new opportunity to continue making money. Maybe it’s been long enough for people to realize there’s more important things to spend their hard earned money on.