Activision Blizzard: Reporting Profits & Loss of WOW Subs in Q2 2012

Bucking the trend set by fellow game developers Microsoft, Nintendo, EA and Sony, Activision Blizzard has announced a net income of $185 million for the 2nd Quarter of 2012.

The net gain was thanks to strong console and PC sales, which easily offset the surprising loss of 1.1 million subscribers from their flagship MMO, World of Warcraft. That being said, World of Warcraft subscriptions remain a strong 9.1 million.

[cgoodno]

Why would people expect a sudden loss in money if subscriptions drop? They'd still make a ton of money if they only had 5 million subscribers. And then you add in Diablo 3, and it's ridiculous.

[Beate]

I don't think anyone is ignorant enough to expect Activision to lose money. The fact is though that they are greedy. And them losing 1 million subscribers, even though they will not lose money, is a way to show the company that people are losing interest in their product. I know it is too late for them to fix the mess that is WoW, but I do wish to relive the glory days of The Burning Crusade.

[DudeJets]

Tbc sucked. Imho worst expansion. Then again I skipped cata.

[Mainsqueeze]

TBC and Vanilla are the best days of WoW. I also think that alot of those ppl that left will return when Mists of Pandaria comes out.

[Naners]

Yeah, The Burning Crusade was actually challenging and adding meaty content unlike Cataclysm. Even at 85, Sunwell isn't a snooze fest, and one of my favorite things about WOW to this day, other than dancing male Tauren Druids.

[Wizziokid]

Blizzard have nothing to worry about in terms of WoW unless they loose another 7/8 mil subs, they are fine.

[GREW50ME]

The only reasons warcraft is successful right now : #1 installed base. #2 Asain gold farmers buy hundreds and hundreds of accounts each.

[simonrope]

Reason wow loses players: https://www.molten-wow.com/

and you can see why. wow should go free to play.

[Naners]

@Beate ~ Agree! (I just fail at replying once again.)

It's not that I want to see Acti-Blizzard crash or fail or anything extreme like that. I've enjoyed a lot of their products in the past, and I still do.

But I think it's been a long time coming for WOW to start losing steam, and allow us opportunity to see more non-WOWesque titles come out on the MMO scene, because as long as it sits on its throne, companies that want to make an easy buck are going to want to clone it.

I thought it was a ton of fun Vanilla/Burning Crusade, but I for one am waaaay tired of having to hear all that crud about how WOW IS BEST #1 SUPER MMOZ. And even more tired of seeing blatant reskins of the game. (SWTOR *poke poke* right to the skill trees.) Here's to maybe the loss of non gold seller accounts to open their eyes a bit. (I hope.)