Activision Blizzard has declared that the subscription numbers for World of Warcraft has declined on the weekend. It is evident that during the second quarter of 2012, 80,000 subscribers of the WoW have jumped ship, but this quarter Activision Blizzard have dwindled by total numbers amounting to 1.2 million which reduced the MMO’s subscribers to 9.1 million. But despite the decrease in subscription, the video game remains the world’s most well-known MMORPG. But it seems that event the September 25 release date of Mists of Pandaran is looming, the numbers have never improved.
Maybe as an avid gamer, there comes the thought in your mind about the end of this world renowned MMORPG. Think back from the time when the WoW is on its full swing where the entire community was hyped, with lots of fans relishing its overwhelming popularity while those not were looking for someone who will kill the MMORPG. They are looking for the MMO which has the capacity to challenge the monopoly of World of Warcraft on the market and dethrone the game. Lots of self-proclaimed killers of the WoW have emerged such as Rift, Age of Conan, DC Universe Online, Guild Wars, Star Wars: The Old Republic, etc., but none of them succeeded.
While the so-called WoW killer has never emerged, something else surfaced but not the killer itself, and it is the Free-to-Play which served as the lethal venom for the World of Warcraft. This aspect has led to the steady and slow decline in the subscription model of the MMORPG.
One of the so-called MMO killers that transitioned to Free-to-Play model is the DC Universe Online. It found itself with increased revenue by 400 percent. Age of Conan also did the same but it was not quite successful compared to the DC Universe Online. Despite that, Age of Conan remains in the business with its small initial sales. Only recently, Star Wars: The Old Republic has announced that they are planning to switch to the same model just like the two games have already done.
All these video games that are Free-to-Play and the declining subscription numbers of the World of Warcraft made this current situation of the MMORPG comparable to that of the so-called Mayan Apocalypse. The WoW killer which is proven to be venomous is here now and it is the Free-to-Play model. This model has been slowly suffocating the WoW under the horde or gamers who want to save more money.
Lots of gamers around the world are already pulled away from the WoW due to this model. Well, this scenario is not what most of the people wanted to see as most of them want two MMORPGs that are clashing for subscriptions and supremacy over the other. MMORPGs that offer contents at spitfire rate do this in order to get the leverage on the competition. This could be an epic battle where the WoW would lose eventually, causing the MMORPG to crash and then explode dramatically. But if the Mists of Pandara would be unsuccessful in reversing the process, WoW’s death will surely be eminent due to the increasing number of Free-to-Play video games.