Activision's Blizzard entertainment, the company behind the popular Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft" is experiencing its biggest drop in players since it's debut.
The company announced it currently has 7.7 million subscribers, down from last quarter, which could boast 8.3 million subscribers.
According to IGN, this represents a 600,000 drop in subscribers in three months and brings the number of people playing the game to its lowest figure since before the launch of its first expansion pack, "The Burning Crusade" in 2007.
The large dip in subscribers is causing many in the gaming industry to wonder if MMORPG games should be free to play. After all, many of the most popular titles who come out to try and rival "World of Warcraft" end up going free-to-play after a few failed months with a subscription service. It's unlikely that the popular MMORPG from Blizzard will be going free-to-play any time soon, however the company has taken steps to mitigate the loss of its subscription earnings from all the cancellations.
Earlier this month it was confirmed that an in game store would be coming to the "World of Warcraft" servers. Eastern regions will be offered additional items that will help boost experience and make leveling a character easier. Although these items would cost real money, they would allow subscribers who want to bypass the often tedious leveling process and allow them to get right to the end-game content of player vs. player action and raids.
Prior to the release of its latest expansion pack, "World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria," released last September, the game had as many as ten million subscribers. At the game's peak in 2010 the game had more than 12 million subscribers playing the game. It's unclear what affect the most recent dip in subscribers will have on the genre.
Tell us what you think. Should all MMORPGs become free-to-play or are they justified in asking for a monthly subscription to play the game? Answer below.
