The latest official numbers for "World of Warcraft" indicate that subscriber numbers have dropped to 5.6 million.
The 5.6 million figure came directly from Activision Publishing, Inc., the game's publisher. The figure accounts for the number of "World of Warcraft" subscribers in the second quarter of the year, which ended last June 30.
5.6 million represents the lowest number of subscribers to "World of Warcraft" since 2006, according to Forbes.
The latest drop in subscribers continues a trend for the massively multiplayer online game (MMO). Through the first quarter of this year, it was reported that there were 7.1 million subscribers to "World of Warcraft," significantly lower from the 10 million subscribers reported six months prior. The 10 million figure coincided with the release of the "Warlords of Draenor" expansion for "World of Warcraft."
Despite the dwindling number of subscribers, Blizzard, the game's developer, remains positive about the outlook of "World of Warcraft."
According to Blizzard President Mike Morhaime, the newly released "Fury of Hellfire" expansion for "World of Warcraft" is expected to do the same as "Warlords of Draenor" in terms of luring back subscribers to the game. Morhaime also indicated that Blizzard is working on adding more and more content to "World of Warcraft" to keep the subscriber pool growing and stable, according to Polygon. Morhaime also said that the upcoming "World of Warcraft" movie could also help to lure back some players who have grown tired of the MMO previously.
Even with the seemingly grim news concerning "World of Warcraft," Activision still came out ahead in terms of their second quarter revenues. After previously projecting an outcome of $665 million, the company was able to outdo their estimates significantly, ending up with $759 million for the second quarter.
News of Activision beating their quarterly projections led to the company's shares rising by six percent.
