The 2024 Game Developers Conference (GDC) was held in San Francisco last week, and Blizzard Entertainment's General Manager of the World of Warcraft franchise, John ight, spoke at the conference. His presentation, titled "The First 30 Years of World of Warcraft: The Making of the Gaming Universe," included some insights into game subscription trends over the past few years.
Since the Q3 2015 earnings report, Blizzard has not released specific World of Warcraft subscriber numbers, but in the charts released this time, we can still see a trend in World of Warcraft subscribers over the past few years.
What to expect after the release of Shadowlands
Actual subscriptions dropped during the Shadowlands
Subscriptions to the new versions of the "Age of the Dragon" and World of Warcraft nostalgia servers have increased
· Subscriptions during the Shadowlands period fell far short of official expectations
· The "Nostalgia Suit" was also released during "Shadowlands", but the charts didn't fluctuate much
· As a result, Shadowlands subscriptions have dropped even more than can be seen in the charts, and nostalgia has softened the blow
· Subscription recovery begins in Wrath of the Lich King and Age of the Dragon
· With the launch of new versions of the Nostalgia Suit in Hardcore Mode and Season of Exploration, subscriptions have been boosted even further at a time when games typically stagnate in the middle of the game
· With the blessing of frequent updates of new content such as "Dragon Age" and "Nostalgic Clothing", "World of Warcraft" ushered in a new record of growth rate in 2023-2024 and returned to its peak