World of Warcraft down to 9.6 million subscribers
Today's investor call for the fourth quarter of 2012 reported that World of Warcraft's subscription numbers are now at 9.6 million subscribers, down from the reported over 10 million at Mists of Pandaria's launch. This still makes World of Warcraft the largest subscription-based MMO out there on the market by a long shot, but the numbers have seen a dip. However, it doesn't mean that Blizzard isn't breaking records. Diablo III remains the #1 best-selling PC game at retail, and Mists of Pandaria came in at #3.
Although subscriber numbers seem to have dropped, they have yet to reach the Cataclysm low of 9.1 million prior to the release of Mists. Keep in mind that these numbers are for the final quarter of 2012, ending on December 31, 2012 -- so they may not count players that received the game over the holidays and subscribed after the new year. For more information, the official press release from the investor call is available online.
