World of Warcraft has seen a decline in subscriber numbers month on month but that’s not an indication that the MMO will be going free to play.
During this week’s financials call Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed that the MMO had lost a further 100,000 players, but with 7.5 million gamers still traversing Azeroth, the numbers are still very healthy compared to other titles in the genre. Morhaime commented on the possibility of the game going free to play:
“We’ve always approached the business model out of what’s appropriate for each individual game. In World of Warcraft, the first 20 levels are free, anyone can download it without paying a subscription. World of Warcraft is not designed as a free to play game. I don’t see that kind of transition happening to WoW.”
Morhaime sounds confident that with the continual updates to the game and the addition of new features, as long as the numbers stay high, there would be no logic to axing the subscription. The Warlords of Draenor expansion is adding many new features including the Garrisons, increases level cap and new game content which will bring players back to the game and boost the numbers once again.
