Warhammer Online has 300k subscribers

via Eurogamer


Publisher EA has revealed - as part of its depressing financial report - that Mythic MMO Warhammer Online had 300,000 subscribers at the end of last year.

The figure is a drop in World of Warcraft's 11-million-plus ocean, and doesn't represent the splash that EA was presumably hoping to make with its first entry into MMOs since Ultima Online.

However, 300,000 is still a respectable figure in a highly competitive field, which puts WAR ahead of the estimated subscriber bases of rivals like Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest II, and alongside CCP's EVE Online. It most likely guarantees the game's profitability - and therefore its future.

Warhammer Online launched in September last year and quickly registered 750,000 players. However, many players had left the game again by the time WOW's Wrath of the Lich King expansion was released in November.

Mythic recently announced plans to expand WAR substantially in the coming months with the free Call to Arms update, including two new character classes and a new realm-versus-realm raid zone.

It has also just released a patch introducing the "Night of Murder" Valentine's event, which marks players on the opposing side as targets for you to kill, and launching the game in Russia.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for a live interview with Mythic's Paul Barnett. Perhaps you could ask him whether he's still confident in his million-player bet.