Blizzard: declining Warcraft subs "normal"

Mike Morhaime, president of World Of Warcraft developer Blizzard, has said that a second quarterly decline in subscriber numbers should not be a cause of concern. Instead he claims it was to be expected following the release of the game's third expansion, Cataclysm, last December.

Speaking on an investor call following the publication yesterday of Activision Blizzard's latest financial results, Morhaime revealed that World Of Warcraft ended the quarter with 11.1 million subscribers. That represents a decline of 300,000 in three months, and follows the loss of 600,000 paying customers in the previous quarter.

"What we have seen is that subscribership tends to be seasonal and driven by content updates," he said. "So as we're heading further away from an expansion launch, it's normal to see some declines."

Three months ago Morhaime said Blizzard would speed up Warcraft development to stop players drifting away in between expansions, and on last night's call he talked up "major new raid and dungeon content," adding: "We believe that this new in-game content will keep the game fresh for current players, and provide compelling reasons for lapsed players to come back." A recent trademark filing fuelled speculation that the game's next expansion will be called Mists Of Pandaria.

Morhaime also said that the decision in June to make World Of Warcraft free to play up to level 20 had resulted in an increase in new signups, though he admitted it was "still too early to tell" whether it would result in a similar increase in subscriptions.

Meanwhile, Warcraft continues to expand its reach. Cataclysm was released in China last month, and Blizzard is now looking to Brazil, with a Portuguese localisation underway.

"[Brazil's] economy has performed very well compared to the rest of the world during the recession," Morhaime said. "We already have some Brazilians playing in English, but we think the market can be a lot bigger in Portuguese." He confirmed that Blizzard is looking at localising its enormously popular MMOG for release in other territories, but would not be drawn on specifics.

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