World of Warcraft subscription numbers continue steady slide to fewer than 8 million players

Activision Blizzard released its preliminary second quarter earnings results yesterday and revealed that World of Warcraft 's slow slide in subscribers is continuing as expected, down to 7.7 million active players. We've been marking the decline, it seems, every time new financial reports come out.

It's a curious feeling to watch the 800-pound gorilla of the MMO world slowly but predictably shrink in size. On the one hand, over four million people have packed up and left the world of Azeroth. On the other hand, the devoted players still enjoying the almost nine-year-old game continue to outnumber every other MMO in the world.

It's hard to find concrete numbers, but it looks like the most recent competitors to WoW were MMORPGs like Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World , but both of these games had a fraction of WoW's subscribers at their peaks—and then they both went free-to-play within a year of release.

We're watching the last years of WoW's crumbling empire, and it may the last of its kind. With free-to-play MMORPGs becoming the new normal and dozens of new free-to-play shooters launching every year, it's unlikely that we'll ever see another World of Warcraft.

Latest in World of Warcraft
A goblin with sharp teeth, wearing goggles, lets out a mischievous cackle in WoW's latest patch: Undermine(d).
World of Warcraft's started swiping good ideas from one of its most popular user-made UI addons, and it's honestly about time
Several adventurers in World of Warcraft Classic's hardcore server crying over the death of a fallen comrade.
Blizzard plans to revive WoW Classic Hardcore characters 'at our sole discretion', after DDOS attack puts major streamer guild OnlyFangs in the ground
WoW Classic: Season of Discovery
World of Warcraft Classic’s Season of Discovery may be teasing a legendary weapon that players have speculated is in the game for two decades
Gallywix wears an uneasy smile as he's confronted by Xal'atath in WoW: The War Within.
After 12 days and 100s of wipes, World of Warcraft's latest world first raid ends in anticlimax: 'That's the boss?!?'
A goblin with sharp teeth, wearing goggles, lets out a mischievous cackle in WoW's latest patch: Undermine(d).
The hooligan hacker guild that tore up WoW's newest raid (twice) just posted video evidence of the whole thing, and it's got me feeling weirdly nostalgic
Concept art of WoW's upcoming player housing system, showing a warm homestead with a welcoming figure in shade.
WoW flexes its MMO player housing system in a new blog post, and it really might just beat FF14's dated furniture placement into the dirt
Latest in News
The titular character from Princess Mononoke is depicted riding the wolf goddess Moro and carrying a spear.
Studio Ghibli AI image trend floods social media, cheered on by OpenAI and denounced by critics as an insult to Hayao Miyazaki
Marvel Rivals tier list - Wolverine
Marvel Rivals director says a future patch will reduce the shooter's insatiable hunger for RAM: 'It's a very big problem'
Hogwarts Legacy potions professor holding a potion
An unannounced Hogwarts Legacy expansion and 'definitive edition' have reportedly been cancelled
Story of Seasons - A cahacter in a purple tuxedo stands outside in a town square talking to the player
Story of Seasons is doing another Harvest Moon remake and it might be the best the series has ever looked
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
Assassin's Creed Shadows puts up the 'second highest day-one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history'
A witch riding a broom sails past a Fish and Chips shop.
Cozy gamers rejoice: Witchbrook finally has a release window, and yes, you can fly around on a broom with your friends