Thanks to our sister blog
WoW Insider, we've got the scoop on today's
Activision-Blizzard investor call. The results? Turns out
World of Warcraft isn't dying, but it's certainly seen better days in its record-breaking run.
Blizzard's flagship MMO now boasts "only" 10.2 million subscribers worldwide (
10.3 million were reported during the call in November). The company believes the success of the 4.3 patch contributed to subscriber retention, as did the success of the
annual pass; in fact, a million players took Blizzard up on a deal to purchase a year's worth of
WoW in return for a free copy of
Diablo III.
Blizzard also confirmed plans to launch at least two titles this year, including
Diablo III in Q2.
Mists of Pandaria,
WoW's much-maligned upcoming expansion, might be the other, though
Titan,
Blizzard DOTA, and a new
StarCraft II campaign are also in the works. The company's expected revenue for 2012 is $4.5 billion US.
