11.5 Million Subscribers - Still Shocks Me

According to WoW-Insider the figure of 11.5 million subscribers has been holding steady since late 2008. This still shocks me. I think that is a freakin' impressive number of people playing the same game. With the technology and graphics always drastically improving, there are so many options for folks to choose from. If I was just getting into gaming and faced with all the possible options available out there, would I play World of Warcraft? I'm not sure. I do know once you begin playing that it is easy to fall in love with your character, the game and want to always move forward.

With Wii and Xbox making some amazing graphically intense fun games, the cost would be far less for that type of investment over Warcraft with the ongoing fee. I wonder if game play time is down? Do people now divide their time between their Xbox or Playstation and Warcraft. Perhaps we have the same number of subscribers but not the same amount of game play.

Sometimes I think it's is a conspiracy. This number of 11.5 million is being repeated to give us that "we are part of something huge" feeling. If Blizzard lost even just 2million subscribers it would be a loss of $30,000,000 per month. Bringing their monthly total to $142,500,000 per month. OMG they would starve. We'd have to send a fruit basket for sure.

With Cataclysm only having a 5 level increase, I'll be waiting for my 1/2 price expansion pack:P