World of Warcraft subscriptions fell by 1.3 million during the first three months of 2013
The decline in the subscriber base was revealed as part of game publisher, Activision Blizzard's quarterly earnings statement, although the company was keen to point out it retains its title as the most subscribed to MMORPG on the planet.
According to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick: "During the quarter, Blizzard's World of Warcraft remained the number one subscription-based MMORPG in the world with more than eight million subscribers, although the game saw declines of approximately 1.3 million subscribers, mainly from the East, but in the West as well."
The most recent figure for the total number of subscribers to World of Warcraft stands at 8.3 million (based on internal estimates) as of 31 March, 2013. Indeed, equating subscribers to citizens, Azeroth still has a larger population than Switzerland.
The drop was also cited by Kotick as one of the reasons for being cautious when it came to talking about the company's prospects for the remainder of 2013.
"While we have had a solid start to the year, we now believe that the risks and uncertainties in the back half of 2013 are more challenging than our earlier view, especially in the holiday quarter" -- the holiday quarter being the last three months of the year during which Activision will be launching Call of Duty: Ghosts.
"The shift in release dates of competing products, the disappointing launch of the Wii U, uncertainties regarding next-generation hardware, and subscriber declines in our World of Warcraft business all raise concerns, as do continued challenges in the global economy. For these reasons, we remain cautious."
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