Activision Blizzard's earnings report for this quarter marks the last time the company will divulge subscriber figures for World of Warcraft. Speaking with Gamespot, the video game publisher confirmed that it will no longer reveal exact player numbers from here on out. Instead the company plans to use 'engagement' metrics as a measure of the massively multiplayer online RPG's success.
"Note that this is the last quarter that we plan to provide subscriber numbers," said a company spokesperson. "There are other metrics that are better indicators of the overall Blizzard business performance."
According to the report, the game's subscriber count as of September 30 stood at 5.5 million, a nine-year low for the industry's biggest player.
Still, the sagging number hardly indicates that the game's demise is near. The player populations of competitors such as Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and EVE Online are fractions of WoW's at its lowest point.
The dwindling subscriber base is just symptomatic of the MMO industry as a whole with companies looking at alternative revenue sources such as micro transactions, expansions, and 'freemium' pay models to help offset dropping player counts.
Blizzard already has a new WoW expansion called Legion coming in the near future with a beta test scheduled to begin before the year ends. According to Gamespot the company has many more add-ons in the works and has even expanded WoW's development team to help churn out content faster.
It's hard to imagine Activision is sweating at this news either. The company recently dropped $5.9 billion on Candy Crush developer King Digital in one of the richest deals ever in the video game industry.
As for Blizzard, the company is gearing up for the launch of Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void which drops November 10. A Warcraft movie is also in development for next year.
