After Blizzard ceased reporting subscriber numbers in November 2015, gamers were surprised to read a report this week by a Polish magazine that “World of Warcraft” (WOW) subscribers have returned to 10 million. The number was attributed to Tom Chilton, lead game designer of Blizzard.
However, after the publication of the story on Pixel, Blizzard is insisting now that Chilton was misquoted or there was a misunderstanding with the journalist who interviewed the lead game designer, PCGames reported.
“Our policy for almost a year now is that we do not talk about subscriber numbers and Tom did not do that with this publication,” a spokesperson for Blizzard reiterated.
One possible explanation for the questionable subscriber number is language barrier. Chilton could have said Legion was doing better than Draenor which is the one with 10 million subscribers or he possibly cited data on active accounts or sales figure.
Lost In Translation?
The last official subscriber number release by Blizzard in 2015 said WOW subscribers was 5.5 million. It means if Pixel’s numbers were right, Blizzard had almost doubled its subscribers. In its original article in Polish language and translated by Reddit, the Polish publication quoted Chilton as saying, “As we speak, there is around 10.1 million. You know it’s had to tell what the future is going to bring. We have our inner rivalry with Overwatch, but it’s possible that we’ll jump over 12 million again,” according to PCGamer.
When Blizzard stopped releasing subscriber numbers almost a year ago, the game developer said it has other metrics that are better indicators of the overall business performance of Blizzard. Since then, the company has stopped giving interviews, until the incident with Chilton and Pixel.
A WOW subscription costs $15 monthly. Blizzard enjoyed a peak of 12 million subscribers in 2010. The chance of Legion fans who have abandoned the game returning back in millions is “an impossible return to form,” Venturebeat noted.
