World of Warcraft Hits 10 Mln Subscribers

The latest landmark in measuring Warcraft's swelling user base proves that its popularity hasn't dulled with time.

World of Warcraft may have dropped out of headlines when the public at large grew tired of tales of addiction and excess, but its fan base has never stopped growing. On Tuesday, Blizzard announced that the game now boasts 10 million subscribers worldwide.

It was only a little more than a year ago, in September 2006, that Blizzard announced Warcraft membership had spiked to 7 million, indicating that subscriber growth for the company has remained relatively steady. The company also pacified skeptics by clarifying its own definition of a subscriber, which “excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards.”

Among the other interesting statistics released on Tuesday, Blizzard gave the regional breakdown of its subscriber base. Despite having launched in North America, subscribers there only account for a quarter of the total with 2.5 million, while Europe accounts for 2 million, and Asia accounts for more than half with 5.5 million.

Blizzard confirmed that the next World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is still under development, but did not give any further details regarding its release.