WoW lost 1.3 million subscribers from December 2012 to March 2013. Don't cry for Blizzard too much though because 8.3 million players still subscribe.

From what limited info has been released, most of the losses occurred in areas where players pay on a metered basis with time cards, not with a monthly subscription. However, it is safe to assume given the magnitude of the subscription losses that there were substantial losses in monthly subscribers too.

Even the mighty Activision Blizzard noted that the f2p MMOs may be having an impact on WoW.

So with more f2p MMOs being launched in our own backyard over the next year or two, does this signal a tough road ahead for MMOs contemplating a monthly subscription model?

Nope. Just means WoW is an old game that people are getting tired of playing. If a game is well made and players enjoy it they'll gladly pay a sub fee for it.

^ ^ ^ ^ This. I canceled my sub to WoW during this timeframe; consider me one of the 1.3M, and it had nothing to do with any f2p games out there. Sure I played several of them since leaving WoW, but that's out of wanting something to play. WoW lost me with how they changed the game and what they were offering me as a player. Just no longer interesting and fun.

It is a consideration, of course. But I think most publishers are thinking of it in terms of 'will we make more money with subs or with cash shops?'

It is significant that most of last years big games ended up sliding into the free to play model, with extensive cash shops. I doubt anyone at Zenimax thinks it is an obvious decision.

Imo monthly subscription it's still the way to do it. If you like the game you play it, if you don't ... well .. you don't. Those 20$/month wont do a difference, you spend more on so called f2p games.

Pay to play will always be the way to go assuming your game doesn't svck. Like every other MMO that has gone free to play within a year. They were just terrible and couldn't sustain themself with a subscription model, people didn't deem them worth paying for so they didn't pay for it. Its a simple truth.

WoW has been hemorrhaging subs for the last 2 years because the game is just not in a very good state at the moment. PvE raids are being dumbed down at an all time rate, and PvP is suffering due to poor design changes and glaring class imbalances. Its also a very old game, and people are bored.

I cancelled my account in that time frame because of these reasons, not because of any F2P game. Or B2P game. Just because WoW's quality is going down in its old age as Blizzard readies itself to move on to the next big thing for them.

No I prefer subscription based games. I didn't stop playing WoW because of a sub. I stopped playing because I was bored of the game.

Free to play would not take me away from a sub game. I too quit WoW because of the direction the game was heading and the fun I was not having. Sure I have GW2, but I have not touched it in a couple months.

Valid points but I don't think the f2p MMOs will be that much harder.
Also, even with the recent losses in subscribers, WoW is still pulled in an estimated US$70 million PER MONTH for the first three months of the year. They aren't exactly standing still waiting for the competition to lap them. Companies have re-invented and overhauled their IPs for much less money than what Blizzard collected in a single month. I would be surprised if the sum total of development costs for ESO over the past five years is more than one and a half months worth of WoW subscription fees.

1. I don't mind paying, but there are two reasons why I'm not going to pay 20 bucks. One, I'm poor. Two, I can guarantee the game won't be good enough to warrant spending 240 bucks a year on it.
2. I think a lot of the reasons why people leave games, are because they all just try to svck money. Like, how they make you subscribe, and even THEN, to get the good items you have to buy their special in game currency to use in a special store to get the best/coolest items. I mean, come on. You're already svcking a crapton of money out of me, why don't you just let me pay with in-game dollars? Or at the least, make it so subscribers can pay with in-game dollars.
3. If the game is fairly expensive to buy in the first place (something WoW has issues with) then people are less likely to suscribe. There's a certain ratio of initial payment to superscription to how fun the game is.

like others have said i quit wow not cause of the sub but because i grew tired of it. nothing wrong with wow at all, its just outdated. i want something new

I like TES but for $15/month, I will keep my pay once and play forever singleplayer games thank you. I am even beginning to regret my SWtoR sub (But not enough to give up the unlimited benefits Bioware gives to its subscribers).

It's not that subscribing gives you benefits so much as not subscribing microtransactions you into the ground before stomping on your face.

I personally think its premature to cal subscription model dead. I think what the issue is the customer base is not going to pay monthly for a shallow game design with instanced lobby content that is easy consumed with a hard curve limited end game (like the last 3 big releases in the genre) she games like eve hold solidly with half a million subs paying consecutively. Games like Rift,TOR,Tsw all have ridiculous churn rates and had to go f2p with cash shops.looking at games like never winter that are pure f2p with gouging cash shops and very shallow game design is not the future either.but if you wa;nt to charge 60 dollars for the game and 15 bucks a month you better come prepared to offer more then 50 lvls ,10 end game instances, some voice over and a few mini games for PvP. But promising the world. We as gamers will rip you apart and leave your rotting corpse for the vultures and move on with in 6 weeks of launch. Even if we followed your development for the 5 previous ones.

I have not played WoW for like ever because I feel the game has become too cartoony for the subscription.

The question now becomes "Can ESO become a game that makes subbing truly worth it?" I do not think the issue is one WE can answer right now, so I say it is not worth it right now.

I think what SWtoR is doing (B2P with a subscription option) is a good idea, SWtoR seems to be doing well for itself right now.

No. All F2P MMOs are crappy as hell. WoW is higher quality and they release a ton more content than any F2P MMO, but they did a lot of stupid mistakes with dailies and making the game too easy and boring to cater to the casuals.

Also WoW is getting to be super-old, people just tired of the same same-old. Its time for a new quality P2P MMO.

Trust me, no F2P MMO compares to WoW.

Except SW:Tor isn't B2P. It's F2P. You can download it and play the whole class story without paying a dime, while experiencing limited content from the rest of the game. If you want a feature, like freaking bank slots, you have to buy it. B2P is GW2 where you pay $60 for the game and can play 100% of the content for free. SW:ToR is nowhere near that. ToR may not be hemorrhaging 70% of its player base anymore, but considering the huge investment it was, the incredibly bad press it got, and that so many of the big name Bioware employees (like the docs) were either fired or walked out, "well" isn't the word I would use.

fixed, if wow is the bar then every other mmo is a failure

No F2P, B2P, or P2P MMO compares to WoW. WoW is a kittening aberration. A blight on the genre as now every MMO must strive to be like it. It has stifled the development progress of the MMO genre for long enough. LOOK AWAY!!!!!

/thread

And SWtoR (Whatever the pricing for it is) Actually seems different than WoW as it is a Real fully voiced MMO. IT has it's own uniqueness. The best thing would be to do something like that, find and do something that is not from WoW and stick to it.

GW 2: seems to be a true Buy-to-Play game, unique to it

SWtoR: Star wars is a cool universe, and though the game is not WoW-level, it has that atmosphere that makes it fun to play

TESO: The Story behind it seems much cooler than WoW, so stick to the Faction War/Fighting a Daedric Prince thing.

Too many people want this to be better than WoW, and think that it has to be P2P to do so.

I don't know if a f2p game has to compare to WoW. It only has to be a good enough substitute. Even Activision Blizzard execs raised the concern. They might be lowballing expections but they said upcoming f2p MMOs could impact WoW subscriptions in the short term.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/us-activision-results-idUSBRE94713320130508

That said, they have too much of a cushion to be written off. Either they will overhaul WoW or move their pile of chips to Titan or both with the cash flow they have.

Most of WoW's subs come from China, which has a vastly different payment model.

Agreed. Is it in the black surely. It costs nothing to re skinn items and put them on the cartel. the just released a DLC that was supposed to have been free a year ago , comparing it to a game like rift that has given more content for free in its first 6 months then TOR charged for after 18 months does not equal a success for the customer either.

And in MY opinion, one should not compare one MMO to another, as people will be biased.