How Much Money Does Wow Make

MMO development is a notoriously risky business concern venture that many publishers don't even consider touching. Not but are they expensive to craft, only player retentiveness is an increasingly challenging problem that suffocates even the most ambitious titles. But those who accept succeeded would say that the investment was worth information technology.

World of Warcraft stands equally the shining example of success in the MMO space.

In a world where paid subscription is an endangered species, World of Warcaft continues mandating a $14.99 monthly fee. Information technology's a strategic decision by Blizzard that has allowed information technology to avoid implementing the commonly abrasive microtransaction shops seen in most competing games, merely at the cost of a potentially much larger install base,

Despite this, Blizzard has managed to maintain healthy subscriber numbers during the game'southward more 12 years of existence. At its all-time, information technology held North of 12 million paying customers, equating to roughly $180 meg per month in subscription revenue, or $2.fifteen billion per year. Currently, information technology'south estimated to take somewhere between 9 to ten million active players.

Equipped with a player population that rivals well-nigh countries, Globe of Warcraft earns revenue not only from subscription, but also from expansions that are commonly priced at $39.99. It also makes a wealth of money from merchandise. Even barring concrete goods, information technology is the highest grossing modernistic video game.

During 2016 it was estimated that Globe of Warcaft has earned more than $9.23 billion in revenue since its debut in Nov 2004. This figure eclipses even the closest contest, which include surprising entries such equally the Korean FPSCrossFire at $half-dozen.8 billion, Wii Sports at $6.08 billion (packaged with hardware), and Lineage at $5.74 billion.

But three games peak Earth of Warcraft's revenue totals, all of which are titles that relied on a tremendously lucrative arcade market in the lxxx's and 90'due south. Space Invaders ($thirteen.93 billion), Pac-Human being ($12.81 billion), and Street Fighter 2 ($ten.61 billion) are those iii games.

League of Legends is poised to potentially dethrone World of Warcraft in a few years thanks to its industry-leading $1.half dozen billion in acquirement per year, the bulk of which is fabricated through microtransactions.

Although World of Warcraft endured a tumultuous few years spanning from mid 2011 until late 2016, it has recently experienced the highest level of action since 2010 during the era of Wrath of the Lich Male monarch. Much of this recent success has been owed to the Legion expansion'southward thematic attractiveness, in addition to strong update back up.