I've posted this before...
Another thought I have is that you have to also remember that the subscriber base of WoW today is not just the one we had when we launched. There's a whole bunch of people who tuned out of WoW two years ago or four years ago, but who really enjoyed it, and when another MMO comes out that tickles their fancy, they'll jump into it. I don't know what the exact number is off-hand, but the total number of subscribers we've had is easily more than double - maybe closer to triple - the current subscriber base.
From http://www.warcry.com/articles/view/interviews/6773-Five-Years-of-Warcraft-Speaking-With-Blizzards-Rob-Pardo.2
That was in November 2009. So the number of subscriptions in the past was double to triple than it was on November 2009. Now I don't know how to reconcile that fact with the posted numbers that show growth from 5 million players in 2004 to 12 million today. The only thing I can think of is that since he was talking to a US audience, he was quoting the US subscriber rate and not the overall subscription rate?



This thread is fun!
