World of Warcraft's latest expansion released to immediate commercial success, smashing revenue and player count thresholds that haven't been surpassed in over a decade, but it's just temporary. Once the luster of a new expansion passes, players will depart the game in droves until another such release spurs the fans to return to Azeroth. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands was a HUGE launch, but if we've learned anything over the years, it's that it won't last.
Word of Warcraft is the MMO that defined and shaped the genre into what we know today. Developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, it released in 2004. WoW wasn't the first massively multiplayer game, but it outlasted its competition and inspired scores of other MMOs to follow its lead.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands by the Numbers
There's no denying it, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands had an unprecedented launch. SuperData reports that when comparing Shadowlands' launch to 2018's Battle For Azeroth, user count has been up by 34 percent on top of a chunky 50 percent increase in the game's earnings. Players showed up en masse for this expansion, no doubt due to some of the series' most beloved characters taking the helm through the new story content.
Though Shadowlands has created some impressive numbers, it's nothing players haven't seen before. Over the last five years, WoW's player base has risen and fallen to coincide with the release of new expansions. Every other year, new content lures back veteran players and attracts new subscribers. They stick around just long enough to see what the expansion immediately offers, catch up on the story and high-tail it out of there after a couple short months.
Why World of Warcraft Players Return
Why do crowds of old and new players flock to World of Warcraft at the start of new expansions? It's mainly due to a loyal and vocal fanbase that's invested in the ongoing story. People have been following the story of Azeroth and its inhabitants since 1994, with the release of Warcraft. If you've been following something, growing with it and taking part in shaping its future for over 20 years, you're going to want to see it through.
The other side of WoW's seasonal success is its dominating presence in the industry it helped create. Anyone with a passing interest in MMORPGs has encountered World of Warcraft; it's like a whale in a swimming pool. Expansions will always provide just enough plot beats and new content to pique interest, but the living, breathing community is just as important. Players of all experience levels can jump into WoW at any point and know they won't be running around on unpopulated servers -- that's a big selling point.
Why The World of Warcraft Update Model Is Unsustainable
Seeing a large number of players join in for a launch looks great during the opening months, but when there's a mass exodus of those same players shortly after, what does that say about the content? If there were enough reasons to keep players engaged from expansion to expansion, we wouldn't see such a spike and decline between releases.
When commenting on Shadowlands’ burst of players, SuperData found World of Warcraft's future may not be sustainable: "It is unlikely the game will sustain these high player numbers for more than one to two more months. The title is now highly dependent on major expansions to drive temporary spikes in revenue and user numbers." For a game that relies on monthly subscribers, this is a big problem. Blizzard has created a dangerous loop it's unable to break. It experiences a great turn out with the arrival of new content and then spend the rest of that expansion's lifetime chasing players after they leave.
Blizzard has left a permanent mark on the MMO industry with World of Warcraft's long-standing reign as king of the genre, but nowadays, its best moments are fleeting. There's no telling how long Blizzard will be able to keep up the game of cat and mouse, but it can't last forever.