Here’s an interesting observation from a major community figure. Warcraft Logs creator Kihra talked about WoW’s current population and the fact it might just the its largest of all time!
In a recent tweet, spotted by AttitudeAdjusterSE, Kihra mentioned the current potential playerbase. This is presumably based on Warcraft Logs activity, and is mostly focused on the huge resurgence of activity in China. The game was unavailable for quite a while there, and only recently came back. And it seems that Wrath Classic is very popular over there. That, in addition to the War Within on both sides, Season of Discovery and Cataclysm classic in the West, Kihra surmises, could put the game at its most played of all time!
We know the last biggest number of players was announced back in the original WoTLK. It was up between 12 and 13 million players at that time. However, those were actually subscriptions, not players. There are ways to play the game without a subscription today. And while it seems unlikely trial players would use Warcraft Logs, it’s not impossible.
In the end, we can’t really know what numbers WoW is at right now. But the game does seem in a healthy state, and the return of the Chinese market is certainly boosting the numbers. Players seem happy with the War Within and it has received very good reviews. Only Blizzard can know how well it’s going, and it’s unlikely they’ll share any time soon.
