Recently the success of Age of Conan may arouse smome wave in MMORPGs world. A chart provided by mmogchart.com show us that the subscription numbers since WOW went live and a article posted on MMOCrunch.com talk bout the peak of World of Warcraft.
With the resent release and huge success of Age of Conan and a slew of high profile MMORPGs on the way, could it be that WOW has finally hit its peak. The last numbers we received from Blizzard were back in Jan 2008 stating that WOW has passed the 10 million mark. If you take a look at the chart provided by mmogchart.com, you will see the subscription numbers since WOW went live and you can plainly see that the numbers are approaching a plateau.
I can not tell you how many WOW players I heard from saying they were switching to AoC and I can imagine the same when Warhammer Online comes out later this year. However players leaving one game for another are nothing new and WOW has managed to keep increasing its numbers regardless of what games come out. The question is can it keep doing it.
I do not believe it can. I think that it will peak sometime this summer and start declining in the fall or winter. World of Warcraft has had a great run, not to say it will not still be #1 for a long time, but I believe Blizzard knows WOW is approaching its peak and they are looking towards the future with an unnamed MMO in the works. Starcraft, Diablo or maybe a Lost Vikings MMO (yes Blizzard made Lost Vikings), but whatever the MMO is, I am sure it will keep Blizzard at the top of the MMO gaming world for years to come.