All eyes on Warlords of Draenor as World of Warcraft subscriptions drop to 6.8 million

Is it time to push the panic button on World of Warcraft?

In announcing "better-than-expected financial results for the second quarter of 2014, Activision Blizzard also revealed that subscriptions to Blizzard Entertainment's long-standing MMO World of Wacraft had dropped to approximately 6.8 million subscribers.

"There was a decline in subscribers quarter over quarter, which was disproportionately concentrated in the East and was similar to the season decline experienced during the second quarter of 2012, prior to the launch of the of the most recent expansion later that year," Blizzard justified.

On the bright side, Blizzard is gearing up to launch its next expansion Warlords of Draenor, and will announce a release date later this month. It's possible the release of the new expansion will bump up subscriptions, but as we've seen in the past it's usually short-lived. Dating back to 2010, World of Warcraft has seen the number of subcriptions drop from its 12 million peak to where it is now, a low 6.8 million.

World of Wacraft remains the "number one subscription-based MMORPG," Blizzard said, but one has to wonder how long before the company decides to make the switch to free-to-play.