World of Warcraft subscriptions drop to 9.1 million

Latest reports from Blizzard show another drop in World of Warcraft's subscription numbers.

Today's Q2 2012 financial results call revealed World of Warcraft has approximately 9.1 million subscribers, as of June 30, 2012. Despite another drop in subscriptions, World of Warcraft remains the #1 subscription-based MMORPG.

It's not a pretty trend for WoW though. This marks over a 1 million subscription drop from their last call in May. Since November 2011, World of Warcraft's subscriptions have slowly dropped from 12 million to 9.1 million.

And it won't get any easier for the once dominant MMORPG. One of WoW's biggest competitor Star Wars: The Old Republic, who many thought would dethrone WoW, recently added a free-to-play option. Another huge MMO, Guild Wars 2, is set to launch this month and will also be free to play.

Surely Blizzard is hoping upcoming expansion, Mists of Pandaria, will help keep WoW players from migrating to newer games. Mists of Pandaria is set to release on September 25, 2012. It will introduce a new Pandaren race, playable Monk class, all-new pet battle system, Pandaria continent, and much more. But will it be enough to convince players to stay?

The competition in the MMO market isn't easing up any time soon and World of Warcraft isn't getting any younger, so dare I say it might be time for a free-to-play option?