World of Warcraft’s subscriber numbers have been declining since they hit the 12 million peak in 2010.

The abrupt slump in subscribers was revealed by Activision Blizzard during talks with analysts about its financial status.

World of Warcraft (WoW) had about 10.3 million subscribers at the end of September, down from 11.1 million at the end of June.

Nearly a million people have stopped paying for WoW in the last three months.
Experts consider the decline due to competition from new titles but they noted that WoW was still very resilient.

Blizzard’s boss, Mike Morhaime, said the biggest slowing down in player numbers was seen in the Asia Pacific region, with significant falls in China.

Despite the decline in players of Wow, Activision Blizzard’s results were strong with record third-quarter results up 16 percent over the same period in 2010.

At the moment WoW faces competition from games such as Arkham City, Skyrim, Battlefield 3 and Activision’s own Modern Warfare 3.

The game maker has also unveiled ways to make sure veteran players stay involved. Last month it announced players who commit to a new 12 month subscription would get a free copy of Diablo III, early access to the next expansion for WoW, and a flying horse to ride around in the game.

The fact that millions still regularly played a seven-year-old game showed its resilience.