Speaking about the decline, Morhaime stressed that World of Warcraft continues to be the most popular MMO in China and indeed the rest of the world.
"The majority of the declines were in the East," the Blizzard executive told investors. "China still represents more than half of our global player base, and historically, December has been a very good month for subscriber trends."
Blizzard recently announced the next expansion in the World of Warcraft series, Mists of Pandaria, which opens up a whole new oriental-styled continent over-run by a race of Pandas. The additional content will also introduce a new Monk class to the game, which introduces a new play-style for fans of the series. The company is also set to launch World of Warcraft in Brazil on December 6 which should help increase the player-base.
In-line with the upcoming expansion, Morhaime added: "It's really not intended to go out and drive new user acquisition, that's a whole other strategy. But it does drive engagement with the game, and so that will impact churn if we do it successfully, and will eventually drive winback, as players tell each other about the content they're enjoying."
World of Warcraft has been a phenomenal hit since it launched 7 years ago, however, it seems that fans of the series are looking to something new and exciting to keep them captivated. Blizzard hopes the new expansion pack will rejuvenate the game and bring players flooding back in.
Check out the trailer for Mists of Pandaria below:
The Mists of Pandaria expansion has a targeted release date of summer 2012.
