How much money does World of Warcraft make?

Online PC game World of Warcraft (WoW) is now generating a cool £100 million every single month – perhaps more.

The title’s latest expansion pack, Warlords of Draenor, launched on November 13th and sold more than 3.3 million copies within its first 24 hours on sale. 

This pushed the number of paying subscribers from 7.4 million up to 10 million. 

These users pay publisher-developer Blizzard Entertainment £9.99 per month ($15 in the US) for the privilege to play the game above character level 20.

Blizzard increased this fee from £8.99 to £9.99 in the UK earlier this year, with slight discounts for those who buy several months in advance.

This means, if it can retain its 10 million subscriber base, World of Warcraft will be generating around £100 million per month – or £1.2 billion a year – just from subscription fees.

That’s over £3 million per day, £138,888 per hour or almost £2,500 per minute. Each second, it’s generating £38.50.

This doesn’t include the money it makes from in-game extras such as pets, mounts and other services that Blizzard charges for, as well as expansions (which cost around £30) and the collector’s editions (which can cost around £60 to £70).

However, PCR understands the subscription service differs in China, where players pay hourly not monthly, so the above amounts are just estimates.

Despite Warlords of Draenor suffering launch problems, including server disconnects and other technical issues (which Blizzard later apologised for and offered five days’ free game time in compensation), Blizzard says the expansion has been a real hit.

The expansion is now available worldwide, having launched today in South Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

“We’re thrilled that so many players jumped in to play Warlords of Draenor on day one and are having a great time with the new content,” said Blizzard Entertainment CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime.

Blizzard offers players a level 90 character boost with its latest WoW expansion Warlords of Draenor, in a bid to encourage former players to return to the game. Here’s PCR’s blog on returning to WoW.

Blizzard is part of Activision Blizzard, the video game publishing giant behind the likes of Call of Duty, Destiny and Skylanders.

World of Warcraft recently turned ten years old. At its peak it had more than 12 million subscribers.