World of Warcraft is the game that probably needs little introduction. Since its release in 2004, it has become insanely popular. Eight years and four expansion packs later, it is still going strong. Though it currently has around 10 million subscribers, its peak was at 12 million not too long ago. Despite these numbers, it’s kind of surprising that as of 2011, 5,930,000 years have been spent in game by the collective player base- which means now it’s no doubt well over the 6 million mark.
That would mean that every player in game at its peak subscription count would have spent almost half a year in game. The reality is that more than 12 million players have played the game- that’s why the number is so high. Players are constantly quitting as new ones join (though less join now than in the past). Still, considering that earlier this year a building in China was constructed in 360 hours, it’s amazing to think what could have been done with all of those man hours.
