When Mythic Entertainment released Warhammer Online on September 18, 2008, it quickly became the fastest selling MMORPG ever. A month after release, they announced WAR had registered 750,000 players and people were buzzing that it may actually make a noticeable dent in World of Warcraft's armor. But as the expression goes: good things usually don't last.It should be noted, however, that there is much speculation surrounding this 300k figure. What about all the 3- and 6-month subscribers who may not have actually been playing at the time. It may have also been boosted by holiday sales figures, where players did not make it past the first free month. This is also a number that represents total subscriptions in both North America and Europe and we have no idea how it is split up.

Box sales in your first month are one thing, but what matters most for a subscription MMORPG is player retention. Since October 2008, EA and Mythic have remained completely silent about WAR's numbers, something that is never really a good sign. Player and industry speculation was rampant given consistent reports of an in-game exodus of players. The speculation that WAR was losing players was confirmed by a financial report released by EA stating that WAR had just over 300k subscribers as of December 31, 2008. Let a new round of speculation about what these numbers mean begin.WAR will never reach WoW in terms of numbers because it is fundamentally a niche game in comparison. That said, with a continued focus on RvR and polish, WAR can easily and dominantly plant itself in the number two spot for subscription-based MMORPGs. But they'd better act quickly (and smartly); time's a tickin'.