Activision has reported a World of Warcraft subscriber count of 9.6 million, as of December 31, 2012. That represents a decline of around 400,000 subscribers since the company reported 10 million subs shortly after the release of its most recent major expansion, Mists of Pandaria.The release of that expansion signalled a rebound for the then-declining MMO, which had dropped to a low of 9.1 million before bouncing back to the 10 million mark.
The publisher noted today, however, that WoW remains the "number-one subscription-based MMORPG", and was one of two Blizzard titles to place in the top-10 PC games sales in North America and Europe in the calendar year 2012, with Mists of Pandaria taking the number-three spot.