Yesterday we learned that Activision and a group of investors led by CEO Bobby Kotick are going to purchase the company's independence from Vivendi, but the press release included another interesting piece of information:

World of Warcraft counted 7.7 million subscribers at the end of the latest fiscal quarter, which is 600,000 less than the previous tally four months before.

Will the new found independence of the company manage to steer the game around and stop the bleeding? We can most certainly hope so, otherwise what game would every new MMORPG kid on the block aspire to "kill"?