Some World of Warcraft Players Are About to See a Subscription Price Hike

World of Warcraft has long been a global game. The popular MMO has proven to hit no matter what continent players live on and that means that developer Activision Blizzard sometimes needs to adjust its prices. Earlier today, Blizzard announced on the official forums that players in certain countries should expect a new price hike to hit nearly every aspect of World of Warcraft in the coming days. This includes everything from the actual game to the monthly subscription and even things like Character Transfers. While the price increase is only coming to Turkey and Ukraine, it doesn't feel like a positive for anything other than Blizzard's balance sheet.

The news was first spotted by Wowhead, and the changes in Turkey and Ukraine will be implemented on July 5, 2023. For some context, the current price for a one-month World of Warcraft subscription in the two nations is 149 Turkish lira and 299 Ukrainian hryvnia. Those numbers will rise to 199 lira and 389 hryvnia in July, along with all of the other expansions and microtransactions in the game. Given the current conflicts in Ukraine, the price increase isn't settling with the fans online. For its part, Blizzard is citing global and regional market conditions, which likely are pointing toward global inflation as being the driving force behind the price hikes.

Blizzard has announced that they have updated the price of World of Warcraft subscriptions and services in Ukraine and Turkey. #Dragonflight #Warcraft https://t.co/NJfASXMzzX pic.twitter.com/7l5UXnCDF4

— Wowhead💙 (@Wowhead) June 5, 2023

What's potentially most interesting about this is that Blizzard hasn't really raised the price of subscriptions since the MMO was first released. In the US, a monthly recurring sub has been $14.99 since World of Warcraft's launch. Seeing that price go up, even if it's currently limited to only specific regions, is very surprising. Of course, Blizzard isn't saying anything about that price increase coming to other countries, but it may now be on the table, though we would still say that is unlikely at this point.

Either way, this isn't great news for players in Turkey or Ukraine. Those price increases could easily drive players away from the game they have maybe been playing since 2004. That said, with both the lira and hryvnia's purchasing power being in a constant state of flux right now, it's hard to predict World of Warcraft's long-term future in either country.