From Peak to Decline: A Study on the Interactive Mechanism Between Marketing Strategies and User Preference Evolution in World of Warcraft

Zhaoyang Xu

2025

Abstract

As a globally iconic MMORPG, World of Warcraft (WoW) initially thrived on Blizzard Entertainment’s precise marketing strategies and groundbreaking game design. However, the rise of mobile internet and users’ growing preference for fragmented, low-commitment gaming experiences have led to challenges such as player attrition and declining market relevance. Analyzing WoW’s lifecycle, this study reveals Blizzard’s critical missteps: a failure to dynamically address users’ evolving demands from "deep immersion" to "instant gratification," alongside delayed adaptation to mobile platform expansion and short-video-driven engagement. The research proposes a bidirectional "user preference–marketing strategy" framework, arguing that legacy IPs must recalibrate value propositions through lightweight mobile adaptations, cross-platform interoperability technologies, and incentivized user-generated content (UGC) ecosystems to bridge generational player expectations.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Xu Z. (2025). From Peak to Decline: A Study on the Interactive Mechanism Between Marketing Strategies and User Preference Evolution in World of Warcraft. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics - Volume 1: ICEML; ISBN 978-989-758-775-7, SciTePress, pages 158-162. DOI: 10.5220/0013840500004719

in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceml25,
author={Zhaoyang Xu},
title={From Peak to Decline: A Study on the Interactive Mechanism Between Marketing Strategies and User Preference Evolution in World of Warcraft},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics - Volume 1: ICEML},
year={2025},
pages={158-162},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013840500004719},
isbn={978-989-758-775-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics - Volume 1: ICEML
TI - From Peak to Decline: A Study on the Interactive Mechanism Between Marketing Strategies and User Preference Evolution in World of Warcraft
SN - 978-989-758-775-7
AU - Xu Z.
PY - 2025
SP - 158
EP - 162
DO - 10.5220/0013840500004719
PB - SciTePress