Proof That Diablo III Is Affecting The WoW Economy

Have you been noticing slower than usual auction house sales? Do your cities seem to have less and less people milling around in them? Many of us have felt that Diablo III's release has been affecting the World of Warcraft economy but until I saw the above charts while on my server page at WoWuction.com I didn't have any real proof. Read on past the jump for the evidence.

How is Diablo III's release on May 15, 2012 affecting the World of Warcraft economy? Quite a bit it would seem. On my own realm the average market value of out auction house on May 14, 2012 (the day before Diablo III was released) was 3.60M gold. As of today, May 22, 2012, that average is down to 2.14M gold. That is a drop of just over 40% of the total market value of our auction house.

The US Alliance auction house average market value was 4.03M gold on May 14 and is now down to 2.97M gold a drop of just over 25%. The global US auction house market value was 1.85B gold on May 14, 2012 and is now down to 1.34B gold on May 22, 2012, a reduction of over 27%.

Think about that for a minute. My server has 40% less worth of auctions on the AH today than before Diablo III's release. All US Alliance are down over 25% and total US server market value is down over 27%. Diablo III is causing some serious shrinkage on the World of Warcraft auction houses.

My guess is this is mostly due to people playing Diablo III who have competely stopped playing WoW and thus stop reposting their auctions. This is very understanable as World of Warcraft hasn't had any new content for quite some time and Diablo III is brand-spanking new and full of fresh gaming content to consume.

 That said these may be lean times for WoW auctioneers. Then again, if you are able to find the right angle a smart auctioneer may be able to take advantage of the reduced competition and  and reduced supply.

Have you noticed changes in your server since Diablo III's release? If so let us know about them in the comments below.

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