"World of Warcraft", a very popular online game, is losing subscribers. Over 600,000 have left in the past three months and almost two million in 2013. At the start of the year, Activision Blizzard, owners of the game, had 9.6 million subscribers. That figure is now 7.7 million. However, it is still easily the world's most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Analysts are saying the drop is due to fierce competition from popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games like "League of Legends," which has 12 million active daily players.

Despite this downturn, Activision is pushing ahead to get greater independence. CEO Bobby Kotick is spearheading an $8.2billion buyout to be the biggest shareholder again. He wants to buy 429 million shares back from French telecoms and entertainment giant Vivendi, which holds a 61 per cent stake in Activision. This would fall to 12 per cent if the acquisition is successful. Mr Kotick has been CEO since 1991. He believes in the future of online subscriptions. He oversaw the success of "World of Warcraft" and another Activision smash hit, "Call Of Duty".