Gamasutra has been talking to Blizzard's Rob Pardo about World of Warcraft, and other subjects related to Blizzard. Perhaps the most interesting bit of information that Pardo let out was the fact that World of Warcraft was going to be a free-to-play, ad supported game:
There is nothing worse than spending four years of your gaming life on World of Warcraft, only to have your account hacked, voiding your hard work. Blizzard are aware of the cruel fate that can occur at any moment and have moved to stop it.
The World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King image gallery has been updated with 16 new screenshots.
In January of this year Blizzard's subscription count for World of Warcraft hit the 10 million mark, and despite the emergence of rival MMOs it's still swelling. Lich King lead designer Tom Chilton reckons the release of the upcoming expansion will certainly bump the numbers again, when ever that eventually is.
In a casual interview with Videogamer.com, Paul Barnett, Creative Director for Warhammer Online, spoke out on comparing Warhammer Online with the current 9000 pound gorilla of online games, World of Warcraft.
In another tidbit from the Activision-Blizzard Analysts day event, Kotaku is reporting that Blizzard announced that the total cost of supporting the World of Warcraft game to date has been $200 million. While the complete details were not released it seems that this number does not include the development costs for the game but simply the cost of keeping servers up, and support personnel staffed. In any case with more than ten million subscribers and the pending release of Wrath of the Lich King to keep them around, Activision-Blizzard is clearly making a fortune from the king of massively multiplayer games.
Blizzard has released the latest patch for World of Warcraft, bringing the US version of 2.4.2 to 3.0.2. You can download it here.
It's official, at least if you believe CEO types. Blizzard's Mike Morhaime has stated that their new MMO isn't going to be a sequel to Warcraft. Looks like the Blizz team don't want to accidentally release a WoW-killer themselves; they're making a "different massively multiplayer experience".
Providing you can kidnap the "right writers and directors" for the project, Spider-man director Sam Raimi reckons a WoW flick would be awesome. It's all those "fantastic landscapes and rules" which would lead to brilliance apparently, of course they'd have to cameo some gold farmers and the clueless newb.
Blizzard's CEO Mike Morhaime has told investors that subscribers who sought out MMO's Age of Conan and Warhammer Online have mostly returned to Warcraft. Research gnomes have learnt gamers are returning in preparation for Wrath of the Lich King. 68% of players who joined Conan have "reactivated their subscriptions" to WoW.
If you happen to log into World of Warcraft today then you'll unlock Blizzard's 4th anniversary achievement for it, and get a cuddly gift too. Blizzard are giving away Baby Blizzard Bear companions for free but only for today reports Kotaku. If you want an inoffensive, cute and cuddly best pal you'd best log in now!
Jake Biegel, Resistance 2 co-op lead designer, reveals in an interview with Gamasutra that they "scaled back" on the multiplayer scope. Valve's Team Fortress 2 helped the team study "dependencies on classes" and the "large amounts of people working in tandem" in Blizzard's World of Warcraft. It helped them develop"the buzz".
According to Arvind Bhatia with Stern Agee, 30 cents out of a total 60 cents were WoW earnings in the fiscal ending December. That's round about $400 million in total. Blizzard announced 11.5 million subscribers are now in the MMO roster in December. Acti-Blizz has a lot to thank Azeroth's populace for.
Blizzard has pulled back the veil on the new upcoming dungeon for Wrath of the Lich King, which is set to arrive with the big 3.1 patch. Gamers will employ a fleet of siege vehicles and face off against a "massive iron army" before butting heads with a Flame Levaithon Tank boss. 14 bosses in all will be included.
Jeffery Kaplan, former WoW director, has busted his vocal cords to deliver a 40 minute speech covering nine quest-related niggles for World of Warcraft. From things like the "Christmas Tree Effect", mystery, gimmicks and more. Kaplan also admits he's "the a**hole" responsible for the infamous 'Green Hills of Strangelthorn' quests.
From rumour to fact, Blizzard has announced they have struck a licensing agreement with NetEase to run the Chinese version of WoW. Team Blizz said they "appreciate the enthusiasm" gamers have in China, and this deal should ensure the same "high-quality service" other regions receive. It's a 3 year partnership.
The Warcraft universe is big, so it stands to reason Blizzard should hold tournaments with cash prizes. The regionals will take place in Cologne, Germany. They start on June 26th and end on the 28th, which will decide who gets to duke it out in the global finals this August in Anaheim, California. It's time for WoW 3v3 Arena and Warcraft III.
Blizzard's Rob Pardo has revealed that StarCraft II's development was held up because a "fair amount of the design team" were conscripted to 'finish off' WoW. StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty concurs their team "got sucked" into World of Warcraft, saying he too "was called off". Late '05 or early '06 StarCraft II was "legitimately playable."
Blizzard has reportedly trademarked the name 'Cataclysm', with fans now running rampant with speculation that this is the third expansion to World of Warcraft. The name certainly fits into WoW's lore and so seems a highly plausible rumour, meaning team Blizz are working on the South Seas area of Azeroth. BlizzCon '09 may reveal more...
That 8.6 million figure of US retail sales for Blizzard's MMO includes the original game, it's two expansions and special Collector's Edition and the Battlechest bundle. In retail sales alone the game World of Warcraft has raked in around $258 million from US consumers. Now just add the $15 a month subscription charge... no sign of slowing.