Blizzard's goal: Annual WOW expansions

Developer-publisher's "goal" is to add onto its massively popular MMORPG each year; Burning Crusade still set for holiday ship.

With World of Warcraft's subscriber base nearing 7 million, it's little wonder that its first expansion is generating no small amount of interest. However, that interest has turned to doubt, following recent reports that the game has only entered alpha testing.

But while the game's developer and publisher, Blizzard Entertainment, would only say that the game was undergoing "internal testing," it did today reiterate that its "goal is to ship the expansion pack by the end of the year."

If the Burning Crusade does make it to stores by New Year's Eve, it may spark a new holiday tradition. Following reports in the European press, Blizzard confirmed to GameSpot that it is aiming to release new World of Warcraft add-ons annually. "Our ideal scenario would be to release new expansions every year, and that's what we're aiming for," a rep said.

While confident, Blizzard was also cautious about an annual expansion scheme. "Given the nature of game development cycles, we may not always be able to hit our target release goals," the rep continued. "Regardless, our priority will always be on ensuring that our products meet our expectations and those of our players, and we won't release a product until we feel it's ready."

197 Comments

  • dr_taffin

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 6:13 pm PT

    LOL it's the Guild Wars business model, plus a monthly fee. Hey, why not? Don't worry, I'm not laughing too hard. $10/month for PSU (on top of the non-required XBL fees), my future drug of choice, is an even worse value for the money.

    We're all a bunch of junkies here, only when we get clean, no one will pay to read a book about our experiences nor will our addictions fuel a nascent music career.

  • IloveThis

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 6:10 am PT

    I think this idea of giving an annual expansions would be non-effective.. You have like enough patches that give new instances and etc.. this pleases the most of the people 2! What I would like 2 see is racial classes like Troll Witch Doctor.. But I guess thats far from reality =)..

  • CTBradums

    Posted Sep 18, 2006 3:53 pm PT

    Blizzard's been working like crazy to fix the servers. They've been going at the servers about 20 at a time to fix them, as well as retrofitting them for the Burning Crusade expansion.

    And I can't wait for that expansion. I just recently started playing WoW and my girlfriend and I are hooked. All the annoying 10-15 year old run-ins aside (sorry to those who are 10-15 and don't act like idiots), it's a great game. My main problem was that I wanted to be a "Blood" Elf. With the BC expansion, I can do that, so I'm set

    The whole "One Expansion a year" thing might not be perfect, but it's a great idea. People would get bored of the game if they didn't expand on it. The rise of the level cap to 70 will give everyone a chance to keep growing and all the additions will give us new things to do and see.

    w00t.

  • Ogdenous

    Posted Sep 13, 2006 9:34 am PT

    I am fine on waiting for it, it sounds great! There is still allot to do and see now :-)

  • hafaholo

    Posted Sep 6, 2006 7:36 pm PT

    Wow rocks, and i cant wait for the expansion, But blizzard should work on the servers!

  • orcbuster

    Posted Sep 6, 2006 1:22 pm PT

    Blizzard should fix the servers, instead of adding new content that the old servers can't handle.

  • cb-spike

    Posted Sep 5, 2006 12:49 pm PT

    Why wouldn't Gamespot and other sites keep reporting Wow news? It's easily one of the most popular/successful games of all time. If anything, people in the industry are watching Wow to see how it all pans out. And furthermore, why the hell would u read news that says World of Warcraft when your tired of it? Here's a tip, be a little more selective of what you read, and if your to stupid to not read the freaking title of a news story, don't complain about it.

  • BigBoss755

    Posted Sep 5, 2006 12:36 am PT

    First off, yay! Burning Crusade! I have a friend who is Alpha testing it, and it looks awesome. However, only alpha testing and its sept... Either it's not gonna be out by the end of the year, or I'm worried it will be poorly tested.

    I think I'd rather have them take their time and rock out this expansion.

  • InotStupid

    Posted Sep 4, 2006 5:45 am PT

    god what's with all these people and their "oh we get it, WoW blah blah, geez." who are u saying it to? u sound like idiots. if u don't want to read this, skip it and ignore it. there are OTHER people living in the world you know. like the 6-7 million who actually plays this game. maybe WE'D like to read it. and if you dont know WHY this game has new articles, its because it's not a one time game, its PERSISTENT. GET IT? "UPDATES"
    damn contradictors

  • jmrwacko

    Posted Sep 1, 2006 7:03 pm PT

    WoW patches thus far certainly haven't been small. Since release, over 6 new instances have been added, a complete honor system and three battlegrounds were made, an entirely new zone was added, almost all the character classes were completely redone, hundreds of new weapons, armor, and trinkets were added or revised, the artwork and stats on tier 2 were redone, etc.

  • sonsofliberty84

    Posted Sep 1, 2006 5:24 pm PT

    Has anyone considered that what Blizzard means by an annual expansion pack is just by putting a little more into their patches, possibly even start charging for the next patch. Wasn't City of Heroes patches more like expansions of the game. And the patches Blizzard has released so far for WoW seem to be very small expansion packs. First you had the introduction of PvP then it broadened that realm of play and now we have inter-realm PvP. Personally I think with all the subscribers they have, they can lower the rate they charge.

  • Nirinth

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 7:43 am PT

    YaY!!!

  • matte989

    Posted Aug 29, 2006 8:58 am PT

    Re: Unkillable SC: Ghost vs. World of Warcraft
    So, if you were a Developer/Publisher where would you place your talent? Wow, or SC: Ghost? When you consider the money World of Warcraft is cranking out it's not a hard decision. The money...it's insane. Personally, I would hold off on projects like SC: Ghost too. Creating a hit on the scale of Wow is every developer/publishers wet dream*a bazilion.

  • Matt7895

    Posted Aug 29, 2006 5:03 am PT

    I'd prefer them to work on Warcraft IV, and continue to support WoW through patches, not expansions. Just my opinion though,

  • Unkillable

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 5:38 pm PT

    Sure...once a "year", think Blizzard can really do it?, I mean look at SC: Ghost...

  • caladine

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 2:42 pm PT

    Enough with the WOW already. Lets move on.... Is gamespot that hardup for news?

  • janco15

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 2:19 pm PT

    wow is getting too expensive, come on with so many users couldn't blizzard bring down the price.....

  • cyborg100000

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 2:09 pm PT

    Sorry but why are a lot of you dissapointed in the WoW expansion? It contains more stuff than even a MAIN game has! And if you dont like WoW there's no need to go on saying 'WoW is a disgrace' Its your opinion that is what you think and isnt what everybody else is gonna think. My opinion is that WoW is a great MMO that adds all the fun in playing. you wouldnt get nearly 7 million people playng wow because of good advertisement but because its a fun game!!!!!

  • spiffy_mikeb

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 11:05 am PT

    also, what's with this gamepot feature being about WoW every single week. Enough with Wow. We get it. Lots of people play it. Enough so that the rest of us don't have to read about it too. jeez.

  • ImChuckNorris

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 4:26 am PT

    WTF is up with the GW vs WOW stuff? They are totally different, having played both I personally don't care for GW, it's just a matter of what you're looking for in a game.

  • Merl57

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 3:22 am PT

    I know I shouldnt't say this cause this fight comes up everytime but This Seems ERILY SIMILAR TO GUILD WARS's startegy of every 6 months with 1 year dev...................I wonder how they thought of it!?

  • vernoxa

    Posted Aug 28, 2006 12:06 am PT

    Look, i'll be straight up, I've never played WoW, probaly wont. I play GW. But seriously, I have no doubt WoW isn't a great game, how else would it be so big?! I have nothing against WoW, and I don't think anybody out there should unless they have played it to atleast a mediocre level... For the people who say GW sucks, well, you have not touched many parts of it, and if you have, your entitled to your opinion... Seriously, don't try and state your opinions as facts, I'm not bashing WoW, its just kinda sad what can happen in these comments forums IMO

  • ImChuckNorris

    Posted Aug 27, 2006 9:26 pm PT

    gah hurry up and release BC so I can start playing WOW again! I have several 60's and IMO the best part of this game is the journey to 60, once you actually get there it's not as fun so I can't wait to have the cap raised to 70 and have a boatload of new quests and stuff to do... I'm really looking forward to rolling on a new realm and having fun 1-70 =)

  • marito12

    Posted Aug 27, 2006 2:26 pm PT

    jamers is right

  • chano880

    Posted Aug 27, 2006 1:50 pm PT

    to dagreatvegita : mate dont even compare WoW to CSS. i have them both,and 1st of all,CSS - FPS and WoW - MMORPG,you cant really compare them. though i like more FPS,I have to say that WoW is the best game i've ever played. and you have much more to do than CSS,which,in my opinion,gets quite boring after some hours spent on it.

  • chano880

    Posted Aug 27, 2006 1:14 pm PT

    well i agree with death919,although you reach the max lvl ,there are still a lot of things to do just join a good guild . i hope they dont make expansions every year,that would be a lot expensive to players,more than it is right now

  • dragonbattousai

    Posted Aug 27, 2006 11:24 am PT

    I played WoW and I was addicted for the first month. The game just doesn't appeal to me because it isn't really challenging.

  • ryokinshin6x3

    Posted Aug 27, 2006 10:03 am PT

    lol ppl keep complaining that this game is all over the place, taking top spot on game charts, costing so much for expansions and mothly fees etc. us lok back at everquest 1 and how much crap was released with that(altough i do lik that game)

  • DJ_Lae

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 8:57 pm PT

    $40 to buy into the game initially, $15 a month thereafter and another $40 or $50 a year for expansions. Great deal! That means I can play WoW for two years for under $500!

  • xboxluver283

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 4:50 pm PT

    hey guys dont get you balls in a bunch they havent released GHOST yet you idiots but considering how much money they are making they might relase one every two years and they are going to update the graphics if not they will be faced with a huge player drop

  • griffdogg78

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 3:05 pm PT

    Who cares which games people play. As long as its good just have fun playing it.

  • Gorgar21

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 1:27 pm PT

    LOL - annual releases by Blizzard??? Riiiiiiigghht. The graphics are already starting to become heavily dated, as is the gameplay. Give it about 1-2 more years tops, and WoW will be virtually unplayable due to its prehistoricness when compared to current games.

  • boocreepyfootdr

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 6:46 am PT

    Okay, but how about a full sequel or a W.O.Starcraft? Hmmm...

  • N3xus9

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 12:53 am PT

    Oh great yet another WOW story in "The Last Word" area

    maybe it should be renamed to "The Last WoWrd"

  • Twin-Blade

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 11:32 pm PT

    A new expansion every year? Awsome. Hope they bring Goblins to the horde in the future.

  • death919

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 10:06 pm PT

    @ zhoutai: Yet you people buy the same game yearly all the time. *cough*MADDEN*cough* I'm sure people have gotten bored with Madden by now since they release it every year with some changes/additions. OH WAIT, they HAVEN'T gotten bored with Madden...

    So I don't see why they'd get bored wtih WoW either.

    BTW, you don't play it any more, but while you did play it were you having fun? If the answer was yes, then you shouldn't have this hatred towards WoW as a result of your quitting because I don't play games like Diablo 2 or Final Fantasy 8 etc any more yet I still think they're awesome because of the time that I did spend with them. And if you didn't like WoW during the time you spent with it, that's entirely your fault, since the game doesn't hold your hand, you have to join a good guild and do fun things if you want to enjoy the game, you can't complain if you simply "grind" until lvl 60 and then say "well, I reached lvl 60, I beat the game! That was boring!", you actually have to do fun things in the game if you wanted to enjoy it. You hate the game because you chose to hate it by choosing to not do fun things while playing it.

  • Zhoutai12

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 8:55 pm PT

    WoW is a disgrace to its predecessors. its expansion pack is dumb and lame! and another thing! i dont play wow anymore...

  • Monkdog22

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 8:50 pm PT

    I've played GW, WoW, and EQII, none of them suck, its just how YOU like to play. Out of the three, I like WoW the most, although I will say that Blizzard could take a page out of Sony and NCsofts books and add certain things like interfaction guilds and betrayal quests, or clothing dyes (where you can actually change the color of the clothes, not just use them in professions).

    Oh, and singhellotaku, I think you missed the entire point of Phaltran's post and yes WoW, along with any other game, can replace your social life, there was a kid at my school who did nothing but play WoW when he got home, he wouldn't even clip his finger nails because it took long.

  • Zhoutai12

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 8:34 pm PT

    Sooner or later people would just get bored with a yearly release of the so-so game. i can see alot of u guys already boo-ing.

  • pepechidoone

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 7:40 pm PT

    they can't do that

  • Tolkien13

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 6:49 pm PT

    The more pople buy WoW, the less idiots bashing it but make them bash more than ever by how awesome the game gets.

  • Sheepofevilz

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 6:12 pm PT

    Wow is going the EQ way: Expansions. EQ IS DEAD FOR A REASON MORONS!

    Guess what? Nobody wants to play a game where they need to buy 11 expansions to play a game where everyone's in the high level zones.

  • KenshinHimurai

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 6:05 pm PT

    wow... WoW racks in around $1 092 000 000 a year... shyt... plus with the expansion pack they unleast rack in 52.5 million if half the users buy it... so in 4 years till 2010 since 2006 with yearly expans... blizzy will make... $4 368 000 000 from montly fees and $23 800 000 in annual expansions...(if each is priced at around 15$ and 85% of the 7 million user) bought it).... shyt.... $4 391 800 000...

  • Jir11

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:59 pm PT

    I haven't even touched WoW. Probably won't ever.

  • death919

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:56 pm PT

    WoW gets 100x better at 60. You just have to be in a good guild. If you're in a guild with 2-5 people online always, then of course you're not going to have a good time. The game improves so much at lvl 60, IMO.

  • XtremePhsyco

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:55 pm PT

    how lonf do they expect for this game to last?

  • umbaquaw

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:55 pm PT

    This world is coming to an end, everybody is just going to spend all day inside on this oh joy.

  • thebigcheeze

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:26 pm PT

    hahahahahahhahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahaha

  • Bluespike000

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:25 pm PT

    Join save the Vowels Movement!

  • FlashNovice

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:20 pm PT

    Yeah, I agree to jamers, but instead of a pistol, I would ask for my refund

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