Second WOW expansion 'scheduled' for '08

Blizzard parent Vivendi is planning to ship Wrath of the Lich King in "second half" of the current year; Blizzard revs near $100 million per month.

Last month, rumors surfaced about Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion to Blizzard Entertainment's wildly popular World of Warcraft. According to a report on World of Warcraft fan site WOW Insider, "anonymous sources" claimed the game had entered the alpha-testing stage, with "various players...being invited to check it out, under a strict [nondisclosure agreement]."

Today, speculation yielded to confirmation. As part of its quarterly earnings report, Vivendi SA, the French multinational that owns Blizzard Entertainment, officially announced that Wrath of the Lich King "is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2008." Given that the first WOW expansion, The Burning Crusade, sold 2.4 million copies in just 24 hours, the add-on has the potential to dominate the PC gaming market during the holiday quarter.

As outlined in GameSpot's brand-new preview, the expansion will introduce a large amount of new content to the WOW universe. The villain of the title is Arthas, the wicked antihero prominently featured in Warcraft III's Frozen Throne expansion who has since become an undead lord. The expansion's action will be set in the realm of Northrend, a frigid land whose geography and inhabitants are heavily influenced by Norse mythology.

In addition to formalizing Wrath of the Lich King's window, Vivendi gave an update on WOW's overall subscriber base--which will surely expand when the add-on hits the market. As of March 31, the massively multiplayer game boasted over 10.7 million players, which helped Blizzard generate €192 million ($297 million) in revenue during the first quarter--or roughly €64 million ($99 million) per month.

Excluding "the allocation of overheads" of Vivendi's game group, which includes Sierra Entertainment, the publisher generated €99 million ($153 million) in adjusted earnings before interest and income taxes (EBITA) during the quarter--or roughly €33 million ($51.0 million) each month.

141 Comments

  • dddak

    Posted Jun 9, 2008 7:10 pm PT

    simply - WOW is the best game ever... others r just trying to compete with wow... and still trying... wow will rule in the next few years, and the only company who is able to make better game than wow is blizzard itself

  • TheSlanger

    Posted May 29, 2008 6:00 am PT

    My friends will be so pleased.

  • puppeteering

    Posted May 28, 2008 4:14 am PT

    Cant wait for WotLK , but as more as they wait to put it in sale the more fans will quit wow , because of all same things we do evey single day , we need some change arround here and it needs to be soon !

  • ArtOfCraft

    Posted May 24, 2008 12:43 pm PT

    Rofl, notice how AoC fanboy is posting on a WoW article. Give it up man, I'm a fan of neither to be honest, but WoW has dominated, and will dominate the foreseeable future.

    Like someone else said, all MMO's coming out now are just hopping on the bandwagon that WoW created. Albeit, Everquest started it, but WoW.. well, perfected it.

  • madmartigan117

    Posted May 23, 2008 3:04 am PT

    Im mostly excited they are making the raid instances shorter in WotLK. I love WoW for the raiding, and a lot of the time I get stuck sitting there because I feel obligated to stay in the raid group for the 3+ hours it takes to run pretty much anything. Raid instances that are made to take only about an hour is the best thing thats ever happened to WoW. This will hopefully make it possible for me to get into a raid, chat with my friends, get my lootz and actually be done before my Girlfriend gets home so I don't have to hear the grief.

  • skynetpuma

    Posted May 22, 2008 1:36 pm PT

    I dont know why the expansion , "the burning crusade" has that name. IFor me , it doesnt change anything, and now, from the outland, to Northrend. I think they are afraid of Age of Conan, so they want to take any new content , no matter what it is. Like that Simpson episode, with the Stacey Malibu doll new release, with a new hat.

  • Vasot

    Posted May 21, 2008 1:18 am PT

    Age of Conan > World of Warcraft

    AGE OF CONAN IS THE NEW MMORPG KING ACCORDING MANY REVIEWERS THAT JUST BOUGHT THE GAME

    Go look also in the Age of Conan player review section here in gamespot

    Start crying WoW fanboys below...

    WoW is PWNED

    World of Hyborian: Wrath of the Conan king

  • austin1992

    Posted May 20, 2008 5:37 pm PT

    wait i forgot, what MMO was it with 10.7 million subscribers?

  • madaka

    Posted May 18, 2008 11:16 pm PT

    they do good

  • ihma

    Posted May 18, 2008 7:22 pm PT

    i think its funny how ppl bash WoW, you either like it or you dont, but the ppl that say the new MMOs are gonna be great, guess y?
    its cause they use WoW as there base line, go over to the WH online site, the devs even say in one of there vids, WoW is the standered and if you dont build off that your MMO is gonna fail
    (and also age of conan is for lil boys addicted to ultra violence)

  • ihma

    Posted May 18, 2008 7:18 pm PT

    fanboy alert below

  • Vasot posted May 18, 2008 7:13 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Vasot

    Posted May 18, 2008 7:13 am PT (hide)

    WORLD OF WARCRAFT JUST SUCKS !!!

    It's just an overhyped Multiplayer software for rich little kids wasting their daddas and mamas money for pay-fee server accounts

    AGE OF CONAN IS COMING and will kick World of Warcraft fat a$$ both from graphics and from gameplay

    Just look how beautiful Age of Conan looks...
    compared to
    how ugly and how low quality and how anime-coloured is World of Blizzardcraft ...

    Anyway
    Blizzard just bring Starcraft 2 out and do not bother anymore creating another mmo WoW expansion c-r-a-p for the little kids

    World of Warcraft is OLD NEWS ...stop milking this OLD cow blizzard
    Just bring something new and something with single player and a good story too

    Not another MMO skirmish crap for the internet addicts and the net babies please

  • orcsblade

    Posted May 18, 2008 4:01 am PT

    all a money making racket, you aren't getting it off me!

  • S2Ghost

    Posted May 17, 2008 9:37 pm PT

    Man, i hope this and Starcraft 2 don't come out around the same time. That would be a tough choice of what to play

  • Jab7604

    Posted May 17, 2008 7:01 am PT

    Cant wait i just got to get to 70 now

  • Kerflunk

    Posted May 16, 2008 2:43 pm PT

    Graphics are for little kids who like shiny tin foil.
    WoW gameplay is one of the best out there, which is why it is such a good game and so addicting!
    I can't wait for this to come out!
    WARLOCKS FTW

  • Kooken58

    Posted May 16, 2008 10:48 am PT

    I have no problem with the graphics, Other than the complete crappy character models. ANd not to mention armor looks like its just copy and pasted to your character. It seriously wouldnt be hard to make better models with a higher Poly count. Other games have done it in their expansions like Daoc. But other than that This expansion is just the Exact thing as TBC. New Area More instances to Grind your Gear. Hit level 80 and wait until 3rd expansion comes, to grind to level 90 all over again.

  • egressenter

    Posted May 16, 2008 8:05 am PT

    Dg3215 if your scolding someone for their run-on sentences spell GRAMMAR correctly.

  • BloodMist

    Posted May 16, 2008 6:58 am PT

    Gee willikers, 100 mill per month, i guess it isn't nearly as succesful as it's claimed to be just like all those retarded conspiracy theory posts try to prove eh?Suuuure isn't!

  • dg3215

    Posted May 16, 2008 6:37 am PT

    unknown-racer I can tell by your grammer how highly educated you are. Really you should learn to speak english before you make fun of ppl for being poor. Also, just because your mommy and daddy buy you things does not make YOU rich and judging by your grammer you better get yourself use to saying: "would you like fries or onion rings with you Whopper Value meal sir."

  • BlackKnightOfH8

    Posted May 15, 2008 7:14 pm PT

    @unknown-racer

    God forbid people have bills to pay and aren't living off of mommy and daddy.

    Also grats on being the type of person that makes all gamers look bad.

    An one more thing. Graphics don't make or break a game. There are plenty of great games that don't have graphics on par with current and future games and are far better then most games that take uber high-end computers or consoles to run.

  • unknown-racer posted May 15, 2008 5:52 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    unknown-racer

    Posted May 15, 2008 5:52 pm PT (hide)

    WoW is old news. Old Game. Old Graphic. Old gameplay. The reason why Blizzard keep it so old So all the poor people could play. On there "Old as Computer that it. A higher HD-Graphic and Better gameplay will "Overkill" low life people who anit got no Money.

  • smbius

    Posted May 15, 2008 4:03 pm PT

    To those that think WoW needs a graphical update: I think the WoW dev team is at their limts with the current game engine. Then again, is nicer graphics going to help? Is it worth the resources re-doing all of the models and animations? Imagine a user's experience with mid-range machines who've been playing WoW since 04 and they get a graphical update. Now they have a online experience where their battles occur in 5 frames per second.

  • brianpoetzel

    Posted May 15, 2008 3:32 pm PT

    @killsyou123: True, fair enough.

  • KILLSYOU123

    Posted May 15, 2008 3:31 pm PT

    Brian I agree with you and Omerg but you gotta give them credit they've made one of the biggest impacts on gameing history even with the current graphics

  • TheCraving

    Posted May 15, 2008 3:24 pm PT

    I quit WoW once I got my PS3. But, don't get me wrong, it was an amazing game and yes, I was addicted to it. What made me quit though was the other people that played. Everyone was constantly stressed out with each other ect ect. Although I met some great people to play with and chat with on vent. Good times. A new expansion will bring back the 'WoW feel' again, like explording a new town or city for the first time or getting the new gear from some brand new instance.

  • brianpoetzel

    Posted May 15, 2008 2:20 pm PT

    I'm with you omerg1993. A graphical update is needed. The game is four years old and already had dated graphics at launch.

  • Leemayn

    Posted May 15, 2008 2:10 pm PT

    "Hey, we need an MMO story."
    "Yeah, we haven't gone there in a while. What about WoW?"
    "They have that expansion coming out."
    "When is it? This year?"
    "Yeah."
    "All right, write a story about how the expansion's still coming out this year."

  • omerg1993

    Posted May 15, 2008 2:01 pm PT

    why didnt blizzard improved the graphics like in EVE?!!!

  • Windblade91

    Posted May 15, 2008 2:00 pm PT

    wow is addictive...but what game isnt? blizzard works like crazy to make sure WoW never has that "finished" feel to it, they always add more incentives or more interesting side stories and whatnot for players to continue playing. im addicted...to games in general, there are very FEW people who become PSYCHOTIC and let wow take over their lives...and then blame it, when its their own fault.
    WoW is a great game and this is good news considering not every1 who plays WoW wants SC2....and its a smart move to make sure the new expansion comes out first, that way WoW players wont get ticked off that SC2 is getting all the attention whereas they, who pay monthly, have to wait longer.

  • peeweeshift

    Posted May 15, 2008 1:48 pm PT

    a big revenue boost imo. people who have their lives in this game will pay up while onlookers will join the commotion and quit like many before them. its getting stale and i dont know how so many people are addicted. they have no life

  • buster8695

    Posted May 15, 2008 1:36 pm PT

    Probably will slip to Jan. 09 like BC did.

  • microsoft4life

    Posted May 15, 2008 1:04 pm PT

    You cant really only get into the game with a 14 day trial Digital

  • Shattered-Sun

    Posted May 15, 2008 12:47 pm PT

    Cool

  • Digital_DJ_00

    Posted May 15, 2008 12:29 pm PT

    I've played the 14-day Trial of WoW and I wasn't REAL impressed but it was fun. I was hoping they'd put a release date on Starcraft II before WotLK. All well I guess.

  • ChuckNorris82

    Posted May 15, 2008 12:06 pm PT

    I'm not really a big WOW fan, but i've played it a little over my bro's house and its pretty cool if u get into it. He's gona be snappin when this new expansion come out. It's good that Blizzard is doing awsome tho.

  • AlbertPerk

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:53 am PT

    death919 --

    Haha no problem man, I see where you're coming from standing up for your game and fellow gamers...if this topic was about Metal Gear Solid I would have done the same thing and been backing it up too! It's all good, no hard feelings man.

  • CharlieFubar

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:47 am PT

    Desolation is right, but dont you all find that sad? We should have been rioting in the streets 10 years ago about how crappy were being used to uplift the rich... But they got us again... addicted to so many vices and things, that we fight amongst eachother instead of teaming up to take them down... but again i digress...

  • death919

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:46 am PT

    LOL ya sorry I blew what you said way out of proportion I just get frustrated when everyone's like "WOW IS FOR NO LIFES" because not everyone who plays WoW has no life! But I agree with you that some people do take it way to far by basically living in the game with no life outside of it. XD

  • desolation00

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:40 am PT

    Well, lets compare WoW addiction to standard TV use. About the only differences I can see, you actually change the channel to get away from reruns on TV, and you aren't typically doing it with buddies. Reruns and unfilled time-slots account for some of the time people decide to stop watching TV for the moment and do something more productive besides idly entertaining themselves. The rest is a desire to socialize. You don't feel you have any invested interest in hanging out in front of the TV if you've been through it already.

    You aren't so lucky when there's a piece of cheese at the end of the maze for you to pick up, and 'friends' to run through the maze with. MMORPG designers work the hardest they can to give people Achievements to work towards. The companies hire people specifically for this task. As long as you give people a sense of accomplishment they keep coming back. It's constantly a battle to keep people interested in doing the same thing over-and-over, as it's tough to program as quickly as people can play. A feeling of personal responsibility to the other people you go with, who may not even be interested in going themselves, is just more incentive to keep playing.

    As far as comparing it to real life, it's really an achievement overload. How often does a typical 9-5 worker get home and feel they really accomplished something at work today? (Personally the business would collapse without me being there, half the time.) It's easy to see how someone can become addicted to easy (by comparison to real life) achievement and socialization of online videogames.

  • CharlieFubar

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:36 am PT

    i think if you play wow, you definately deserve flak from other gamers... especially ones like me who have learned firsthand that caring about a stupid online game so much can deteriorate your real life. Lucky for me, i have a pretty forgiving group of family and friends =)

  • pelos1

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:30 am PT

    i agree with death919 ... i started WoW @ November 2007 ... b4 that i had stronly insisted that i would never play it but the day i started i changed my opinion
    the game is just perfect in every aspect and imagine that' i'm a COD2 over-hardcore player ...
    i agree that there are a lot of ppl staying home WoWing rather than going out but they are not so many compare to the almost 4 m players
    personally play wow for 2 hours a day and 4-5 hours @ weekends and i do go out , do good @ sch and have a personal life anws i will continue WoWing like most of WoW players cause even if AO conan comes i don;t think ppl will cancel their subscription on other mmo for a new and definately buggy@the-biggining game

    PS 80 LVL HERE I COMEEE!!!!

  • AlbertPerk

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:26 am PT

    Oh and FallenAngelXBL LOL you're right man, no one exercises in this country or at least it seems huh? Good point!

  • AlbertPerk

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:23 am PT

    LOL nice. Well I mean good point, I see what you mean death919. I did say SOME PEOPLE though. Not all people. Some people. And yes I do know SOME PEOPLE that play for that long and don't have a job or a life for that matter. I wouldn't have said that otherwise. It is what it is. I'm not trying to stereo-type everyone (I apologize if you guys took it that way) I'm just saying some people out there play for that long. And I was just using basketball as a general example, I wasn't using it for specifics. So I'm sorry if I offended you death919, or any other WoW fans out there, I wasn't speaking about all of you...because I know that not everyone plays for that long, just again as I previously stated, some people.

  • death919

    Posted May 15, 2008 10:52 am PT

    AlbertPerk: You're on a video game website complaining about people who play video games? Wow...... just wow... but anyways all of these people have these baseless "stereotypes" about WoW players... that all WoW players are jobless people who play WoW 8 hours a day? I do not know a single person in my "hardcore guild" (we will down Vashj this week and will enter BT/Hyjal next week, if you don't know what it means, it means we are one of those "hardcore" guilds), I don't know a single person in the guild who a) Does not either have a full time job or in university, and also b) plays more than 5 hours a day (most of us average 4-5 playing days a week, maybe 3 or 4 hours each of those days).

    So I don't know where your stereotypes come from, but really, there aren't really people who play 8 hours a day (I'm guessing the amount that do make up less than 0.1% of WoW's population, and that is a fact). So while you are certainly entitled to your own "opinion", please bear in mind that your opinion is based on incorrect facts that you believe to be true, and in that respect the validity of your opinion can certainly be questioned. Just know that the great majority of WoW players do not in fact play non-stop, every day, with no life outside of the game (I consider myself an avid player of the game and will be working towards a Ph.D in Mathematics in the upcoming years).

    And why are you trying to force your opinion on others by saying that other people should find basketball to be more fun than playing video games? Who are you to make that decision? Define what "being active" means. Does it mean getting into shape? Because I'm 5 feet 11 inches and 135 pounds. Does it mean having fun? Because what if I find the ever-changing World of Warcraft to be more fun than the repetitive sport that is basketball (let's try to get the ball in the hoop for hours on end YAY!).

    Anyways, it's important for you to realize that the reason you choose basketball over WoW is because you find it to be more fun - but it is equally important to realize that the reason some others choose WoW over basketball is because they find WoW to be more fun. I recommend trying to base your opinion on correct fact in the future instead of developing an opinion based on stereotypes which, quite frankly, are not true. Because it is certainly a fact that: a) people who play WoW play it because they enjoy it, and b) the LARGE majority of WoW's population ( > 99%) do NOT play for 5 hours a day, every day. You are simply blowing a few extreme cases out of proportion, and basing your opinion of WoW on those extreme cases.

  • KillerFPS

    Posted May 15, 2008 10:50 am PT

    Can't wait, need to pick WoW back up as I'm sitting on a level 65 Lock who needs to become 70 to feel wanted in the world.

  • BigDaddy973

    Posted May 15, 2008 10:49 am PT

    My comp is just not good enough for wow, I love my pirates though. But Maybe if it ever come to xbox I will most deff be in right away!! No questions asked, lets see how conan handles the true first console MMO.

  • Pie_FOREVER

    Posted May 15, 2008 10:42 am PT

    I got sucked into WoW back in July of 2007 thanks to a friend. In December of 2007 I hit level 70, and have decided to not play or continue subscribing until the next expansion comes out. Why?

    Because through all the time it takes to get all the "rare" gear from instances like Kara, they will be utterly useless within the first few quests in Northrend because the rewards you'll receive will be better than what you worked for, for MANY many months. AKA, it's really a waste of time to keep grinding for gear from Kara because it will be obselete the moment WotK is released.

    Patiently awaiting this game's release

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