Some fans have asked/hoped for World of Warcraft to be released on consoles for a while now. It’s not likely anytime soon, but it wouldn’t surprise me either with the news breaking this morning of Microsoft’s intention to buy Activision Blizzard, for $68 Billion! That’s one way to try to bury the negative press surrounding the culture at Blizzard HQ and the scandal and lawsuits that have come from it.
From a player’s point of view, this should mean good things for World of Warcraft. It will hopefully bring a more streamlined and stable process for future patches and expansions and the stories of the Warcraft universe, as well. Plenty has been made, over the last few expansions especially, about the direction of the storytelling and character development, or lack thereof. Too many periods of stagnation, between updates, have led players, myself included, to cancel our subscriptions because nothing is keeping us motivated to play until that next update drops.
A franchise that’s been around as long as Warcraft has, relies on its diehard fans. Asking them to stick around through long content droughts and some less than stellar storytelling feels like a slap in the face when you’re asking them to pony up $15/month for a subscription and at least $40, for every new expansion. Don’t forget about the real money, store exclusive items that can be bought and then used in-game. It’s their version of Pokémon: Gotta buy them all! Throw in the behind-the-scenes shenanigans and it starts to leave a sour taste in players’ mouths.
A well-loved franchise deserves better. I will of course restart my subscription (Which probably makes me part of the problem) when the next patch drops, even if only for a month. I’ll likely purchase the next expansion, too. But, the days of keeping that subscription active for months on end have quickly faded away.
New In-Game Characters? Nah!
Master Chief Clippy