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World of Warcraft : Frank Pearce on 2010 Cataclysm Launch: "If it's ready."
Posted May 28, 2010 by Michael Bitton
Blizzard's Frank Pearce sat down with the folks of VG247 in a recent interview to discuss the upcoming release of Starcraft II and all other things Blizzard. Tucked away at the bottom of the interview was a comment that may have implied that Cataclysm could miss a 2010 release, something most WoW fans expect as a certainty at this point.
VG247: But Cataclysm [new WoW expansion] is set for release in 2010, so that should be out by the end of the year, yes?
Frank Pearce: Hopefully. If it’s ready. If not, then we’ll hold onto it. [Grins].
Sure, everyone knows the old adage of "when it's ready" that Blizzard strictly follows, but it's still surprising to hear that there is a chance Cataclysm may not make it for 2010.
Read the full interview here.
[Thanks Piasek for the tip!]
Awww, I want it this year - not 2011! Pleaseeee.
Woo for vague answers:
"When will the cure for cancer be found!?"
"When it's ready."
Too bad for WoW fans, and the others who are waiting for this to resub.
On a lighter note, I wonder which is more infuriating? the "when it's ready" (tm Blizzard) or "Soon" (tm NCsoft)? xD
Beats " It'll be ready by November" delayed , "It'll be ready in Jaunuary of 11" delayed, etc etc
Say what you will, but unlike many studios, the game WILL be ready when Blizz releases it...
Have fun with ICC for another 8 months boys.
If it's delayed it will be going up against Star Wars. That will be fun to watch.
WoW expansions are fun and interesting for a little while till we figure out it is the same car with a fresh coat of paint. I think there are a large number of people playing it just because there is nothing better to go to, I am one, so Blizzard better hope that SWToR is not half as good as it looks like it could be or they will have a serious contender on there hands.
You guys don't think, with the amount of money being spent on SWTOR, and GW2 coming out, that Blizzard would suddenly become dumb and not release cata as close to the release of either or both of those as they can?
They sure did with the xpac after WAR, what 3? or 4 weeks later? And the people that might have stuck around in war to wait for patches vanished back to the xpac of wow, crushing war for good.
Blizzard isn't stupid.
Would be surprised by a delay. Though Cata is a much bigger in terms of work involved expansiion than the other 2.
That could very well backfire if they are deliberately doing this. I can't speak for everyone else obviously but if those three came out relatively close together that the WoW expansion would be the one left on the shelves for me. Now if it came out in the fall I might pick it up.
Warhammer release date: Sept 18th 2008
Lich King release date: Nov 13th 2008
so 2 months apart. I really don't think blizzard is in a position that it must release their expansion based on their comeptitions release dates. Releasing their products when they think they are ready has proven to be a better formula so far. Rushing something unfinished to market just to beat the competition is what destroyed EQ2, Conan, Warhammer, etc. It would be an uncharacteristic move by Blizzard.
They going to try to make players choose between GW2, TOR or Cataclysm. Sorry guys but once GW2 hits or TOR we will not be playing WoW much anymore. So if you want your subs back then release in 2010 because not many will choose an expansion over 2 potentially great mmos.
Lol thats a terrible thing for Blizzard to do. There's no way Cata is coming out after Swtor. Hell that game may not even come out in 2011 so it'll be a waste of time to "wait" for swtor to come out. Plus gw2 is b2p so again pointless. Their better off releasing according to their own shedule and wading those games out than releasing their game close to the release dates of either of those two games which aren't even out yet.
I'd take "If it's ready" over "Let's just rush this out of the door for that cashgrab" any day of the week.
This did bring a smile to my face so many people in the Warcraft forums predicted this would be a summer 2010 release at the latest but I guess Blizzard learned lessons from the Lich King and are holding back the release till its ready . There maybe some arguement for stategic release to coincide with the competition but then if the likes of GW2 ,Terra or Starwars deliver the good there will be nothing Blizzard can do to stop an exodus to a cool new mmo and an expansion pack that really only delivers more of same will be seen for what it is very quickly against an innovative new mmo .In fact who knows we may see several in 2011 and these companys may just get it right at last .
I tihnk that might have worked earlier, but if that is Blizzard's plan (and you may be right that it is), I would expect that to backfire horribly on them.
Blizzard's best shot is to release the game as soon as they can, to hook people in to buy the expansion. If they wait until any of these planned AAA-rated games release, I think a lot of people will be more excited about "something new" than they would be about the same old WoW with lava.
GIven that these announcements are coming out as Arenda.Net is beginning to hype up Guild Wars 2, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Blizzard is being more strategic in terms of the overall market than they are about the readiness of the game itself.
Cata will be released in the fall.
His "If it's ready" seemed more like a tease to the fans than anything else.
Completely incorrect.
TBC was 'rushed' to match release dates of competition- explicitly stated by blues.
Feel free to match up content patches and expansions with signficant AAA titles' doing the same. You'll notice small windows of difference- of which the gap is easily filled with PR stunts (just how much media spotlight is on CATA, despite really no substantial information in the past few months).
What was burning crusade rushed to market to compete with what game? Vanguard? I'm not sure what other game released around that time.
Do you have a link to devs saying they rushed BC out to compete with another title? That would be strange considering blizzards "not until it is ready" mantra that they normally preach.
As for patches, blizzard puts out content patches every 3-4 months. You would be hard pressed to find a new mmo release that wasn't somewhere close to one content patch or another. As for the media coverage, what is so surprising about the media covering the biggest mmo on the market. Other games are just now starting to release real information on their games.
Blizzard can't really stop other mmos from releasing and there are tons of mmo players that are going to try them regardless.
They were explicitly quoted as saying that TBC launched 'too soon' because they intended to allow more time for the playerbase to digest Naxx. When ramp-up started for WoLK launch, they were quoted again touching on the subject with regards to recycling Naxx.
Game releases? Or content releases?
As far as a link is concerned, dude, in all the years now (it's crazy to say that- 'years') of MMORPG's... one cannot keep tabs on every newsreel. I read the information, it registers, I read the next newsfeed.... so on and so forth down the line. Hell, it seems like yesterday I was stepping into FFXI with my junior roommate in college...
I do remember that after that event, I noticed a trend with regards to [big] content patches being released alongside other titles' and other titles' content patches. Sometimes you'd sit for weeks, even months on end, waiting for a patch that was announced- only to have it hit randomly and without really updating much. Ask any veteran arena player, for example, with regards to season lengths, and they'll acknowledge the strange deltas being season durations (which coincide with content patches typically).
Blizzard are the de-facto masters of PR. Would you expect anything less, considering?
There is a huge difference between some devs saying that players were not as far along in Naxx as they had expected when TBC released and Devs saying (as is being claimed here) that TBC was rushed to compete with upcoming mmos. Which you still have not listed which MMO release TBC was rushed to compete with. That is why I ask for a link or something to give basis to what you say. Things can get fuzzy years after you read them and you already seem to be changing what you claim to have read.
As for your matching up content releases and expansion, come on. There are big releases for wow every few months. There is almost no way any developer could possibly release something that didn't get close to one of those dates. Compile that with how many other mmos launch, release expansions and major content updates and the calendar will be packed. There is almost no way for that amount of stuff to not overlap just by principle of volume/frequency alone.
If you really believe there is some crafty rushed release schedule to block other developers why don't you match up some content releases.
Only because Blizzard can afford to do it. Most games ship before they are ready because they probably run out of funds.
Pearce is just playing coy. Vivendi wants that cash infusion. They call the shots. They've stretched this out to the max and it would surprise me greatly if they don't release by November.
I seriously doubt there's a conspiracy within Blizzard to release content when their previously nonexistent competition is releasing a product. They simply never needed to. The games that were going to rival WoW were all terrible at release. If there were some scheme, a public announcement to the playerbase would never be made.
I'm not sure why this particular announcement comes as a surprise to anyone who plays Blizzard games. They don't announce release dates until they're sure that's when the game is ready.
i dont see a need to rush in releasing their Expansion
even if they do release it in Q1 of 2011, so be it, it'll be only 2-3 months wait if they are to release in q4 of 2010 anyway
It would make sense for them to release around Christmas '10 or wait until right before or right after Star Wars comes out. It is a business after all.
Wasn't TBC delayed by 2-3 months? I thought it was origninally suppose to ship in Nov 07 and got delayed to Jan/Feb. can't rembmer which of 08. Wouldn't this conflict with the whole "pushing out" before it was ready? As a previous poster stated, it gets fuzzy, but I know it was delayed at least once.
I'd not expect GW2 any time this year... Perhaps next spring. If you guys are lucky.
The King is dead.. nothing else to do for an entire year. They have to release it 2010.
Or they can wait for those games to be release, see which elements that players like, implement it into their own game fast, hope players get dissapointed with those new games, release cata, and those players to come back...
I think there are going to be plenty of new MMO's that will hurt WoW. The launch of the 3 most anticipated titles will be interesting to watch in regards to WoW numbers:
1. SW:ToR - I am becoming more and more discouraged about this solo play MMO.
2. GW2 - I had zero interest in this...but it is starting to sound pretty amazing.
3. FFXIV - I would still be playing FFXI if their credit card security bugs would allow me to.
Throw Tera in the mix and you have some serious competition for Blizzard...finally!
Lol they can't do that, as said before swtor may not even be released in 2011 and they won't have anywhere enough time to implement enough features from those games without coming off as half assed. They can't delay the game by another year as the game would well and trully go into decline and they can't even be certain they will be able to take swtor players anyway. It's just a plain terrible idea.
TOR doesn't draw from the same player demographics as WoW does. GW2 will be lucky to make it out by spring next year from what I hear. FFXIV does look like fun, but if it follows FFXI, its not going to appeal that much to the WoW crowd. As much as some might wish other wise, the only real threat to World of Warcraft at this point is Blizzard itself.
So far, every game that has been deemed to be competition(or a WoW killer) has fallen FAR short of the task. I've no doubt that its theoretically possible... But likely? No. Not for quite some time to come.
Unfounded opinions FTW!!!
Anyway...Go to the WoW off topic forums, in game chat, and many other places and see if the SW:ToR isn't the buzz for WoW players. And, a lot of FFXI folks that I have played with are part time WoW players also. The GW2 comment I can't argue against.
A lot of folks are just looking for that MMO immersion feel that crosses genre lines. I have zero interest in games like APB, but if it gives an immersive feel, I will try it. A lot of people are like that...
So you have at least 4 games coming out between now and march. Swtor, Gw2,Tera and Rift. If none of these games tears away people from WoW no mmo will anytime soon.
Hey now! If I based my *opinions* on hard data/facts I'd be drummed out of the chat room corps!
But really, look at those attracted to TOR with its space science fiction theme. There is *some* over lap with fantasy, but from experience, not as much as some might think. Many may try it(many tried AoC and Warhammer...) but I suspect that most will go back to WoW.
Have you actually played FFXI? If so, you know that its fan base is rather different than WoW's is. Thats why I said that if FFXIV is like FFXI it would appeal to a different demographic.
I've looked at APB, and its just not the type of game I have any interest in these days. To each their own.
But why so many ppl are looking for a WoW killer? I don't want it to die. Just lore wise makes me wish not to.
I agree with Bismiff. For example I don't think a lot of wow players were necessarily warcraft players when they signed up. Pleny yes, but pleny not.
I am not sure what leads anyone to believe that someone can only enjoy 1 IP and not another. If guild wars or final fantasy are done well enough I'm certain they will pull tons of wow players as well as players from many other games. The way the current mmo market is I don't think beggars can be choosers and if a good game is presented to players they will come.
u r forgeting 1 thing. blizzard has unlimited source of funds. so theirs marketing strategy is probably a very smart, eloborate plan. and haha to STWOR "threat". it sure will take a chunk of wow subs, but for cata to fail it will take far more than that. after all there are 10 milions gamers. even if half of them buys it which would be considered as "not so succesfull" it will still generate ridiculous amount of money and cover the expense of cata.
"Sure, everyone knows the old adage of "when it's ready" that Blizzard strictly follows..."
Starcraft 2. Not ready. Still releasing July 27th.
Starcraft 2 is beyond ready. It's been in beta for months and runs with barely an issue. They're mostly working on balance and small glitches as well as on Battle.net bandwidth issues. They could release it today if they wanted. But, they have 2 months.
Meanwhile, CAT is in F&F alpha and the word is it is FAR from ready with LOTS of problems remaining and a ton of unfinished content. It MIGHT make it by December. But, I wouldn't hold your breath.
I'm just praying Diablo III makes it out by Dec 2011.
I would rather have Blizzard release Cataclysm when it is completely ready than release it with myriads of bugs to fix later.
Take your time, Blizz. I have lots to do while I wait.
Inspite a lot of negativity thrown at WoW not many of us really want it to die . We would however like something else to come along that offers serious competition to it . I'm not one of these people that think theres only X-amount of potential mmo players in the world I think there could be a lot lot more potential players once other games come out with the same mass appeal as WoW . I can't see WoW maintaining 10+ million subs forever but decline may not be a bad thing as it might make Blizzard concentrate on a different audiance . Also competition is always good in the market place . As for Cataclysm I doubted it would get a 2010 release and thought there was very little chance it would get a Spring/Summer release as hard-care advocates of the game like Zorn predicted . I think its still possible for a November 2010 release but if it takes a month or two longer it wont be a bad thing . Remember TBC was delayed but Lich King was released on time . I know which I think was the better expansion .
I can see Blizzard doing that intentionally. Cataclysm will take so much of the market the first 2 months of its release, it could really mess up the launch for SWTOR.
Can't disagree with this one, more's the pity; that and TBC was anything but 'ready.' (WotLK less so.) All of these added to the horrible Worgen models make for a very sad and doubtful pair of woogly eyeballs, when it comes to Cata evoking anything other than a passing "meh." :(
Way to make a story out of nothing. Anyone who's actually followed WOW over the years knows Blizz says this all the time, about EVERYTHING. Nothing has changed, but feel free to read into this and freak out.
My inner conspiracy theorist is suggesting that Blizzard might do this intentionally in an attempt to lure competitors' into force-releasing an unfinished product. With people like Bobby Kotick involved in the mix, this seems a more likely strategy than ever. Far better to piss off the addicted than let any viable comptetition release without being eclipsed by Blizzard's release.
haha yeah would kinfa suck on WoWs part though. I imagine SWTOR will be quite a threat to their growing numbers.
It will be delayed..
Saddly in a world of economic competition in the MMO market .. Blizzard can't ignore Bioware's TOR..
Which is particularly annoying to me as I'm reallllllly waiting for Cata.. I still play but something a little new would be good.. if I have to toss up between Cata and TOR... saddly for Blizzard Bioware win.. atleast for the first month or more. :)
If your old enough or even not and recall the release of Diablo 2 .. it was very very late compared to when they said it would be releaased.. ie 2 years later.
Blizzard are a fantastic company and one I've been with for over 7 years now.. but its still a market .. Blizzard might be very sure of Cata but if they can postpone release to vs EA / Bioware they will.
If, by some coincidence (yeah, sure!), Cataclysm releases around the same time as SWTOR or Guild Wars 2, I may just buy my Collector's Edition and sit on it until I get tired of playing one of the other two. I've seen Blizzard's methods before and I'm pretty sure I don't like them.
Don't forget, though, when Blizzard was developing WoW, the Friends and Family testers acted like they had all the time in the world, going so far as to start saying on forums that they wished the game would never release so they could keep it to themselves. Vivendi gave Blizzard a lot of leeway, but then, one day out of the blue, they announce a release date. Even the pre-order pack was a hastily slopped-together piece of crap. I'm convinced that Vivendi kicked Bliz in the arse and demanded that they release. The attitude from Blizzard was not one of joy. They would have delayed release indefinitely if Vivendi had not crimped off the money pipeline.
Um, little off there. Blizz had "soon" long before NCSoft: http://www.wowwiki.com/Soon
Lol computer freaked out and posted last comment blank.
There is no way in hell Blizzard will wait to release CATA for ToR.
First off, ToR is not coming out for a while despite what people think. Spring 2011 at the very earliest. You honestly think people can handle ICC for that long? Everyone I know is already sick of it big time. Oh and I am sure that prequel dragon raid they are adding in will be loads of fun for about 2 days.
Second, they would get crushed in sales if they released right before ToR. As much as the WoW fanboys want to think the game still dominates. I hate to break it to you. A lot of people are just waiting for the next big game. Not more of the same steadily declining content blizzard is pumping out.
I think there is more to this. I'm thinking they're trying to set it up to release a month or two before the other big titles releasing next year. Or waiting for betas so they can 'borrow' some ideas. Don't really matter, nothing to look forward to other then a new leveling experience that is still mindless the first time, fighting Rag again, Ony for a 3rd time, Nef again, doing more of the same instances, cash shop expands, etc, all for 40 bucks. But hey, at least the water effects look nice. If you haven't figured it out, I'm not picking up cataclysm, WOTLK was bad enough. I'm having more fun playing Hitman:BM and Fallout 3 again.
WoW will be coming to the end of its course shortly.
With the release of Final Fantasy 14 Fall/Holidays 2010 on top of GW2 and ToR sometime in 2011. They will not be able to compete with these big name companies coming out with brand new games with possiblilties of many innovations to the MMO genre.
These three big titles will suck up a large portion of players and a lot of them will be WoW players in addition to the many others searching for the next big MMO.
And where have we heard this before?... Several times in fact? Age of Conan was supposed to be a "WoW killer"... Warhammer on line was supposed to be a "WoW killer"... Notice what happened to both? GW2 does look like fun, but I seriously doubt its going to be a "WoW killer:. FFXIV? Oh please... If its anything like FFXI its fan base will have only a little over lap with WoW's.
The closest I can think of would be Rift, but thats at least a year and a half away(if not two years). Trion Worlds has major megcorp backing, which is why I give it any chance at all of pulling a good chunk of WoW's player base(that and both are fantasy). TOR also has major backing, but its space science fiction, which has some over lap with the WoW crowd, but not the direct appeal that Rift may have. Like it or not, at this point the only real threat to WoW is Blizzard itself.
Lol your post made me laugh. Final fantasy 14 and GW2 are sequels/second games from companies that made successful MMOs already. ToR is putting how much money into the Star Wars IP?
Funcom has not made anything good for a long long time. And I never expected Warhammer to kill WoW what so ever.
The combination of these three big titles and the more than likely probabilty of their success will bring WoW down big time. I also do not believe I ever said "WoW killer" so refrain from quoting me as saying that.
Plus just a side note. WoW looks like garbage now a days. It has for years. Give me something that does not look out dated beyond belief.
to all the people leaving:
Don't let the door hit ya on the ass on your way out. Oh, and can I haz your stuff?
Your response made me laugh as well. ^^ I didn't say that they wouldn't be successful(especially GW2 and TOR). What I did say is that I seriously doubt that they will be WoW killers. As for the phrase "WoW killer" thats typically used by those who expect some game or another to bring an end to WoW's reign of error. I didn't attribute it to you, its normal usage. Sorry for any misunderstanding.
The issue of WoW's graphics has been debated to death. Blizzard chose that style because it allows the game to run on a WIDE selection of existing hardware. They have never tried for any of the high end photo realistic looks that some of the current games use. I personally like WoW's art style, and prefer it over that of EQ2 or GW's... Simply personal taste <shrug> From what I understand there will be some graphics updates in Cat when it launches, but nothing that would move it into the high end hardware area.
Blizzard can launch whenever they want. Even a delay of another 10 months would hardly have an impact.
Look at China: no expansion in 3 years, players are still playing TBC and the company that operates WoW for them just made a new financial record.
Quote:
"William Ding, Chief Executive Officer and Director of NetEase, stated, "For the first quarter of 2010, total revenues from online games increased by approximately 50% year-over-year, primarily due to revenues generated from new games and the operation of Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft(R)."
The longer the wait, the longer the queuing lines at the midnight launch.
Why? You tell me and we would all be very rich.
Aion, Warhammer, etc etc already killed WOW. But apparently SW:TOR, GW2, and FF14 are gonna kill it even more!
Yeah, back to reality... I'll wait till those games are actually out and see how they are. I've learned my lesson, I don't buy into hype.
After playing LOTRO on max settings casually for awhile, I logged into WoW for the first time in over a year to finish the whole battle.net merge process.
I was rubbing my eyes and squinting thought i was going blind the games graphics look so washed out.
I think WOW is still the best looking MMO out. The art style is unmatched IMO, and it's remained pleasing to my eyes for 5 years. Photo-realistic hyper detailed polys don't do anything for me.
I bought those 2 games myself, and played them for a brief period of time, as I'd say they lack substance (Aion and Warhammer)
My feelings towards Cataclysm are somewhat mixed. Seeing as they intend to do very little improvements graphics wise is a big letdown for me.
I hope I get a shot to enter beta, though I prolly stand better chances at winning the lottery.
For the time being, I have a controversial MMO to play, but Id's say in some time it will only serve me as my secondary one.
In the end, I believe everyone expects a polished product and a pleasant come back from WoW
I've been in every beta of WoW (original, tbc, and wotlk). I didn't do anything special. I'd say you have a good chance of getting in if you have opted in on the battlenet account.
This is what I have been anticipating.... they have the next content patch on ptr right now so that will probably release in the next month then thats it. They will watch the trade show season really close to see what ideas they can pilfer and squeeze in and wait til the launch window. It could go either way as to whether they release cat a couple weeks before TOR or if they wait til launch.... knowing BioWare's track record with the quality of their releases I wouldn't count on waiting til after TOR releases. Are there issues with their games? Sure, as there are with every game released. BioWare however does have a track record of having their games in a far better shape than just about anyone else so if blizz waited they might shoot themselves in the foot, so I suspect they will try to steal some of the launch thunder by releasing a couple two or three weeks before TOR's launch.
I think the reason for the delay or possible delay is the guys over at Blizzard want to pack Cataclysm with as many of the features other games are promising as possible. Blizzard aren't stupid, hell they took features already in MMO's and perfected them. They now have the time, finance and expertise to take story or meaningful choices or all the many great things GW2 is promising and add them to WoW.
They must know they are looking at some serious competetion from The Old Republic, bioware have come out and said they aren't looking to re-invent the MMO but rather add story. So Blizzard have a well respected games company looking to produce a high quality MMO with Story and VO thats going to take what WoW does well and try and polish it and do it better. They aren't going to be offering some new advancement system or combat system that seemed good on paper but doesn't work when you play it. Or simply too complicated for more gamers to understand. And so Blizzard are likewise going to take the extra time to try and ensure that their game stands out and looks better than ToR or GW2. So rather than it being a choice between a dated WoW or GW2 or ToR, it will be a new reinvented WoW probably offering many of the options these games are releasing to the media.
At the same time this has to be a worry for EA, as others have mentioned they saw WAR destroyed by the WotLK expansion and it looks like Blizzard are going to do it to them again. We have to accept this is Biowares first move into the MMO market and its probably it wil have some balancing or MMO issues. I think the game will be as polished as an MMO out there, but I think if its your first shot you will over look details that will need fixing and patching in the first few weeks and months. After all all the beta testing in the world seldom tells you how paying customers are going to react. And by launching round the ToR launch date Blizzard may cause players to jump ship back to the tried and tested WoW. Rather than wait on the spawn timers to be reset cause people are queing for hours to get a quest complete or for mounts to be brought in cause people are just spending too long running across the landscape. Or all the other small things that can be over looked when its someones first MMO.
So I think Blizzard know exactly what they are doing, and in all probablity we will see ToR pushed back where EA just aren't willing to take the chance again. As for GW2 that has the advantage its free to play and so while it may suffer a little appeals to a different sort of gamer and not so threaterned by a subscription based behemoth.
I soo agree. WoW expansions are fun for a moment then BAMB; reality sets in and it is the same ol but different look more abilities and BAMB more nerfs. Example, Wotlk death knight (frost especially) was soo fun! At level 55 I got a port to Outland and sole elites in the furnance 1v1. At level 56 me and several dks (no higher than 59) ran the citadel and burning furnance with NO healer! Shortly after a few youtube vids and BAMB! Frost Nerf then Bamb dk nerf all around (especially the dk pets). In fairness the DK pets needed a Nerf just like Hunter pets.
Sounds more like a tease rather than a ploy to delay the expansion nearer another games release.
People who are happy to run the same crap over and over for Purple coloured things won't leave wow for any new game. Its what they enjoy. I personnally would like a MMO i could sit down and play after work and take my time to enjoy it, whether its the story, lore or gameplay.
I don't play wow and i haven't for years. Its boring and full of not so fun people. I would hate for a new game to be released and have all these not so fun, single minded people ruin it. I will keep my eye on SW:TOR for the time being and see how it progresses. Wow players can have their lava expansion "when it's ready" :P
As a poster above said, Blizzard will time this to co-incide with the release of either GW 2 or The old republic (Which ever is deemed the bigger threat). Its called clever marketing, if they were to try and be even more clever they would be timing it for 3 months after ToR.
The problem blizzard will face with this expansion is convincing people to come back, I have no doubt they will make it a fun leveling experience as they have with previous expansions and the vanilla game, BUT and heres the big thing. People will expect it to make wow new again, and it wont do this, wow is still a good game but it got old, atleast for me, they cant make it new again, that magic and sense of adventure is gone.
Just to add, to a debate that is spawning, "wow killer" will never happen, the only thing that will kill wow is wow its self, or wow 2.
What GW2, FF XIV, DCUO, and Most of all TOR will do however is diversify the market. I doubt we will ever again see the sort of sub numbers wow achieved at its peak, what we will see is more mmo players spread over more games and a market where 1million + is considered a raging success. The market will divide into 2 or 3 super mmos (wow as one and possibly ToR as another) and then under them will be lots of MMos that dont attract quite so huge numbers but still bring in enough people to survive.
Something from the left field here, Since EA and Activision are the two big Western houses entering the MMO Market, does anyone care to venture a guess or a thought as to who will be the next big developer/publisher partnership to enter the scene will be?
Ever since Blizzard announced the summer release date for SC 2 in the summer I have always though that the money men would put the WoW expansion launch at end of 2010 or start of 2011. Whichever one probably doesn't matter to them, but they would want about 6 months of sales for just SC 2, before risking sales to another product. This is Blizzard business model now, 2 releases a year at least 6 months separating them. Realistically, if people are sensible about WoW finally there is probably about a couple of months of fun to be had from Cataclysm, then I would hope most players would head to something new, and FF XIV would be one of those I'd bet.
Best Buy Online has the Release DATE set for Oct. 2010
Amazon is still listing the release date to be Fall/Winter 2010.
One thing I hadn't realised till I read some of the posts here is that Blizzard is holding all the cards. WoW is bringing in vast ammounts of revenue every day. They are looking for increased growth but ultimately are sitting firmly at the top of the market and can launch their expansion whenever it most suits them. They are controlled by investors saying we need you to release cause they are already bringing in the money as opposed to a game in develpoment.
While on the other hand companies like Bioware are pouring huge amounts of cash into upcomming MMO's like ToR with no subscription base and no income all hoping for a big pay day. I think EA said that ToR would need 2 million subs to make a profit. The longer they delay or postpone to avoid being crushed by cataclysm the more investment is pourted into the product with no return. And at the same time the more dated the game can look even on launch day. I'm sure many people have seen the stylised graphics of ToR, when compared to what we saw of the (hopefully) video from the up coming World of Darkness game there is a clear winner for which one looks better. And the same goes for user interface and skill/level progression. I have high hopes for WoD, Warhammer 40k, Elder Scrolls, Fallout Online, The Secret world. So many great titles seem to be coming out that if ToR does delay to avoid clashing with Cataclysm it is liable to look like a wow clone compared to the future generation of MMOs.
I am keen to see how EA and BW will respond to this recent turn of events. After all EA saw something similar happen to WAR with the WotLK expansion and I doubt they will want to take the chance again.
Neither do I . But also I don't buy into all the negative hype by people who are ardent fans of WoW . I'll make my own mind up when the game is released . I think FF14 may have trouble attracting people away from WoW as i believe it has either no or very limited pvp options . GW2 if it follows the same buisness model as the first one would be a game a lot of WoW player would play as a second mmo . StarWarsTOR is a different story though , its a popular franchise and it is being developed by a company with one of the best records for producing decent games . Even if it is the next big mmo it wont kill WoW there will be still plenty of people playing it because a) they ve invested time in it and b) WoW plays on pretty much any PC . Theres no need to be frightened of a litte competition . Warcraft does'nt need to maintain 10 million + subs to be successful . It was a far better game than it is now when it had 3 million and it will be again once its popularity starts to wain a bit .
No need there's more content they plan to update with such as Ruby Sanctum
Blizzard isn't stupid. They've been at the MMO business for a while now. They know better than to offer us nothing to tide us over until Failaclysm finally rears it's head at us.
I'm not trying to make this sound ambiguous but I'm not too surprised if Cata does not come out in 2010 since Cata is still in the friends and family beta stage. I have seen three friends at work play the beta so far and the game is very far from being completed, atleast to the standard that The Burning Crusade and the Wrath of the Lich King were. Also, they are making everything flight accessible which is fucking crazy to see. Orgrimmar is HUGE now. All the buildings are taller now. However, there's a lot of content missing. They don't even have maps of the areas in and you figured that would be easy to implement. I mean I guess if Mythic was running the show, it would be out in a few weeks (I kid, I kid) but from what I can tell, the game is very much a rough sketch and not refined at all. Yes, Blizzard definitely needs time to polish this gem.
I will say that the stuff I have seen has made me already decide to get Cata when it comes out.
Cataclysm will come out in 2012
I see what you did there, Timmy.
They are just retail outlets that put an online order pre-order option up, it has nothing to do with an actual Blizzard release. As I said before due to the timing of SC 2 release and the fact that Blizzard haven't started their usual opt-in open beta yet it is looking more and more like end of 2010/start of 2011 for Cataclysm. In terms of other relases for Blizzard in 2011 we are probably talking SC2 expansions, and I'll bet you anything Diablo 3 becomes a 2012 game. Of course at things like Blizzcon you will see small playable betas of forthcoming games titles, but let's be realistic folks Blizzard are slow and they protect their cash cow game titles this way.
Beta opt in for cataclysm started about a month ago.
hmmm cata will probebly released on indeed afher some other games with high expectations.
sadly thay did this to with warhammer
warhammer was released to early
so wow killed war
Eventough war is alot better game then wow much more fun to play
if ur not playing alone