Can Blizzard shut down World of Warcraft?

[Deleted]

I've always wondered does Blizzard have any agreement that they have to keep devoloping the game World of Warcraft for a certain amount of time? Or can they just one day simply decide to shut the game down, let all the servers stay open for people to play but just abandon the game itself, no more patches, no more expansion, no new stuff. I mean that would make our years of paying and playing the game in vain (years of fun ofcoure not fully in vain, but you know what i mean).

Im curious, ofcourse they wouldn't do it considering the money it brings to them, but if they simply didn't want to put effort into it anymore, could they just shut it down?

[kvakvs]

I believe they will have to prove to Activision/Blizzard top management that WoW makes no more sense to stay alive and is a money sink, and change subscription to F2P while merging all remaining servers to minimize running costs. While there are still enough subscriptions, killing a chicken which lays golden eggs is sort of stupid move.

[Deleted]

Of course they can just shut it down, just like other MMO's that are long gone.

[Ave07]

No reason to shut it down when they still have millions still playing.

[xenogear3]

Blizzard has no obligation to develop new content or even just bug fix patch.
Just look at SWTOR. It is still collecting monthly fee with bugs.

Blizzard can fire all software developers and customer service department.
And let the servers running while collecting monthly fees.
It can easily milk millions of dollars that way.

Shutting down the server is a bad idea because no monthly fee any more.

[Kisho]

Yes, they could. It's their property, so they can do what they like with it. No legal ramifications as far as I'm aware.

[vindicatorx]

Read the terms of service you agreed to it's pretty clear they can suspend service whenever they want for whatever reason.

[Slummish]

Blizzard will let WoW run for a decade or more after they've stopped developing content and policing the servers. They might reduce the monthly subscription fees to just enough to keep the lights on, but as long as there are still players, I have serious doubts about the game going dark. Hell, look at some of the other persistent worlds that are still online and they never enjoyed even a tenth of Blizzard's success.

[caninepawprints]

Blizzard has stated numerous times they'll make it free-to-play if they lose enough subscriptions. As long as people are playing it, they'll keep it updated so it works properly.

[Nemah]

Blizzard will let WoW run for a decade or more after they've stopped developing content and policing the servers. They might reduce the monthly subscription fees to just enough to keep the lights on, but as long as there are still players, I have serious doubts about the game going dark. Hell, look at some of the other persistent worlds that are still online and they never enjoyed even a tenth of Blizzard's success.

Exactly. Even The Realm is still going:

http://realmserver.com

Why? Because it's still worth it on some level. I share the belief that WoW will be running for a long time after no new (or minimal) content is being developed for it.

But...in the end, as has already been mentioned it's their intellectual property. They can do with it as they please.

[Zerael]

Blizzard has stated numerous times they'll make it free-to-play if they lose enough subscriptions. As long as people are playing it, they'll keep it updated so it works properly.

Care to substantiate that claim ?

[Deleted]

Whats up with all these wow related topics in the off-topic?

ot, yes they can and eventually they will, right after Wow stops being profitable.

[Wikiy]

Moved this to General Discussions.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

They can and eventually they will. But not until WoW is so dead not even a cash shop can justify the cost of keeping the servers running.

[rayvio]

they can shut the game down any time they like. they might have to refund some subscriptions if they did, I'm not sure
but they're not likely to shut it down until they stop making enough money out of it to cover the costs. even when they eventually stop development on WoW there'll still be people playing, some very old mmo's are still alive today because people still play them, even if they don't have anywhere near the playerbase they had in their prime

[Deleted]

Blizzard has stated numerous times they'll make it free-to-play if they lose enough subscriptions. As long as people are playing it, they'll keep it updated so it works properly.

no they never did say anything about going F2P

[MoanaLisa]

Yes. They own it. They develop it. They can do what they like with it. It's not likely that they will (which shouldn't have to be even said) but of course they can. A much more likely scenario is that when it gets to the end of its life Blizzard will do exactly what they did with D2 for over 10 years. Keep enough of it in place so that people can connect and play. That's good for business as it keeps people closer to the Blizzard brand.

[Deleted]

Oh had no idea they could really do that. All those years would feel really wasted, and yes i know as i stated before they wouldn't do it because of the money they earn from us. But thanks for your answers though!

---------- Post added 2013-05-20 at 09:05 PM ----------

No reason to shut it down when they still have millions still playing.

Yeah. I kinda stated that too.

[mvaliz]

I believe the only problem they would have that would have to stop them from doing that is the people who paid up 6+ months in advance. That's a lot of reimbursement paperwork they'll have to fill out. :P

[Nerraw]

I guess they could. Not that they're going to do it with the 120-some million bucks they make every month.