We haven't had a leak on new expansion, because there is no new expansion

[DavidCoast51]

At least, not in the sense of purchasing a new expansion. (according to me, a nobody)

There will be no further "expansions" as in purchasable new content. All new content will be included in the monthly fee. This is the reason we saw the dark below trade marked and pulled off. It is blizzard throwing everyone off the scent, or the trademark was filed, and in the time between filing and cancellation, the decision was made not to physically sell an expansion. I do believe dark below will be the "next expansion" but as it is technically a patch, there is no need to trademark it, just as they do not trademark current patches.

Why would blizzard do this?

A few reasons.

1. every time a new expansion comes out, the ability to gain new subscribers drops. A new subscriber must purchase each expansion previous to this, as well as the current expansion. Sure there is the battle chest (vanilla through cata) but any new player would also need to purchase mop, and then the new expansion. This deters many people as there are now so many games that are free to play, or free to play with purchase.

The model blizzard uses most to sustain them is the monthly sub fee for wow. So eliminate the expansion fee, and gain more players over all, and retain players longer. Players are more likely to stay into a new "expansion" if it is included in their monthly fee, or to return to experience content if they do not have to pay for an entire expansion.

2. Speed. If there are no new physical releases of expansions, but rather expansions are released by patch, then it is much easier for blizzard to release content in a faster manner. Imagine patch 1 of the new expasion release 2 new areas, and allows you to level from 90-92, introduces 1-2 five mans along with heroic, and tier one raid. Patch 2 releases an additional area, an additional level (making catch up in raiding much easier). Patch 3 introduces 2 new levels, 1-2 5 mans with heroics, and tier 2 raid, and so on and so forth.

By doing it in this manner blizzard will be able to always have fresh new content every 2-3 months, moving into new Lore expansions annually.

3. Over all cost savings. Sure expansions provide a single one time boost to blizzard, but there are many costs that can be avoided by doing only digital patch releases. Think of how many game copies were produced and must be destroyed because they are no longer viable (original wow, first battle chest, each expansion copy, etc). Not to mention the cost of transportation, copywriting, and legal fees in foreign countries. Yes over all this would mean less "bump profits" but could provide higher profits over all if they can use this to bring in many new players.

4. It would bring back players who left. If you left wow, and you heard that you could rejoin for a new expansion, without having to pay for a new expansion, there's a high chance you would return, at least temporarily from patch to patch for the low cost of the sub fee.

5. Beta launcher is key. Blizzard has recently introduced a beta launcher which allows players to download all trial versions of games, and launch them from one handy program. Undoubtly heroes of the storm and hearthstone will be added to this program. (if you have not downloaded it I highly suggest it). It is forseeable that in the future blizzard will offer a gold subscription, that will offer subscriptions to all games without cost of expansions.

Over all blizzard is a very healthy company. Along with activision they hold titles such as Wow, Diablo, Starcraft, Call of Duty, Skylanders, etc. Their profits have gone no where but up, and wow, even though it has lost subscribers continues to be the largest subscription based game in world history, and shows signs of continuing into the forseeable future.

[Deleted]

sorry to ask here, did you just make a new account just to post that?..

[Excessiv]

Please just remove your user to this website. What a stupid thing to say.

--SNIP--

Post constructively

[fenixazul]

Because Blizzard decides to kill his golden egg chicken, just because it is old and doesnt produce as many golden eggs as 6 years ago

[DavidCoast51]

Because Blizzard decides to kill his golden egg chicken, just because it is old and doesnt produce as many golden eggs as 6 years ago

No but there are times when business models start to fail and you need to adjust. Ghost crawler has said in a few interviews that they plan to produce a new expansion annually. No new player is going to pay that much money to join a game, and no matter how great the content is, most current players aren't going to pay $50 extra a year to play the game.

[Pejo]

This business model has far from started to fail - your 'proposed' model would make a lot less. So no.

[DavidCoast51]

sorry to ask here, did you just make a new account just to post that?..

Been a while since i posted, couldn't remember my old login or password.

[Hypasonic]

Sorry but no matter how healthy blizz are, it goes against almost every marketing ideology to not release an expansion that needs to be purchased for £35.99 or w/e, they release expansions primarily for money, not because they enjoy making them. Companies don't make sequels (this goes for the film industy also) because they love creating them, even though as individuals I'm sure they do, It's down to the men upstairs (or women) to make the final decisions that ultimately make their fatcat shareholder's happy.

[Nzx]

No but there are times when business models start to fail and you need to adjust. Ghost crawler has said in a few interviews that they plan to produce a new expansion annually. No new player is going to pay that much money to join a game, and no matter how great the content is, most current players aren't going to pay $50 extra a year to play the game.

6 million active subscribers does not a business model fail make.

[Tierbook]

6 million active subscribers does not a business model fail make.

it does when they have lost about 40% of their subscribers in a year

[Deja Thoris]

Been a while since i posted, couldn't remember my old login or password.

And it'll be awhile before you post again!

[kolston]

Not that I completely agree, but as the expansions pile up, it does become quite a daunting task for new players to jump into wow. I don't know if we'll be seeing something like this so soon, but in the future it's certainly possible.

[Ravic]

And it'll be awhile before you post again!

Why did he get banned?

[Durandro]

it does when they have lost about 40% of their subscribers in a year

Which they didn't. They lost around 4.3 million over the course of three years, I believe.

In comparison some other MMO's had their subscription numbers halved before there were a year old.

[fenixazul]

it does when they have lost about 40% of their subscribers in a year

40% in A year??

[Marema]

didn't you know that last year there were 20 million subscribers??

[fenixazul]

didn't you know that last year there were 20 million subscribers??

Really , according to this, in 2012 it was 9.6 millions

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/act.../1100-6403613/

[Tierbook]

Really , according to this, in 2012 it was 9.6 millions

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/act.../1100-6403613/

well we wont know the actual number for another 2 quarter reports but as of the last one they were down to 7.7 million thats a 1.9 million drop in 2 quarters

[The One Percent]

Always a promising thread when you click it and OP is already banned.

[Tierbook]

Always a promising thread when you click it and OP is already banned.

not even sure why all 3 of his posts are on this page