With the sale--do you think WoW is moving into maintenance mode after 9.2?

[Chickat]

If they replace Kotick as news suggest.
Then person from that position can replace people under him, and those under him ... etc etc.

And that new CEO would be kind of responsible for the company, so he would probably "review the situation" and make some changes if necessary.

Its possible some adjustments where the game is heading could happen earlier.

Yeah but that wouldn't be able to happen most likely until the summer of 2023. By that point, key development on 11.0 will likely already be started. We could see small or medium changes for 11.0, but most of the changes would be for 11.0 patches and 12.0.

[MrLachyG]

Hahahahaaa...

Bruh, M$ just splurged 70 billion on ActiBlizz, nothing goes to maintenance mode, duurrr.

I think OP was more referring to the fact that MS might bring new people in to work on WoW. which will happen (I hope) but yeah it won't affect WoW. the next expansion has almost definitely had work done on it and is probably on its way to an alpha release soon-ish

[m4Zzo928]

I don't think any immediate changes will occur aside from possibly better morale within the studio. In 3-4 years we may be able to notice big changes, but for the next few years I think it's mostly going to be the same. Hopefully a bit better.

[Dellis0991]

Business as usual until the the deal is complete and even then you still won't see Microsoft's getting hands on for some time.

[MoanaLisa]

I think OP was more referring to the fact that MS might bring new people in to work on WoW. which will happen (I hope) but yeah it won't affect WoW. the next expansion has almost definitely had work done on it and is probably on its way to an alpha release soon-ish

Blizzard CEO Mike Ybarra has a long history—22 years—at Microsoft before joining Blizzard. I rather imagine that MS will leave well enough alone given that. Undoubtedly, people will come and go and other people will leap to conclusions but Blizzard, despite being the worst performing of the three Activision/Blizzard divisions, is still well on it's way to a revenue year in 2021 of substantially north of a billion dollars ($493 million just in Q3 alone so probably closer to $2b) with the various versions of WoW leading the way. I doubt if MS is going to mess with any of that with the probable exception of telling everyone at Blizzard to start finishing games and get them on a release calendar.

Also, given that amount of revenue, anyone that truly believes or is willing to write that Blizzard is on its last legs is simply delusional. That sort of revenue is not an indication that the studio is dying in any way whatsoever.

Given everything else this might psychologically mean a fresh start for the staff and management which is probably needed after the last year.

[Berndorf]

The only long term change imo will be Wow moving to console in the expansion which comes after the next one. Obviously there could also be restructuring within Bliz before then but the next expansion is probably mostly already beyond the planning stages.

[Chickat]

Blizzard's revenue for the first 3 quarters of 2021 was 1,409 billion US$
King's revenue for the first 3 quarters of 2021 was 1,806 billion US$
Activision's revenue in the same period was 2,321 billion US$
https://investor.activision.com/news...2021-financial

King makes plenty of games, Candy Crush is just one of them. So if you think that WoW should go in to "maintenance mode" because it is a "fraction" of the total earnings then your question makes perfect sense, because Candy Crush just makes out a fraction of Activision-Blizzard's earnings...

We don't know how big part of King's revenue is Candy Crush, just as we don't know how big part of Blizzard's revenue is made by WoW.
People should really read the investor report...
I would recommend people to divide Acti-Blizz's revenue in each of it's 3 parts with the MAU for each part and people might understand why those that play Blizzard games are much more interesting than the 2 other segments...

Pure guesswork here, but they say profits haven't declined, or much at least. They used to make a billion a year with subs. They monetize a lot more now. So I think likely they make around 2b a year, maybe 2.5b with holiday sales. 1b of that probably comes from wow. Probably another billion or close from hearthstone and Overwatch combined. Then another couple hundred million or up to a few billion depending on new game releases like DIablo 3 and a wow expansion.

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It's extremely obvious that Mike Ybarra is going to be running this group after the acquisition. Remember, he comes from Microsoft, left there 2 years ago, and reported to Phil Spencer. And so he will again.

I wonder if he was hired on there to help with the transition? Acquiring a company as large as actiblizz probably takes at least a few years.

[Neotart]

We would be so lucky Microsoft doesn't shutdown the WoW side of things, WoWs numbers has done nothing but go down for years, the rereleasing Classic was a Band-Aid that will only last so long...

WoW is a sinkhole.

[Chickat]

No, but I'd imagine Xbox will want a new MMO from Blizzard for a new generation.

Especially since the metaverse seems to be such a big factor in this deal. It seems to be a focus for Xbox and Activision going forward.

My guess is they'll slowly start shifting people on the WoW team towards that new project, after the merger (June 2023)

But I'd imagine 10.0 + 10.x patches will go "normally".

After that, if 10.0 series doesn't revitalize WoW, I'd imagine WoW will go in maintenance mode.

More easily now after the merger.

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I highly doubt it, unless they switch to F2P or another business model, which is possible now.

I don't think they will put WOW into maintenance mode even if 10.0 is business as usual. The game will still be making at least 500m by then. That's too big to put into maintenance mode. Especially when they have Sea of Thieves devs still working on that game and likely making pennies compared to WoW. I'm sure they might want to make a mmo, and they might even take some talent from WoW to do so, but nowhere near enough to put WoW into maintenance mode. Also, if Activision restructures management at Blizzard they could likely create expansions on part with Legion with half the people they have now. WoW seems grossly mismanaged.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Yeah dude. They're going to put the biggest, most popular and most profitable video game in history directly into maintenance mode because Microsoft bought them out. Definitely. 100% happening. I don't know why you didn't just put [CONFIRMED] in the title.

Man people sure do make some silly mistakes. WoW was once the biggest MMORPG, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to a lot of other video games when it comes to "most popular" and "most profitable". WoW players are vastly overestimating just how big, important and profitable WoW actually is.



If anything, Microsoft needs to clean house, sweep up all of the half filled baby bottles, used condoms and beer bottles then start work on WoW 2. Or even WC4. WoW's already far far over the hill, but the Wacraft IP is still fresh for the milking.

[Chickat]

Microsoft just bought them for 70 BILLION dollars. There is no way in hell they are going to put shit in to maintenance mode after that type of cash expenditure.

I agree. They will perhaps pour talent into the game to make more money, or at the minimum let them continue business as usual. Plus according to some MMO-C users, WoW is already in Maintenance mode.

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Umm... You do realized they're still actively supporting ESO and WoW is more profitable than that game. WoW will be fine. It's not going into maintenance mode. That Metaverse mmo is for a different audience.

Wtf is a metaverse mmo? Is it like Second Life or the Sims online. Thats the only thing I got from a quick google search.

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Umm... You do realized they're still actively supporting ESO and WoW is more profitable than that game. WoW will be fine. It's not going into maintenance mode. That Metaverse mmo is for a different audience.

Yeah WoW likely still has 2m subs, and more if a good expansion comes out. At 2m subs they are still making at least 300m a year off of the subs alone. Then you factor in a minimum of 5m box sales for each expansion, and that's 200m minimum if everyone bought the cheap version. Likely closer to 350million. So that's close to 500m a year worst case from the sub and box sales not even taking extra money from tokens, mounts, pets, character services etc. WoW would make 600m a year even if it stays the same as today or even drops a little further. And I believe the current WoW is still raking in close to a billion a year.

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Imagine buying up a company for a never seen before price and then put its biggest money maker into maintenance mode.

MMOC 200 IQ

To be fair WoW is not their biggest money maker. Its maybe in the top 5. CoD and Candy Crush make more for sure, and then we also have titles from Microsoft like Minecraft.

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The only long term change imo will be Wow moving to console in the expansion which comes after the next one. Obviously there could also be restructuring within Bliz before then but the next expansion is probably mostly already beyond the planning stages.

Yeah, the earliest we would see Microsofts hand in WoW's pie is 11.0.

[schwarzkopf]

We saw the fruits of the Activision merger fairly quickly in wrath

This.

Just because the paperwork is getting sorted out doesn't reduce the impact and influence the purchasing company has over their purchase.

It has to be that way - the purchase price is fixed at this point, and MS will want that value preserved.

[Unholyground]

It is pretty simple, they are going to be adding wow to gamepass ultimate at no additional cost and it forces everyone into the gamepass ecosystem. Pretty much a huge win for them.

[Logwyn]

We will get a port onto Xbox for sure now!

[She of Three Faces]

No, that would be an illogical choice for a business/company who just paid mega bucks for the parent company and it's biggest cash cow.

[cuafpr]

not a chance.. They just took ownership of one of the most popular MMOs ever (even if its not currently). They revamp wow to be an Xbox exclusive, role the sub into game-pass via some premium sub, and likely geta boost to wow, boost gamepass numbers, win-win for them

[Unholyground]

not a chance.. They just took ownership of one of the most popular MMOs ever (even if its not currently). They revamp wow to be an Xbox exclusive, role the sub into game-pass via some premium sub, and likely geta boost to wow, boost gamepass numbers, win-win for them

Gamepass Ultimate is the premium sub... lol.

[cuafpr]

Gamepass Ultimate is the premium sub... lol.

currently yes, but it could change or add something to include wow. It's also the sub I have via gamepass

[Arcreid]

Imagine buying up a company for a never seen before price and then put its biggest money maker into maintenance mode.

You know ATVI biggest money maker are COD and King's game right?
It's like delusional HotS players that think Microsoft bought ATVI for its moba.

[deenman]

Why in the ever loving hell would they put one of the most profitable games in history in maitanance? With the biggest potential returning player base of every gamer EVER?

its like people didnt read what he said,he didnt say the game is being put on maintanance FOREVER,he said after 9.2 until the sale is finalized....but anyways,its not as it wont be a fast switch