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

[Unholyground]

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

They won't increase it, they don't need to. This adds an insane amount of value as their 1st party MMO.

[Utrrabbit]

Well tbh I don't think Blizzcon was ever going to last especially given the fact we know subs have been bleeding.

I don't know if WoW was part of consideration with this deal. I can easily see them looking at CoD and Candy Crush as the growth markets. Maybe OW/Diablo/HS could be salvaged but I don't think they cared about Blizz's IPs as they're not the juggernaut they used to be in the gaming industry.

Wow still makes more than all their other IPs almost combined. It is fine.

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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.

Lmao. LMAO.

[Rozz]

People didn't realize many have known Activision Blizzard longer than Blizzard itself.

I doubt we'll see much impact that isn't corporate.

[cparle87]

Well tbh I don't think Blizzcon was ever going to last especially given the fact we know subs have been bleeding.

I don't know if WoW was part of consideration with this deal. I can easily see them looking at CoD and Candy Crush as the growth markets. Maybe OW/Diablo/HS could be salvaged but I don't think they cared about Blizz's IPs as they're not the juggernaut they used to be in the gaming industry.

"given the fact we know subs have been bleeding" Gotten love people who have no idea what burden of proof is.

[Schizoide]

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.

No, hasn't been in the works for 2 years, but he certainly facilitated the purchase.

[cuafpr]

They won't increase it, they don't need to. This adds an insane amount of value as their 1st party MMO.

imagine telling your shareholders gamepass just added XX million users via integration with WoW subs for an extra 12.99/month (numbers made up of course). Then the possible new folks trying the game cause they already have game pass for other reasons, a few of these start buying store stuff.

The biggest catch to wow on gamepass is the token IMO

[Cthulhu 2020]

"given the fact we know subs have been bleeding" Gotten love people who have no idea what burden of proof is.

This feels like someone screaming for proof of round earth or climate change tbh.

[Drusin]

No, I don't.

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"given the fact we know subs have been bleeding" Gotten love people who have no idea what burden of proof is.

One day I'll figure out how to hack the Blizzard servers like these other people and get the sub count lol

[Unholyground]

imagine telling your shareholders gamepass just added XX million users via integration with WoW subs for an extra 12.99/month (numbers made up of course). Then the possible new folks trying the game cause they already have game pass for other reasons, a few of these start buying store stuff.

The biggest catch to wow on gamepass is the token IMO

They are going to get rid of the token 100% guarantee it. Aslo they don't care about instant profit, they want subs, if they can get to lets say 50 million Gamepass subs a month they get like 100 million USD a month, that pays for this acquisition in like 7 years give or take. adding this to Ultimate at no additional cost adds an unprecedented value to Gamepass and brings way more people in, not to mention anyone on battle.net is instantly in the Gamepass ecosystem once this all switches over.

[Selah]

Deal wont finalise until 2023. I doubt we'll see the fruits of this, if any, before 2025.

This is probably the most accurate statement I've read on here. Even if MS made WoW their number 1 priority, reality is that we wouldn't see any of the effects of these changes until 2025 at the earliest. So, likely, 11.0 would be the first real bit of content to reflect this.

Which, for me, I kind of resigned to the idea that 10. 0 would likely be a dumpster fire too anyways. Lol

[exochaft]

People didn't realize many have known Activision Blizzard longer than Blizzard itself.

I doubt we'll see much impact that isn't corporate.

All depends how much Microsoft wants to micromanage. If they do the standard "I don't care what you do, just make us money!" with no strings attached, not much will change. If they want to get in there to "streamline" or "improve the efficiency" of ActiBlizz, that's when you'll start seeing more changes.

Honestly, the biggest threat to WoW right now when it comes to this merger is the reason for Microsoft acquiring ActiBlizz: mobile gaming. If you parse through all the verbiage of the investor's call, it's started multiple times that not all Blizz games may make it to Game Pass, as well as their heavy emphasis on mobile games. It's where the money is right now, and they were pretty forthright about that... all the other non-mobile IPs are just icing on the cake, if that.

Here's how it tends to work: it's not about a product making money, it's if the product is making enough money. Obviously WoW is making money (mostly from the additional services, not the subscriptions), but how much money it's making is not really known. The previous investors' calls for ActiBlizz have all be very evasive about such numbers, but reading between the lines suggest that things are not going the way the higher ups technically want. However, you can avoid talking about that by trying to say something positive... easiest way to pull out some stats that sound positive when you don't think about them, their implications, or assume a vacuum.

The problem with WoW is that it has way more development time/cost than Blizz games in maintenance mode, or even the games that are currently being actively supported. Heck, they probably have more normal day-to-day costs, as well. Compare that to a game like Candy Crush, which is much more low effort but turns out massively more revenue that WoW. If Microsoft really wants to lean up ActiBlizz, WoW would be the prime target. Would this mean maintenance mode? Possibly, but I could see them just making everything "classic" to heavily minimize the staff working on WoW to have them work on something else... like a WoW mobile game. If Microsoft gets heavy-handed, they could easily determine the people working on WoW would be better off just making a mobile game instead.

[Ealyssa]

I know the deal was just announced but do you think they'll halt working on 10 until MS can evaluate the buy? I know 9.2 is actively being worked on right now, but I feel like 10 expansion may not have the same level of support, and could lead to a delay while the company evaluates the IP.

You don’t stop a factory when you buy it. That’s not how it works.

Change will happen, but it will happen gradually. You don’t spend 68 billion just to stop the machine.

[Rekz]

If Microsoft can figure out the formula behind the dominance of the first 3 expansions, then the 70 billion spent will be viewed as a great investment.

Imagine unlocking the secret that drove the addiction of millions into their current and future IPs. They’ll corner the market.

[agentsi]

Imagine being so fucking dumb, that you think a company would spend $68 billion dollars, just to let the product collect dust on the shelf and not do anything with it.


Fucking hell, you people will fucking complain about the dumbest shit.

[aceperson]

no. please keep in mind that expacs are planned YEARS in advance. unless wow became an incredibly huge money sink suddenly, wow wouldn't go into maintenance mode just because an acquisition is announced. 10.0 is definitely happening. 10.1 and 10.2 are probably well in the works. 10.3 and 11.0 would be the more likely pieces to be affected by the acquisition.

[epigramx]

10.1 and 10.2 are probably well in the works.

You misunderstand how the game works. The whole 10.x is designed in advance and what you get as "10.1" is just you not getting the whole content at the same time whatever they tell to you and even if they haven't finished it yet.

E.g. now the concept of 10.x is most probably completely done but they still develop it and they will never tell you in whole about it to give the delusion the story unfolds to you in real time (they trick you WoW's story is real-time).

[Vampyrr]

Well tbh I don't think Blizzcon was ever going to last especially given the fact we know subs have been bleeding.

I don't know if WoW was part of consideration with this deal. I can easily see them looking at CoD and Candy Crush as the growth markets. Maybe OW/Diablo/HS could be salvaged but I don't think they cared about Blizz's IPs as they're not the juggernaut they used to be in the gaming industry.

You are a fool if you think the warcraft universe wasn't something they looked at for this.

[epigramx]

You are a fool if you think the warcraft universe wasn't something they looked at for this.

Don't give so much credit to those hawks. I doubt they give a crap about the Sylvanas story (or even WoW as an asset in whole necessarily).

They see numbers on a sheet and think Activision has profit to them.

[TheEaterofSouls]

Don't forget that Bethesda is still updating Fallout 76 despite the merger. That is another mmo-style game that had a shit show around it. And one far less profitable than WoW. There's your proof that WoW will be fine. Might be some layoffs and a slowdown on updates, but it'll still be around for many years to come. This will probably be a good thing for the game overall. (Not sure for the employees and anti-trust laws tho)

[Soon-TM]

I never thought that I'd ever say something good about MS, but if WoW doesn't improve as a result of this buyout, I doubt it will ever.