Is WoW Classic/TBC Saving or hurting WoW Retail this is the question on my mind...
Because you can clearly see that the Investor Call uses the launch of Burning Crusade Classic as a shield for the lag of content releases for WoW Retail... for months.
It allows Ion and his WoW Teams to slow down and lag of content updates for retail to go completely unnoticed like the numbers are up.
So releasing years old content keeps those sub numbers stable the reports are merged together and things like this are being mentioned:
Subscriber numbers and hours played were higher following the release, demonstrating the importance of Classic in enabling more ways for players to engage.But how long can Blizzard Ion and his team hide behind WoW Classic? You got Lich King.... but after that it's Cata and we get much closer to current Retail ways...World of Warcraft remains on track for much stronger engagement this year than is typical outside of a modern expansion year.