Blizzard Trademarks Mists of Pandaria for World of Warcraft

Video game developer Blizzard has trademarked the name Mists of Pandaria in relation to video games and online services, suggesting that the company might be preparing to launch some Panda powered content for its World of Warcraft MMO.

In the Warcraft universe Pandaria is an island that is the only known home of the Pandaren, a race of warrior monks who have surprising speed and agility despite the fact that they are anthropomorphic panda bears.

The Pandaren are not too present in actual Warcraft-based video games, only playable as Brewmasters in the expansion for Warcraft III, the last real-time strategy game in the series, but despite this relative scarcity, the very loyal fan base of Blizzard has sections dedicated to the Pandaren and there's quite a bit of lore about them.

For each expansion that has arrived for the MMO World of Warcraft rumors have appeared suggesting that one of the races that Blizzard would add are the Pandaren, but those rumors have proven false until now.

It's not clear whether Blizzard is actually aiming to launch a new full blown expansion for World of Warcraft that adds them as a playable race or if the Mists of Pandaria name will be used for a smaller patch that will allow gamers more interaction with the Panda warrior monks.

There's also the possibility that Blizzard is creating some sort of tie-in with its MMO.

The most recent expansion for World of Warcraft was launched during late 2010 and a leaked calendar from the Chinese subsidiary of the company suggested that another expansion might be delivered during 2012.

Blizzard has already said that it is working on its new MMO project, called Titan at the moment, and that a number of the veteran developers from World of Warcraft were making the transition.

The developer has also expressed some concern over the dropping subscription numbers of its leading MMO.