14 DAY TRIAL // With news breaking that raiding guilds are already beginning to finish the high level content offered by the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, it makes perfect sense for Blizzard to be talking about the next expansion for the MMO, and about what plans it has for another MMO besides its current hit.
Mike Morhaime, the Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard, has recently spoken to the MTV Multiplayer blog about the company's plans for the future. He said that, “We will continue making expansions as long as we have players that want to play World of Warcraft - we want to keep them entertained,” but also admitting that releasing expansions was the best way to inject new content into the MMO, while also firing up the interest of the player base.
The initial plan at Blizzard was to create and release one expansion during every year, but that was not possible. In fact, almost two whole years passed between the first expansion, The Burning Crusade, and the second one, Wrath of the Lich King. The company hopes that the experience in the development process it has accumulated means that the distance will narrow to about a year and a half for the next expansion.
Morhaime also said that players should not expect the company to drop the price of the monthly subscription as long as the development team is working on new content. He said that “there really isn't a better value you can get in entertainment” for the 15 dollars you can spend each month to play World of Warcraft.
The Blizzard made MMO is currently the most successful in the industry, with more than 11 million subscribers currently active. The current expansion is also expected to sell very well, although no clear data is available at the moment.