The release date for theShadowlandsexpansion ofWorld of Warcraftis less than a month away, and pre-sales are reportedly doing very well. Although many players were disappointed to seeShadowlandsdelayed, it looks like a lot of people have faith in the pushed-back date making the upcoming expansion even better at release.
World of Warcrafthas been a staple in the world of MMORPGs for over a decade now, and during that time, players have seen seven different expansions, with 2018’sBattle for Azerothbeing the most recent addition. After the second installment,Wrath of the Lich King, released, these installments have come about every two years. So although some players were unhappy to have to wait longer forShadowlands, some may say that one month isn’t a huge deal if players have already waited for two years.
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Luckily for Blizzard, its hard work onShadowlandsis paying off, at least financially. The COO of Activision Blizzard, Daniel Alegre, says that franchise engagement right before an expansion has hit a high this decade, perhaps thanks in part to theShadowlandspre-patch. Also according to Alegre, noWorld of Warcraftexpansion has done as well in pre-sales asShadowlandsis doing, even a month away from release.
Last year,World of Warcraft Classicarrived for players to experience, adding a huge increase toWoW’s player base. Alegre doesn’t share exactly how much of Blizzard’s “30 million monthly active users” this last quarter are fromWoW, but he does say that the game’s numbers have stayed stable since the initial spike. “Stable” could mean a number of different things, but in this context Alegre is probably saying that the increase inWoWplayers sinceClassichas not dropped off dramatically.
World of WarcraftClassicserved to be hugely popular, even enough to cause server issues in the game. And with the new expansion coming up, many players are considering thechoice betweenWorld of Warcraft ClassicandShadowlands, with pros and cons to each side. Going off what Alegre said, though, many players have chosen to invest their time intoShadowlands(or both versions) even before its launch.
WoW Shadowlands launches Thanksgiving week, and both the pre-patch and what players have seen so far from dev announcements have given a lot of people hope for a great expansion. It remains to be seen whetherShadowlandswill have as strong a start asBattle for Azerothdid, but until then, players can always research a pre-sale if they haven’t already done so yet.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlandslaunches globally on November 23 for PC.
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