![]() Now, on the schedule I just outlined, there is one slight problem, possibly. When Classic has a release, expect BfA/9.0 to not be active with new content, and likewise. ![]() Now, this could end up extending out or shortening depending on how strongly Blizzard feels, or about how long things take with the live game, but I absolutely expect them to maintain a staggered pacing with no stepping on toes for either game. ![]() I would expect the schedule to end up looking like this:Ĭlassic Phase 1 -> 8.2.5 BfA -> Classic Phase 2 -> 8.3 BfA -> Season 4(5?) for BfA -> Classic Phase 3 -> 8.3.5 BfA, probably some sort of preorder campaign for 9.0 -> Classic Phase 4 -> 9.0 open beta -> Classic Phase 5 -> 9.0 live launch/pre-expansion event -> 9.0 full expansion launch -> Classic Phase 6 With 6 total phases to roll out, Blizzard will likely use them to pad out the BfA calendar through 9.0. We’ll also probably see a phase 2 Classic content rollout shortly after Blizzcon. With WoW Classic pegged to late August, I expect either late September or early October will see 8.2.5, with Blizzcon on revealing 9.0 and a What’s Next panel that will also talk in some detail about 8.3. That means that we have the launch of WoW Classic on, with live patch 8.2.5 sometime after, leaving enough time, if I had to guess, for Blizzcon to be perfectly paced into the calendar. Let’s take a look at the late summer into fall season for World of Warcraft – we have an early 8.2.5 PTR up now, with the 15th anniversary rewards in the patch files telling us they are likely to push the patch prior to November. I won’t pretend that I would count on this long-term if I were Blizzard, but they are obviously making a strong play towards keeping people engaged via both games. For many who were in the toxic pool of the game’s subreddit, certain streamer communities, or the like, who have left them during their unsubscribed time, may come back to BfA and like it, opting to play both. ![]() While a large number of the increase in subscribers will be here solely for WoW Classic, the likelihood is that a good number of those will also check out the live game. The expectation to have here is that a rising tide will lift all boats. I imagine they’ll know that, and they’ll selectively use that data when it can be beneficial – Classic logs over x million players on day 1, Battle for Azeroth sees a 35% increase in log ins, etc. While I anticipate they’ll have separate MAU numbers available for each version of WoW, I doubt they’ll get more granular than that – like say, reporting the percentage of time spent per subscriber in each game, or what number of subscribers play more than 50% in each version. When WoW Classic launches, or in all likelihood, over this next week leading to Monday’s character name reservations, WoW subscriptions are going to spike, and when Blizzard talks about the total number of WoW subscribers, the number they give is going to be pretty impressive, without a doubt. Unlike a WoW 2 scenario (no, I’m not gonna write about that again!), this means the game can fly under the radar. There is no box sales number to track, no separate subscription that says just Classic on it, and while I fully expect that MAU numbers will be able to be split, I imagine most reporting will center around an obfuscated “Warcraft” time spent number. The thing about WoW: Classic that I actually think is really fascinating from a business perspective, which I touched on with a one-liner in my last post, is this: Blizzard has engineered a way to launch a pseudo-sequel that will be difficult, if not outright impossible, to report as a separate entity from the live retail game. The recent Q2 2019 financial call for Activision Blizzard had some quotes from Brack and team on the matter, and while they’ve indicating they are pushing a lot of advertising into the endeavor (which, if you’ve opened the Blizzard launcher or been to a gaming site lately, is obvious), they also remain relatively quiet on their projected prospects for the title. Looking at the push for the upcoming launch of World of Warcraft Classic, one wonders what it is that Blizzard sees in the launch of this game that they once seemed not to.Īfter all, it was only a few years ago, in 2016, where J Allen Brack, now Blizzard president, said that the infamous line “you think you want it, but you don’t”in response to a question about classic servers at that year’s Blizzcon.
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