The phenomenal success of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is something that doesn’t seem to be taken for granted by the company’s Paul Sams, COO. In fact, it seems Blizzard is making some serious plans to retain players while engaging new ones.
During a recent interview with GamesIndustry.Biz, Sams talked about next-gen possibilities, game infrastructure upgrades and a push to roll out expansions every 12 months or so.
With more than 6 million players around the globe, WoW is the biggest MMORPG going. It has a market share Sony would kill for and its subscribers equal more than the populations of some countries.
Keeping that number up is the trick, Sams acknowledged. "Will we have the same number of subscribers in two years? I don't know. I certainly hope so, but being realistic, that's a tall order."
To help fill that order, Blizzard is upgrading its global network and adding more data centers. It also sounds like it plans on beefing up its staffing.
As for The Burning Crusade expansion and others to follow, Sams says it’s “fast approaching the beta test period” and it’s looking to be on track for a winter release. Other expansions will follow, he promised.
In regard to a next-gen version of WoW, Sams didn’t say it was out of the question, but he did say it would face a number of hurdles.
As WoW barrels toward the 7 million mark in subscribers, it does sound as if Blizzard has a pretty good handle on how to keep gamers happy. The server upgrades might mean players will be in for a bumpy ride, but no more so than they already face. In the long run, the investment should pay off for Blizzard and its players.
If customer service is a priority, Blizzard’s likely to keep interest high. If Sony can keep interest up with EQ and EQII and the worst customer service I’ve ever come across in a game, Blizzard shouldn’t have a problem.
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