Summary
After a year of court battles, Microsoft has finally acquired Activision Blizzard. This means that the likes ofCall of Duty,Candy Crush,Diablo, andWorld of Warcraftare now under the Xbox Game Studios banner. That is extremely exciting news for Xbox fans, especially because a lot of it is likely to come to Xbox Game Pass on release. But, ifWorld of Warcraftmakes its way to the service, then that may come with a few drastic changes.
One of the biggest questions that theWorld of Warcraftcommunity seems to have right now iswhat the future of Azeroth will look like. While another expansion is rumored to be on the horizon, now that it is under Xbox Game Studios Blizzard’s approach to the game could change. Specifically, the game could find new life on Game Pass if Microsoft wants it to. However, since the game already has a subscription, that decision could completely changeWoW’s business model over the past 19 years.
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WoW’s Subscription Fee May Not Be Here For Much Longer
Microsoft has not really shared what it has planned forWorld of Warcraftnow that it is an Xbox Game Studios game. However, based on previous acquisitions, there is a high chance thatthe game will get added to Xbox Game Passsometime in the next year. If that is the case, then players may see some changes going forward. Unless Microsoft wants to charge an additional subscription on top of the Game Pass one, thenWoW’s sub fee may disappear.
IfWoW’s sub fee goes away, then Blizzard will likely look for new ways to earn money from the MMO. That would mean more microtransactions, possibly other forms of DLC, and a whole new monetization model. It could also lead to the adoption ofbattle passes likeHalo Infiniteor even more cash-shop cosmetics. While this would likely not be received well by the community, Blizzard will need a way to keep supporting development of the iconic MMO.
There is also a chance that Microsoft does not actually do anything withWorld of Warcraftafter the acquisition. The game has been going strong for around 19 years now, so Microsoft may have little reason to change Blizzard’s approach. The game may just continue as a separate MMO sub backed by the Xbox ecosystem and may simply just be bootable through the Xbox client rather than Battle.net. If it followsOverwatch 2andDiablo 4, it may even move over to Steam, but that remains to be seen.
These next couple of months will be interesting as Microsoft gains control of some of the biggest IPs in gaming. Fans will likely have to wait a bit before it is ready to announce anything, and whatever it announces will surely be big. And hopefully at least one of those announcements tellsWorld of Warcraftfans what the future of Azeroth has in store for them.
