Much like all of you out there, we too are curious about what’s going to happen to WoW now that Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard.
It felt like Microsoft dropped a huge bomb on us when they announced that they bought Activision Blizzard for a cool $68.7 billion. No doubt it has shaken the gaming universe to its very core, but for World of Warcraft craft, it raises questions over the game’s future of an iconic franchise and PC exclusivity. Ever since WoW was released, it’s always been a mainstay in the PC ecosystem. Players could farm WoW TBC gold and TBC items with a mouse and a keyboard, but with the recent acquisition by Microsoft, things might change – and not just in terms of switching over to a controller.
Could Microsoft Breathe New List to WoW?
Microsoft buying out Activision Blizzard comes in the wake of the infamous lawsuits that have arguably tainted the company’s reputation – not that there’s any left of it. This was made even worse by a barrage of failed games and updates that sparked a mass exodus from some of the publisher’s formerly “must play” titles, including World of Warcraft. The classic MMO has been on a slippery slope ever since the release of Shadowlands, a divisive expansion. Since WoW is a PC exclusive, questions are swirling around about what the future holds for the citizens of Azeroth and WoW TBC gold farmers now that Activision Blizzard is under Microsoft’s ever-expanding jurisdiction. Many people think that this could breathe new life into the trounced king, who, in the right hands, could become the world’s premier MMORPG once again.
Exclusive No More?
One of the biggest questions that players are asking is whether or not we’ll see World of Warcraft make its Xbox debut now that its fate rests in the hands of Microsoft. The answer to that is: it’s very likely.
World of Warcraft’s previous expansion in 2018, Battle for Azeroth, frustrated players with its restrictive mechanics that limited what they could do in the game’s arguably most important activities. In the game’s current expansion, Shadowlands, Blizzard doubled down on these mechanics. Fast forward to 2021, the company was filled with controversy due to the number of sexual harassment and gender discrimination lawsuits. As a result, players started giving up on the near 18-year-old MMO at a steady rate; big streamers were retiring from the game, and major guild leaders started streaming WoW’s biggest competitor, Final Fantasy XIV.
Blizzard scrambled to pull some players back by removing the restrictions on some of Shadowlands’ more contentious features, but the damage has already been done. The next time that World of Warcraft hits a rough spot if Activision Blizzard were still to be in charge, it likely won’t take long for players to get wise and move on to something else. If Microsoft were to add World of Warcraft to its growing Game Pass service which boasts over 25 million active subscribers, we could see an influx of new and retired players – something that Blizzard very much needs right now.
Talks About WoW’s Future
Game Pass isn’t just the answer to WoW’s retention issues, but it’ll also be a solution to the game’s future. MMOs are expensive to develop and play. In World of Warcraft, players need to maintain a monthly subscription on top of buying expansions if they want to get the adventure going, which is just some of the most off-putting things about playing WoW in general.
If Microsoft were to add WoW to its already-massive library of Game Pass games and remove both of those cost barriers, it’d be a huge leg up for one of the oldest games in existence. Heck, this might even be a chance for World of Warcraft to retake the throne from Final Fantasy XIV.
They could also go to another route and have an upfront cost for the base game, then have additional fees for the expansions. Remember those good old days where you had to hoard all those expansion boxes? We’re toying with fate here, but we may return to that era.
Conclusion
With its plethora of character boosts and microtransactions, World of Warcraft will never be “free” – at the end of the day, you’ll still need to shell out a couple of bucks to farm WoW TBC gold and TBC items. But if players were given a chance to play their favorite MMO – one that they haven’t touched since the days of Wrath of the Lich King – without having to pay more than the cost of the Game Pass subscription, that could be the best thing to happen to WoW in a long time.
What do you think of Microsoft buying out Activision Blizzard? Let us know down below!
