Azeroth will see an invasion of horrific demons and returning players at the end of August.
Blizzard announced today that the sixth expansion for its multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft, should hit PC on August 30. Titled Legion, the new content will try to give the aging MMO, which originally came out way back in 2004, a boost in paying subscribers. This is actually earlier than a November leak suggested, which showed a September 21 release date.
The last time Blizzard reported subscription numbers, World of Warcraft had 5.5 million players last November. However, after that, Activision Blizzard said it would stop reporting this stat, which had been slowly falling since the series’ height of 12 million in 2010. However, new expansions typically help those numbers surge upward a bit. A lot of old players will return to check out the new content.
Still, World of Warcraft is unlikely to ever return to its heights. Still, even now, it’s by far the most popular subscription-based MMO. Thanks to sales of the game, its expansions, subscriptions, and in-game items, World of Warcraft has made over $10 billion for Blizzard. It’s success is unparalleled in gaming.
Also, Blizzard has a much more diverse portfolio these days. In the early years of World of Warcraft, it was pretty much the company’s main game. These days, Blizzard is also supporting StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm. Next month, it launches a new game, the team-based shooter Overwatch.
Legion adds a new class to the game, the Demon Hunter, and offers a new area (the Broken Isles) to explore. It also allows players to create and develop powerful weapons unique to their character build. Legion notably brings fan-favorite character Illidan back into the story after he served as a focal point for the first expansion, The Burning Crusade.