Since 2004, Blizzard's critically acclaimed MMORPG World of Warcraft has been dominating the genre. The game quickly amassed a massive community and has gone on to become one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time. It is often cited as one of the best that the genre has to offer, and almost every expansion has made the game even better. Even with its imperfections, World of Warcraft continues to be an MMO powerhouse.
19 years is an impressive feat, but World of Warcraft has begun showing its age. As more content gets added to Azeroth, those cracks have only become more prevalent. Years of controversial expansions have not helped either, and the rise of competing MMOs like Final Fantasy 14 have significantly changed the landscape. While World of Warcraft is far from dead, its glory days may be behind it.
World of Warcraft Has Already Begun Showing Cracks
World of Warcraft has been going strong for almost two decades, but those decades have been a bit rocky. Usually, the game had one good expansion followed by one bad one. This was true up until the game's seventh expansion Battle for Azeroth. This expansion started to show more faults in Blizzard's storytelling than ever before, and the reliance on in-game systems burnt out many players. This was then followed up by the even more controversial Shadowlands which saw players leave Azeroth in droves.
World of Warcraft is also showing its age through its world and mechanics. The last time the game got a major facelift was back in 2010 with Cataclysm, and that world is showing its age 13 years later. The new zones look and feel great, but the older zones' rough edges are very prevalent next to the latest content. Rough edges are to be expected from a 19-year-old game, but some players may prefer a shiny new MMO to the old rougher one.
Ever since 2015, Blizzard has stopped sharing World of Warcraft's subscriber count, making it hard to predict the actual size of the community. The game peaked at 12 million subscribers in 2010 but has likely dropped after a slew of bad expansions. The release of World of Warcraft Classic helped alleviate some of those tough times, but Dragonflight failed to match Shadowlands' launch-day sales numbers. This could show a declining interest in Azeroth, or simply a cautious fanbase after being let down so many times.
Azeroth Has So Many More Stories to Tell
World of Warcraft is still very profitable for Blizzard, and it remains one of the studio's core brands. Activision Blizzard's Q4 2022 quarterly report said that the game has seen significant year-over-year growth, and the mobile spin-off Warcraft: Arclight Rumble looms on the horizon. The franchise is not going anywhere anytime soon, even if World of Warcraft hits some rough patches.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight may not have matched Shadowlands launch-day sales, but many players have been heralding it as one of the best expansions to date. After multiple years of lackluster content, Dragonflight has been a terrific addition to the game and has helped reinvigorate interest in the world. Blizzard has also committed to a massive World of Warcraft roadmap for the first time, and the game's tenth expansion is already being theorized by the community.
It feels like an exciting time to be a fan of World of Warcraft, and hopefully, Blizzard's new approach carries over to the next expansion. While the game may be a bit rough around the edges, it still seems to have a lot of life left in it. There will come a day when this iconic MMO closes its doors, but for now, they remain open and justly so.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC.