'World of Warcraft' Yearly Expansions

'Burning Crusade' First of Many

http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19280
from Stardock Forums
Blizzard COO Paul Sams announced today that they expect to ship a new World of Warcraft expansion every year following the release of the first expansion, The Burning Crusade. Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz Sams said, "Starting with The Burning Crusade, every year thereafter we plan on bringing out a new expansion set - so every 12 months."

The Burning Crusade which is currently in closed alpha-testing, is set for release this winter with Blizzard hoping to be "more specific on the timeframe quite soon." The expansion will bring the 6-million plus World of Warcraft subscribers two new races, an entire new area, a higher level cap (level 70), flying mounts and 25-man max raid dungeons.
5,548 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Hmm, I have a bad feeling that this is going to replace most of the FREE content updates they have been releasing. If so I will probably be pretty angry!
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't think so. The stream of free content is really the driving factor that's keeping the game going. If they were to stop releasing them, they'd probably see fairly rapid subscriber loss.
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I just don't seeing them doing something as huge as the Silithus/AQ update for free when they could just roll it over into an new expan. I see them more doing a Molten Core, something without that much backstory or modifications to the current game other than a few quests. Then again if they expans were only say ~$15-20 as opposed to the expected $35, that may be a different story.