Oct 24, 12:55 PM (ET)

 

By MATT SLAGLE

 

An eagerly awaited expansion pack to the online video game "World of Warcraft" will not be ready in time for the key Christmas holiday season, the game's maker said Tuesday.

 

Gamers will instead have to wait until January to plumb the depths of Outland in "The Burning Crusade," the "World of Warcraft" expansion pack that adds quests, locations and character levels to the persistent online role-playing game.

 

"WoW," as it is often called, has become a global phenomenon since its November 2004 launch and now has an estimated 7 million subscribers, each paying about $15 per month to kill dragons like Onyxia or engage in player vs. player combat.

 

Earlier this month, "WoW" maker Blizzard Entertainment, a unit of French media company Vivendi SA, began testing the expansion pack with select players to help work out bugs.

 

 

On Tuesday, the Irvine, Calif.-based company said the January release affords a few extra weeks to polish the game.

 

"We feel confident that the extra time spent polishing the game will result in the high-quality experience that our players expect and deserve," Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime said in a release.

 

Delaying a video game to fix problems is a much better alternative to releasing it early and riddled with bugs, said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets.

 

He doubted the announcement would impact Blizzard as much as it would a new standalone game for consoles like Sony Corp. (SNE)'s PlayStation 3 or the Nintendo Wii. "WoW" requires an Internet connection and only works on Windows and Macintosh computers.

 

"The bulk of revenues are coming from ongoing subscription fees," he said. "A huge installed fan base is buying the expansion pack regardless of when it's released."

 

Though pricing and an exact release date haven't been confirmed by Blizzard, online video game store GameStop.com indicated a Jan. 23 ship date and a $39.99 price for the expansion.

 

 

 

:'(

This is the worst news is the entire world....of warcraft

roffle

 

Are we suprised by this?

 

Blizzard = Delays

roffle

 

Are we suprised by this?

 

Blizzard = Delays

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

blizzard = polished games. i cant really understand, first you complain if a game is released unfinished and then you complain when a game developer delays their games until they are finished.

finding amusement isn't the same as complaining.

 

I don't play WoW, so I really don't care.

 

Edit: Also, Blizzard does this all the time. So much so they even cancel their games if they take too long. (Example: Starcraft Ghost)

finding amusement isn't the same as complaining.

 

I don't play WoW, so I really don't care.

 

Edit: Also, Blizzard does this all the time. So much so they even cancel their games if they take too long. (Example: Starcraft Ghost)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Actually, they cancel their games if they suck. Ghost probably could have been thrown on the market a year ago, but Blizzard wasn't happy with the project. The same thing happened to Warcraft Adventures, they were far enough along in the development, but it wasn't outstanding enough.

 

I don't dig RTS games and I don't like Diablo style clickfests, but Blizzard is the only game company I know that releases perfect games every time. Seriously, no one is really even close to their quality control. I trust them implicitely.

This is the worst news is the entire world....of warcraft

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Hardly. <_<

 

Here's hoping, they use this time to fix the mage class talents, so that we can once again be T3H UB3RZ! (w00t)

Edited October 25, 200619 yr by Cyric

not surprised at all.

The worst thing was when I got an invitation for the closed beta of World of Warcraft. I have played a few beta-games before and they're usually.. less than fun to be around.

 

The World of Warcraft beta was better than 95% of all new games released today. It only had one major bug (killed enemies sometimes became "static" in the sense that they never disappeared or played the death animation, and they just stood there and prevented new enemies from spawning). They fixed that bug a few patches down the line and then it was perfect. I think Blizzard spent the last 6 months just balancing classes and skills!

 

It's sad when even their beta versions beat the crap out of almost anything on the market today, in terms of polish and quality.

I read somewhere Blizzard is planning to release an expansion every year.

 

Knowing Blizzard, I just don't see that happening.

Well, the current expansion has taken almost 2 and a half years, so it's unlikely we'll see another soon.