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World of Warcraft: Frank Pearce on 2010 Cataclysm Launch: "If it's ready."
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
Blizzard's Frank Pearce sat down with the folks of VG247 in a recent interview to discuss the upcoming release of Starcraft II and all other things Blizzard. Tucked away at the bottom of the interview was a comment that may have implied that Cataclysm could miss a 2010 release, something most WoW fans expect as a certainty at this point.
VG247: But Cataclysm [new WoW expansion] is set for release in 2010, so that should be out by the end of the year, yes?
Frank Pearce: Hopefully. If it’s ready. If not, then we’ll hold onto it. [Grins].
Sure, everyone knows the old adage of "when it's ready" that Blizzard strictly follows, but it's still surprising to hear that there is a chance Cataclysm may not make it for 2010.
Read the full interview here.
[Thanks Piasek for the tip!]
Comments
Awww, I want it this year - not 2011! Pleaseeee.
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
Woo for vague answers:
"When will the cure for cancer be found!?"
"When it's ready."
Too bad for WoW fans, and the others who are waiting for this to resub.
On a lighter note, I wonder which is more infuriating? the "when it's ready" (tm Blizzard) or "Soon" (tm NCsoft)? xD
Beats " It'll be ready by November" delayed , "It'll be ready in Jaunuary of 11" delayed, etc etc
Say what you will, but unlike many studios, the game WILL be ready when Blizz releases it...
Have fun with ICC for another 8 months boys.
If it's delayed it will be going up against Star Wars. That will be fun to watch.
WoW expansions are fun and interesting for a little while till we figure out it is the same car with a fresh coat of paint. I think there are a large number of people playing it just because there is nothing better to go to, I am one, so Blizzard better hope that SWToR is not half as good as it looks like it could be or they will have a serious contender on there hands.
You guys don't think, with the amount of money being spent on SWTOR, and GW2 coming out, that Blizzard would suddenly become dumb and not release cata as close to the release of either or both of those as they can?
They sure did with the xpac after WAR, what 3? or 4 weeks later? And the people that might have stuck around in war to wait for patches vanished back to the xpac of wow, crushing war for good.
Blizzard isn't stupid.
That could very well backfire if they are deliberately doing this. I can't speak for everyone else obviously but if those three came out relatively close together that the WoW expansion would be the one left on the shelves for me. Now if it came out in the fall I might pick it up.
Warhammer release date: Sept 18th 2008
Lich King release date: Nov 13th 2008
so 2 months apart. I really don't think blizzard is in a position that it must release their expansion based on their comeptitions release dates. Releasing their products when they think they are ready has proven to be a better formula so far. Rushing something unfinished to market just to beat the competition is what destroyed EQ2, Conan, Warhammer, etc. It would be an uncharacteristic move by Blizzard.
They going to try to make players choose between GW2, TOR or Cataclysm. Sorry guys but once GW2 hits or TOR we will not be playing WoW much anymore. So if you want your subs back then release in 2010 because not many will choose an expansion over 2 potentially great mmos.
Lol thats a terrible thing for Blizzard to do. There's no way Cata is coming out after Swtor. Hell that game may not even come out in 2011 so it'll be a waste of time to "wait" for swtor to come out. Plus gw2 is b2p so again pointless. Their better off releasing according to their own shedule and wading those games out than releasing their game close to the release dates of either of those two games which aren't even out yet.
I'd take "If it's ready" over "Let's just rush this out of the door for that cashgrab" any day of the week.
This did bring a smile to my face so many people in the Warcraft forums predicted this would be a summer 2010 release at the latest but I guess Blizzard learned lessons from the Lich King and are holding back the release till its ready . There maybe some arguement for stategic release to coincide with the competition but then if the likes of GW2 ,Terra or Starwars deliver the good there will be nothing Blizzard can do to stop an exodus to a cool new mmo and an expansion pack that really only delivers more of same will be seen for what it is very quickly against an innovative new mmo .In fact who knows we may see several in 2011 and these companys may just get it right at last .
I tihnk that might have worked earlier, but if that is Blizzard's plan (and you may be right that it is), I would expect that to backfire horribly on them.
Blizzard's best shot is to release the game as soon as they can, to hook people in to buy the expansion. If they wait until any of these planned AAA-rated games release, I think a lot of people will be more excited about "something new" than they would be about the same old WoW with lava.
GIven that these announcements are coming out as Arenda.Net is beginning to hype up Guild Wars 2, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Blizzard is being more strategic in terms of the overall market than they are about the readiness of the game itself.
Cata will be released in the fall.
His "If it's ready" seemed more like a tease to the fans than anything else.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Completely incorrect.
TBC was 'rushed' to match release dates of competition- explicitly stated by blues.
Feel free to match up content patches and expansions with signficant AAA titles' doing the same. You'll notice small windows of difference- of which the gap is easily filled with PR stunts (just how much media spotlight is on CATA, despite really no substantial information in the past few months).
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter
What was burning crusade rushed to market to compete with what game? Vanguard? I'm not sure what other game released around that time.
Do you have a link to devs saying they rushed BC out to compete with another title? That would be strange considering blizzards "not until it is ready" mantra that they normally preach.
As for patches, blizzard puts out content patches every 3-4 months. You would be hard pressed to find a new mmo release that wasn't somewhere close to one content patch or another. As for the media coverage, what is so surprising about the media covering the biggest mmo on the market. Other games are just now starting to release real information on their games.
Blizzard can't really stop other mmos from releasing and there are tons of mmo players that are going to try them regardless.
They were explicitly quoted as saying that TBC launched 'too soon' because they intended to allow more time for the playerbase to digest Naxx. When ramp-up started for WoLK launch, they were quoted again touching on the subject with regards to recycling Naxx.
Game releases? Or content releases?
As far as a link is concerned, dude, in all the years now (it's crazy to say that- 'years') of MMORPG's... one cannot keep tabs on every newsreel. I read the information, it registers, I read the next newsfeed.... so on and so forth down the line. Hell, it seems like yesterday I was stepping into FFXI with my junior roommate in college...
I do remember that after that event, I noticed a trend with regards to [big] content patches being released alongside other titles' and other titles' content patches. Sometimes you'd sit for weeks, even months on end, waiting for a patch that was announced- only to have it hit randomly and without really updating much. Ask any veteran arena player, for example, with regards to season lengths, and they'll acknowledge the strange deltas being season durations (which coincide with content patches typically).
Blizzard are the de-facto masters of PR. Would you expect anything less, considering?
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter
There is a huge difference between some devs saying that players were not as far along in Naxx as they had expected when TBC released and Devs saying (as is being claimed here) that TBC was rushed to compete with upcoming mmos. Which you still have not listed which MMO release TBC was rushed to compete with. That is why I ask for a link or something to give basis to what you say. Things can get fuzzy years after you read them and you already seem to be changing what you claim to have read.
As for your matching up content releases and expansion, come on. There are big releases for wow every few months. There is almost no way any developer could possibly release something that didn't get close to one of those dates. Compile that with how many other mmos launch, release expansions and major content updates and the calendar will be packed. There is almost no way for that amount of stuff to not overlap just by principle of volume/frequency alone.
If you really believe there is some crafty rushed release schedule to block other developers why don't you match up some content releases.
Only because Blizzard can afford to do it. Most games ship before they are ready because they probably run out of funds.
Pearce is just playing coy. Vivendi wants that cash infusion. They call the shots. They've stretched this out to the max and it would surprise me greatly if they don't release by November.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
I seriously doubt there's a conspiracy within Blizzard to release content when their previously nonexistent competition is releasing a product. They simply never needed to. The games that were going to rival WoW were all terrible at release. If there were some scheme, a public announcement to the playerbase would never be made.
I'm not sure why this particular announcement comes as a surprise to anyone who plays Blizzard games. They don't announce release dates until they're sure that's when the game is ready.
i dont see a need to rush in releasing their Expansion
even if they do release it in Q1 of 2011, so be it, it'll be only 2-3 months wait if they are to release in q4 of 2010 anyway
So What Now?