Warcraft’s game director explains why Blizzard debuted three expansions at once: 'Speaking it out loud makes it real'
Most Warcraft fans expected an expansion announcement for the massively multiplayer RPG at last weekend’s BlizzCon 2023. But to hear Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas tell it, Blizzard Entertainment’s bold decision to debut the next three expansions at once made even its own leaders nervous.
«There were definitely a few like, wait, we're really showing all the logos? We're going to tell them all of that? What do you mean, Chris?” said Hazzikostas, referring to executive creative director Chris Metzen’s opening-ceremony debut of the expansions, which are expected to fully roll out by 2030. “You're going to say where it's going to be?”
The three expansions will be part of a single story arc, The Worldsoul Saga, which is expected to tie up some loose ends from previous expansions (what sword?) and answer core questions about the Warcraft universe (what are those Titans up to?). The first will be The War Within, which takes players to the center of the world in Azeroth, debuting later next year. Following that will be Midnight, with a strong void-tinged theme, and it'll all end with The Last Titan.
It is the first time that Blizzard has ever breathed a hint about anything more than a single expansion to come. Franchise director John Hight told us that being more transparent about upcoming content has already paid off during the current Dragonflight expansion, but the team wanted to go even further in laying its cards on the table.
“To be able to sustain WoW and even grow—and we've been able to do that—we have to evolve,” he said. “We have to look at not just how we've approached things in the past, but the way our players are playing today and what they want.”
That spirit is what led to the bold expansion announcement
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