World of Warcraft and Game Pass could be a match made in heaven

polygon.com:

World of Warcraft has had a tough couple of years. But with Microsoft’s recent announcement that it plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, things could be looking up for the giant, aging MMO. If Microsoft were to marry World of Warcraft to its growing Game Pass service, which now boasts 25 million subscribers, we could see influx of new and retired players — something Blizzard Entertainment very much needs right now.

World of Warcraft’s previous expansion, 2018’s Battle for Azeroth, frustrated players with restrictive mechanics that limited what they could do in the game’s most important activities. And with 2020’s Shadowlands, the game’s current expansion, Blizzard doubled down on similar mechanics.

In 2021, just as sexual harassment and gender discrimination lawsuits hit Blizzard, players started giving up on the nearly 18-year-old MMO at a steady rate. Big streamers, like Preach, said they were retiring from the game. Asmongold and major guild leaders like Limit Maximum likewise started streaming WoW’s biggest competitor, Final Fantasy14 Online.

Blizzard reacted to the exodus quickly, pulling some players back by removing restrictions on some of Shadowlands’ more contentiousfeatures. With the expansion’s final patch on the horizon and a new expansion announcement looming, players seem cautiously excited for what 2022 and beyond could hold for World of Warcraft. But the damage has already been done. The next time World of Warcraft hits a tough spot, it likely won’t take as long for players to get wise and move on to something else.

Game Pass could be an answer to World of Warcraft’s retention issues. MMOs are expensive — not just to develop, but to play. In both World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy14, players need to