World of Warcraft on Xbox Game Pass Could Breathe New Life Into the MMORPG

gamerant.com:

Ask anyone to name an MMO, and there's a good chance World of Warcraft will be the first example that comes to mind. The quintessential game of the genre, World of Warcraft has been an MMO mainstay for more than a decade now. Unfortunately, it's also seen a bit of decline as of late, in part due to content and story decisions, and in part due to Activision Blizzard's ongoing controversies.

While it isn't exactly a great time to be a World of Warcraft fan, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Microsoft is purchasing Activision Blizzard, and that includes World of Warcraft along with it. While it hasn't been confirmed yet, there's a good chance that World of Warcraft could come to Xbox Game Pass given how Microsoft usually handles first-party games.

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Changes aren't always well received in video game communities, but Microsoft's intervention could be just what World of Warcraft needs, possibly even saving what can be seen as a dying player base. Bringing WoW to Xbox Game Pass would broaden each server's population by a significant degree, assuming its addition to the Game Pass roster makes it free-to-play for Game Pass subscribers.

For many, World of Warcraft's monthly subscription fee is the hang-up from trying it in the first place, as there are plenty of other premium free-to-play options on the market. Just look at MMOs like Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Elder Scrolls Online, which both receive content updates to this day despite making their monthly subscriptions optional. Removing that barrier would bring more players to World of Warcraft, and as many avid fans know, it's difficult to get WoW's claws unhooked once they've dug