Vivendi earning statements announced today hint that Wrath of the Lich King is expected to be released the second half of 2008. This would also fit into dates that we've seen on sites like Amazon and Gamestop. This is also significant in that it's the first time an official confirmation of a release time frame has come out. And being that this is the data sent to Vivendi investors, it comes with a good bit of clout.
Additionally, the statement tells us that World of Warcraft now has 10.7 million subscribers, up from 10 million at the end of 2007.
The exact paragraph in the statement is after the break. And of course, stay tuned to WoW Insider for all the latest Wrath of the Lich King news.
From the Vivendi press release today (emphasis added):
"Very good operating achievements were offset by non recurring or calendar impacts: the first quarter of 2007 included notably the successful launch of the first expansion set World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (the second expansion set is anticipated to be released in the second half of 2008) and the favorable settlement of a tax litigation."
"Vivendi Games continues to make strong headway with Blizzard Entertainment, inc and World of Warcraft ®, adding 2 million incremental subscribers compared to end of March 2007; After reaching the 10-million-subscriber milestone at the end of 2007, World of Warcraft's subscriber base grew to more than 10.7 million by the end of the first quarter of 2008.
A comparison of the first quarters of 2007 and 2008 performances is not representative because the first quarter of 2007 included the hugely successful release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Blizzard Entertainment's second expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2008."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-14-2008 @ 3:43PM
matt said...
I'll believe it when I have the box in my hands.
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5-14-2008 @ 3:43PM
Heela said...
Probably early November is what I'm guessing.
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5-14-2008 @ 3:48PM
Adam Holisky said...
/wave Heela
5-14-2008 @ 3:52PM
Doffencrag said...
Well, technically, they have until midnight of December 31 to qualify for "second half of 2008".
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5-14-2008 @ 4:25PM
Mackenzie said...
If it's fiscal year, wouldn't they have until May to release the game?
5-14-2008 @ 4:47PM
Brandon Tilley said...
Don't make me cry please T_T
5-14-2008 @ 7:29PM
Verit said...
It depends on how Vivendi's fiscal year works too - second half of FY08 could be well in to next year.
For most software companies (having worked for several) a two year product cycle is normal, but most designers and engineers would tell you in person it takes quite a bit longer to really put polish on a program. Not to mention they probably spent a bunch of time working on maintainence releases for WoW 2.x (aka patches).
5-14-2008 @ 3:54PM
Rich said...
No big surprise. We all figured it was going to be in the second half of 2008 since Blizz Con last year.
You're reading to much into the statement.
"the second expansion set is anticipated to be released in the second half of 2008" The key word in that statement is "anticipated". If it said it "WILL" be released in second half of 2008 then the article would be more correct.
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5-14-2008 @ 3:56PM
Adam Holisky said...
'World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2008"
At the end of the article. Scheduled is a lot more than anticipated, imo.
5-14-2008 @ 6:26PM
Kalis said...
Indeed everything's merely an "anticipated date" until the game goes gold.
/former VG employee that knows the smartest thing Blizzard's done is keep us away from WoW.
5-14-2008 @ 3:55PM
mirilene said...
This is news? Its always been on the 'calendar' for 2008 as stated by their own internal goals of one expansion per year. Every project has to have some kind of deadline. But this is Blizzard.
Blizzard said that BC would launch in the second half of 2006 and they adjusted it twice (the second adjustment pushed it to jan 07). Vivendi can "anticipate" whatever they like, but they're no more an authority on what date WLK will ship than Gamestop. Blizzard will decide when its ready to release.
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5-14-2008 @ 4:01PM
TimA said...
Well said.
5-14-2008 @ 4:00PM
TimA said...
What Vivendi wants and what Blizzard does are 2 different things.
Guidance for investors is really a spin mechanism to help keep their stock price up. All that means is that Vivendi would REALLY, REALLY like Blizzard to release by the end of the year. Doesn't mean it happens.
Exactly the same situation with TBC.
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5-14-2008 @ 4:40PM
Sin said...
This. ^
The expansion will be released when it's good and ready, by BLIZZARD's standards, not by the investor's or parent company Vivindi's desires.
One thing those "higher ups" need to focus on is if the expansion is released in a terrible state due to being rushed (an easy thing to do with any MMO, as it's been proven), they stand to lose far more customers to their main competition...namely Age of Conan and/or Warhammer Online...then they would if they chose to release the XP after the debut of both those games.
Here's to hoping Blizzard has a full controlling interest in their game after the large changes made with the company over the past year.
5-14-2008 @ 4:04PM
Corrine said...
I hope Vivendi's not pressuring to get the game released in 2008 before Blizz is ready. According to the recent WOTLK updates, they still have a lot of work to do on DKs as well as tweaks to the other classes talent trees. It also sounds like they haven't done boss fight scripting yet for raids. Admittedly, I don't know the timeframe it would take to do all this as well as other incomplete aspects of WOTLK, but I hope Blizz will make sure they have time to work it out like they always have in the past rather than succumbing to pressure to get the game out according to Vivendi's predictions.
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5-14-2008 @ 4:11PM
TimA said...
Agreed.
Kaplan stated that they hadn't even started boss design at the time of those previews.
I'm not holding my breath for this year.
5-15-2008 @ 10:43AM
Oneiroi said...
I'm sorry but...Blizzard never rushes anything. Let alone full releases (or expansions in this case). I bet they won't make the internal deadline, as per usual.
5-14-2008 @ 4:09PM
Everilas said...
Software delivery schedules slip all the time. I'm thinking January or February.
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5-14-2008 @ 4:14PM
Domina said...
With Arena seasons lasting about 6 months, and season 4 (presumably) rolling out early to mid-June, November is a pretty good bet.
It's unlikely Lich will come out before that as it would cut season 4 short and the Arena Tournament Finals are in October.
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5-14-2008 @ 4:24PM
Strumgarde said...
Also they might be referring to a financial year and not a calendar year which might not be the same.
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