World of Warcraft will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in November next year, and just in case you were wondering, Blizzard Entertainment plans to keep the massively successful MMORPG around for plenty more time.
Recently at BlizzCon, the developer announced the Worldsoul Saga, a trilogy of three upcoming expansions for World of Warcraft, titled The War Within, Midnight, and The Last Titan. And though it’s certainly going to be a momentous story arc for the game, it won’t be the end of things.
Speaking in a recent interview with Digital Trends, franchise general manager John Hight said that though the Worldsoul Saga will serve as a conclusion to the ongoing narrative arc, it won’t be the end of all things World of Warcraft, with Blizzard planning on continuing to release expansions for the MMORPG after the upcoming trilogy has wrapped up.
“This is not the end of World of Warcraft; this is the end of this big chapter,” he said. “We will continue to do expansions beyond that.”
Hight also touched on how the idea for the Worldsoul Saga first came about, and why the decision was made to turn it into a trilogy rather than releasing it as a single expansion.
“[Executive creative director Chris] Metzen and the story team had this incredible idea, and it all evolved around the 20th anniversary coming up,” he said. “What story can we tell that is worthy of 20 years of operation? There’s no way that story was going to fit into a single expansion. The notion of doing it as a trilogy came forward because it provided for the creation of a conflict, a resolution, a turnaround, and then a bigger payoff at the end.”
The Worldsoul Saga will begin with World of Warcraft: The War Within, which is due out sometime next year. Meanwhile, 2024 will also see the launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic, while conversations about a console release for the long-running MMORPG are also ongoing at Blizzard Entertainment.
