Blizzard Entertainment Interview

During one of the Wrath of the Lich King launch events, MTV Multiplayer had the chance to talk with Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime about the company’s plans to release additional expansions for World of Warcraft – and even Diablo III.

MTV Multiplayer: Activision has had success with franchises like (Call of Duty) and (Guitar Hero) by releasing games annually. Do you look at that business model at all and wonder if that would work for Blizzard? Do you think there’s more profit in hitting the annual mark? Or do you think players need the breathing room?

Morhaime: In terms of expansions, I think a little bit more frequently is probably good with sort of the goal to get closer to an annual expansion. But I think it really depends on what content you put in the expansion. I don’t think Blizzard will ever be able to do sequels of products like a (Diablo III) or (Diablo IV) on an annual basis, but we might be able to do expansions to those games close to annually.

Hmmm, is there more profit? In an ideal scenario, I think we’d probably do [expansions] a little bit more often than we’ve been able to do. But I agree I think putting too many expansions out too frequently, you probably get to the point where people do need to start taking a little break.