Expediting Growth: Bloomberg's Development Interview on Increasing Teams for Faster Expansions

In an interview with Bloomberg, Warcraft General Manager John Hight and Executive Producer Holly Longdale shared their plans to accelerate the release of World of Warcraft expansions. They revealed that Blizzard has established additional teams to work on two expansions simultaneously while another team continues to develop new live content. This strategy aims to provide players with more frequent updates and a faster content cycle throughout the Worldsoul Saga.

Three Teams in Concert

Blizzard has recently expanded its development teams by hiring more developers and creating the infrastructure needed to support the simultaneous production of multiple expansions. With offices in Irvine and Boston, which was formerly the Spellbreak studio Proletariat, Blizzard now has the capability to work on two expansions at the same time. Meanwhile, a live team is dedicated to delivering content patches for the ongoing game.

This means that three teams are currently working on three separate expansions concurrently. The live team is focused on providing three more content updates before the end of Dragonflight, following an approximate eight-week release schedule. Another team is working on "The War Within" (11.0), while the third team is developing "World of Warcraft: Midnight" (12.0). Each team operates independently, allowing for simultaneous progress on multiple expansion projects.

Bloomberg also mentions the appointment of an expanded roster of assistant game directors who have been given more responsibility and decision-making authority. This structure allows for increased efficiency and smoother development processes.

"We have essentially the makings of two expansion teams and a live team," stated Holly Longdale.

How Fast is too Fast?

Blizzard's ambitious plans to accelerate expansion releases align with their vision of a faster content cycle. However, the question remains: how fast can players expect new expansions to be released? Associate Design Director Maria Hamilton provided some insight in a separate interview at BlizzCon 2023, stating that the goal is to conclude the Worldsoul Saga before 2030. This suggests a shorter than the traditional two-year cycle, especially considering the release of "The War Within" toward the end of the following year.

John Hight and Holly Longdale were cautious not to reveal specific release timelines but highlighted the company's use of player behavior data to better understand what players want from content updates.

"We don't want to rush people to the next expansion," explained John Hight. "But we also don't want to drag things out longer than necessary."

Holly Longdale emphasized the team's focus on building strong foundations and the success they have already achieved.

"The team has worked incredibly hard, and it's already paying off," said Holly Longdale.

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