World of Warcraft has been perched high atop the massively-multiplayer throne for seven years now, but is about to get its first serious dose of competition when the Electronic Arts-published Star Wars: The Old Republic launches. While it’s not really a shock to learn that some folks have already indicated that they’ll be leaving Azeroth for a galaxy far, far away, a new survey indicates that WoW could shed anywhere between 900,000 and 1.6M players when the lightsabers start swinging.

According to Develop, a survey of nearly 400 online WoW customers indicated about 50% of them planned to purchase The Old Republic. In light of those results, Lazard Capital Markets downgraded Activision Blizzard’s stock from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral.’

However, it’s worth noting that the very same survey indicated that 33% of WoW players said they’d re-subscribe to the game upon the release of the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion. People love pandas.

The stock rating downgrade also follows the news that Wow’s subscriber base is down about 800,000 users in recent months, as well as news that majority shareholder Vivendi “shed thirty million of its shares in Activision Blizzard, reducing its stake to 60 per cent,” last week.

All this aside, World of WarCraft still has more than 10 million current subscribers.

Source: Shack News 

Blizzard’s World of Warcraft MMO has shed 1.1 million subscribers in the past six months, the developer has announced. As revealed in an investor call earlier today and reported by Massively, player numbers have fallen 10 per cent to 10.3 million compared to 11.4 million in May this year. CEO Mike Morhaime explained that most of that decline was seen in the East.

It’s been a year since the last major expansion, 2010′s Cataclysm, helped boost numbers. The next add-on, Mists of Pandaria, is yet to be dated.

It was good news on a company-wide level, though. Activision Blizzard saw profits for the quarter nearly triple from $51 million this time last year to $148 million.

Source: Eurogamer 

Blizzard has made many of the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm dungeons easier with patch 4.06. Oddly though, this goes against Blizzard defending the difficulty of Cataclysm’s Heroic dungeons this week. They said they won’t be made easier, but yet they have been merely days after that statement. The 4.06 patch notes highlight a few other fixes too, with bosses being made easier for more casual players. Also expect some class adjustments, race tweaks, PVP alterations and lots of other bits.

Blizzard’s internal numbers have confirmed that they have sold 4.7 million copies of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm in one month. That’s more copies in one month than any other PC game. The third WOW expansion had previously broken day-one PC sales records by flogging 3.3 million copies back when it was released last year.

Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime said: “We’ve been floored by the community’s response so far, and we’d like to thank them for their continued passion and support for World of Warcraft, and for helping Cataclysm reach this incredible milestone.”

Blizzard has finally admitted that Titan is real and will be their next MMOG. The game was leaked on a five-year released schedule that resulted in the departure of Blizzard China’s general manager Ye Weilun. Titan is currently down for release in Q4 2013, with a fifth expansion for World of Warcraft scheduled for the same release window.

“The media is not supposed to know anything about that,” said Frank Pearce, Blizzard’s senior vice president. “It’s our next-gen MMO project. We’ve only started talking about it in a limited fashion because we want to leverage the fact that we’re working on something like that for the purpose of recruiting – getting some of the best talent in the industry on that project.”

Blizzard has confirmed that World of Warcraft Cataclysm has become the world’s fastest-selling PC game. The third WOW expansion has sold 3.3 million copies worldwide on the PC and Mac (combined) in just 24 hours. The world’s fastest selling multi-platform game is Call of Duty: Black Ops, which managed 5.7 million copies in 24 hours. Whoever said that Blizzard needs to get into the console space might be regretting their words right about now.

In the same period, Wrath of the Lich King achieved 2.8 million sales. That was previously the world’s fastest selling PC game. Apparently, it was the worldwide launch that helped Cataclysm hit the record. The game was released in United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand on 7th December, and then in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on 9th December.

“We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet,” commented Mike Morhaime, the man who made Blizzard.

“We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content.”

Activision gave us some great news today just prior to enjoying our holiday weekend. Eric Hirshberg, the newly appointed CEO of the major publisher gave us this quote to chew on. The copies of Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops and even future boxed copies of the popular franchise will never include a subscription charge, the copies that come with a campaign, coop, and online multiplayer.

“We will never charge for multiplayer for Call of Duty”

However, that doesn’t mean that the Call of Duty won’t branch off into another genre filling the need for a subscription. Back in 2008, previous CEO head, Bobby Kotick explained that it’s possible the Call of Duty franchise could head into the MMO world to compete with Blizzard Entertainment’s, World of Warcraft. But that venture is still long ways out. Plenty of things have changed since then and now that Activision is partnered with Blizzard, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to think we could be seeing something like this in the near future.

Via (Kotaku)

Blizzard has confirmed that they are suing StarCraft II hackers. They’re going after the authors of the game hacks some dirty cheaters have been using. The developer has filed a suit against three offenders in the Los Angeles District Court. Two of the hackers are from Canada, with the other one living in Peru. Blizzard believes that their cheat programs violate the user licence agreement and Battle.net’s terms of use as well as infringing copyright.

Details about the bonus DVD in the Collector’s Edition of World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm have been unveiled by the British Board of Film Classification. The bonus DVD features films like “Who is Deathwing?” which is a World of Warcraft retrospective. It has interviews with programmers and a bit on game design.

The DVD also includes the Cataclysm intro cinematic and major content patch trailers with director’s commentary. Cataclysm will be released on 7th December. It’s the third WOW expansion, following The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. It adds two new races: the worgens and the goblins. It also increases the level cap to 85.

Activision Blizzard has confirmed that more than 12 million people subscribe to World of Warcraft. The fantasy role-playing MMO has reached thanks to the Chinese launch of Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for the game.

“The support and enthusiasm that gamers across the world continue to show for World of Warcraft reaffirms our belief that it offers one of the best entertainment values available today,” said Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime.

“We are as committed as ever to taking the game to new heights, and we look forward to demonstrating that with Cataclysm in December.”

Activision Blizzard has confirmed that World of Warcraft Cataclysm will be released on 7th December. You’ll be able to pick it up on DVD or as a digital download on the Blizzard Store for both PC and Mac. There will also be a Collector’s Edition with some added extras, which will set you back $79.99. Cataclysm is the third expansion for World of Warcraft. It adds the worgen and goblin races and increases the level cap to 85.

“Cataclysm includes the best content we’ve ever created for World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “It’s not just an expansion, but a re-creation of much of the original Azeroth, complete with epic new high-level adventures for current players and a redesigned levelling experience for those just starting out. With the help of our beta testers, we’re putting on the final polish, and we look forward to welcoming gamers around the world to enjoy it in just a couple of months.”

A few weeks ago, the chaps over at Blizzard released a warning that any cheaters/hackers trying to gain a naughty advantage in StarCraft II will be perma-banned. Today, Blizzard has followed up on that warning and has officially thrown out “suspensions and bans, on over 5,000 StarCraft II players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using hack programs while playing.”

Blizzard Entertainment also went on to say that they will be keeping a watchful eye on Battle.net and whoever violates the Terms of Service. So keep it clean kids, you certainly don’t want to be among the lost souls who’ve done wrong.

Source (Battle.Net)

Blizzard has released the first patch for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. The patch focuses on changing the game balance, but also includes some new interface features. It also contains nVidia 3D Vision support and improvements to the game’s editor. The balance changes nerf the Protoss Zealot, Terran Battlecruiser, Siege Tank and Zerg Ultralisk.

Blizzard has also added a quick save option, a game clock and a system panel showing local time, FPS, battery and Wi-Fi signal strength to the game’s UI. Expect lots of other little bugs to be fixed too. Here are the full patch notes for 1.1, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Blizzard has announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has sold three million copies worldwide during the title’s first month on sale. That figure complements other stats about the title that were confirmed recently. It’s the fastest-selling real-time strategy game of all time and the best-selling PC game this year (so far). The game launched simultaneously across North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and parts of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

The NPD group has announced the US sales for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for July. The game managed to sell a pant-changing 721,000 units at retail. The game was released on 27th July, so that number was reached in only five days. NPD’s sales don’t measure digital downloads, so the number could’ve been even higher.

Regardless, it is the fastest-selling strategy game of all time. It sold more than 1 million copies in 24 hours and 1.5 million copies in 48 hours worldwide. NPD has said that the game made US PC game sales go up by 103% for July. We didn’t place StarCraft II’s sales in our traditional NPD post as that only covers console games. Our Matt seemed to enjoy it in his review.

It’s been twelve long years since we last heard from the Terran military, but at last Blizzard’s highly anticipated non-World of WarCraft title drops onto the surface of our little planet. But is it everything fans have hoped for, or over a decade on has the universe of StarCraft lost its shine?

From its opening it’s clear that StarCraft II is the most polished gaming experience out there at the moment. The menus are beautifully constructed, the opening cinematic is stunningly animated, and everything looks breathtaking. Players will be taking up the role of Jim Raynor, a familiar face to veteran fans. This grizzled rebel, alongside ex-convict marine Tychus and ship captain Matt Horner will be battling the Dominion – a dystopian military government – as well as previous threats; the Zerg and the Protoss. For most players these will be familiar faces that still easily excite, but they are made easily accessible for new players who will soon pick up the back-story and be drawn into this heavily detailed universe.

The gameplay of StarCraft is surprisingly unchanged from its decade-old predecessor. It would be easy to argue that this is a lazy move, but considering StarCraft is one of the most long-term surviving games of all time (still played as a serious sport in Korea), what’s the point of fixing something unbroken? Once again you’ll be harvesting minerals and Vespene gas with SCV’s, training Marines from Barracks and building tanks in Factories whist viewing the battlefield from an isometric viewpoint. Other than the heavily updated visuals, this is classic RTS gameplay at its most quintessential. The isometric camera means that there’s no 3D environment to spin around, and the zoom barley hits ground level, meaning there’s no Dawn of War style viewing to combat, but since StarCraft’s art style lends more to detailed environments rather than individual units you’re going to want to watch the action from above rather than on the ground.

Whilst StarCraft II is stunning to watch from the battlefield camera, more impressive is the in-between mission sections. Rather than short cut sequences, you can explore Raynor’s ship between missions and talk to the various crew members in an almost RPG-like manner. The ship’s armoury, lab, cantina and bridge are all stunningly realised and it is here where some of the best story elements are revealed, with dialogue delivered by top actors that ensure the experience is second to none. The facial animations here are tremendous, and characters such as Matt and Tychus are graphical masterpieces. It is in these sections of non-combat that you’ll be able to access the ship computers to perform military research and hire mercenaries, which is a management game in itself.

The bulk of StarCraft is of course seen through missions, and these can be accessed in a non-linear fashion from the bridge. Rarely before has an RTS managed to produce so many mission types beyond the ‘defend this, attack this’ mentality, and each one of Wings of Liberty’s campaign missions feels unique. From attacking and robbing a train to harvesting rare minerals against the clock before lava floods the area, every mission is fun to play. There’s an even mix of mission types, especially fun are the more character-based ones where you fight through an area DoTA-style without the need for base building. Difficulty levels can be altered pre-mission, with the lower difficulties allowing quick blasts of fun and the higher ones posing a significantly more difficult challenge.

StarCraft was never just about the campaign though, and when you’ve finished up the tremendous single-player story there’s the addictive online component. There’s a distinctly different feel between single-player and multiplayer, with different unit choices and various other features. It is here you’ll be able to unleash the power of either the Zerg or the Protoss (the Wings of Liberty campaign focuses solely on the Terran, with later expansion packs offering campaigns for the other races) and engage in epic online clashes. There’s no doubt that this will go down a storm online and easily step in to replace its predecessor as the RTS favourite. Blizzard’s new Battle.net system also allows for a smooth and polished competitive experience, with an Xbox Live style matchmaking system that helps match up players of equal experience. This is extremely welcome since newcomers would otherwise be obliterated by veteran StarCraft players, considering the experience here doesn’t differ too much from the game they’ve been playing for twelve years now.

Verdict: There’s no doubt about it, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the most polished, deep, sublimely constructed gaming experience available on the PC. It blows all but the sturdiest competition out of the water, and offers torrents of fan service whilst opening up the universe to new players. For those who disliked the original StarCraft, there’s little in Wings of Liberty to convert you due to its classic mechanics, but for everyone else this is an experience that must be lived.

Blizzard has announced that StarCraft II has become the fastest-selling strategy game of all time. It sold more than 1 million copies in 24 hours, and over 1.5 million in 48 hours. As you may expect, these figures make StarCraft II the best selling PC game of 2010 so far. The game launched simultaneously worldwide in 11 different languages and on 5 different continents.

Blizzard has confirmed the all-important PC and Mac requirements for StarCraft II. Mac requirements are higher than those on PC. Mac gamers are recommended to have an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT or ATI Radeon HD 4670. PC gamers are recommended to have a Dual Core 2.4Ghz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 or an ATI Radeon HD 3870.

Hardcore PC gamers will be happy to note that the game runs on Windows XP (as well as Vista and Windows 7), currently the best OS for gaming performance and the best ever OS ever made. The game 12GB of free hard drive space to install when it’s released on the PC and Mac on 27th July.

Blizzard has opened a can of worms by announcing that they will be making users post with their real names on their forums. The real name system will be implemented on the StarCraft II forums before the game’s released at the end of this month. The World of Warcraft forums will go the same way just before the launch of Cataclysm, the next expansion pack for WOW. Existing posts will stay the same, but everything else going forward will require the use of Real ID.

“The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players – however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild,” Blizzard said.

“Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before.”

Understandably, the WOW forums are royally pissed off. WOW Europe’s thread on the subject is up to 184 pages, with the North American thread up to an insane 976 pages. We would like to point out that you don’t need to use your real name to post on our site, call yourself what you want (within reason).

Blizzard has confirmed that they have started the closed beta for Cataclysm, the next World of Warcraft expansion. Invitations will be sent to players whom have signed up to Battle.net and have opted into the beta. The expansion will be getting a full release sometime this year if all goes according to plan. Cataclysm will instigate quite a few new changes. The level cap will go to 85 and the entire old world will be getting a redesign. There’s also now a big dragon called Deathwing. With a name like that we guess he’s not going to be friendly.

“Our focus with Cataclysm has been to build on the knowledge we’ve gained through the previous expansions to deliver the best, most compelling World of Warcraft content for our players to date,” said Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime.”Gathering focused feedback during the beta test will go a long way in helping us reach that goal when we launch Cataclysm later this year.”