Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWorld of Warcraft: Cataclysm targeted for a 2010 release date
by Adam Holisky 
Aug 23rd 2009 at 1:03PM
But this time, things are a little bit different.
WoW.com has been able to confirm that during a DirecTV interview, Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard, revealed that Cataclysm is targeted for a 2010 release date.
Now a targeted release date should be clearly understood for what it is. It is a date that Blizzard wants to ship their game, nothing more, nothing less. It means that they have a plan and schedule to get the game ready by then. But as everyone knows, long term schedules can and do change. Please limit the QQ if we don't see Cataclysm next year.
Interesting news nonetheless!
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
Nazgûl Aug 23rd 2009 1:32PM
Beta was confirmed to begin before the end of this year.
Clevins Aug 23rd 2009 1:48PM
Why would this be any different than the last two expansions? it's a similar size and scope and both TBC and Wrath took 15 months from their announce at Bliazzcon until live. Come on everyone, connect the brains. We've got 2 expansions to look back on.
Nazgul - re the beta date... citation? Or is that one of those 'confirmed because someone in my guild said they thought they heard it' things? And yes, I know it was playable at Blizzcon. So was Wrath.
Unless they're MUCH farther along on Cataclysm than they were on Wrath at the 2007 BLizzcon, we'll see Cataclysm late fall, early winter of 2010. Maybe early 2011. So what I want to know is... if 3.3 is around the first of the year, WTF are we going to do for most of 2010?
Sparta Aug 23rd 2009 1:52PM
Icecrown will have to be out soon before boredom sets in again..3.2 is pretty meh.
The Xpac will hit most likely in Feb/March of next year at the latest.
With the epic failure of WotLK in holding customers attention and just overall bad design of elements within the game (class homogenization, lack of CC, broken systems, raid content that was trivial at best, ease of leveling, content blown through in a matter of days with no real reuse value, etc), they have to redeem themselves.
I think this is why the 80-85 levels are going to take a long time...they want to make sure you have to play but also feel like you are actually accomplishing something instead of going though X level till next Y level..etc.
Leviathon Aug 23rd 2009 2:10PM
Nazgûl: No they confirmed the STARCRAFT 2 Beta will begin this year.
Dreadskull Aug 23rd 2009 4:11PM
Meh, I'm stretching out the time because I know Blizzard has a habit of prolonging things a lot of times, but... they do seem to get things out every 3-4 months usually patch-wise, and... I doubt they'd want to wait for more than 3-6 months to get out the next expansion (or at least patch 4.0) to keep players interested.
Bill G Aug 23rd 2009 7:22PM
Nazgul is correct. In the DirectTV interview with the CEO after the opening ceremonies the CEO stated that they would see the Beta before the end of the year.
Vinna Aug 23rd 2009 1:17PM
I had been thinking Nov 2010 before I even heard any speculation. Mosly because it gives 2 years between expansions. It also seems they tend to go for Christmas sales: orginal wow in Nov, BC was targeted for a november release and got delayed til January and wrath was released in November.
Heck I would go so far as to predict whatever expansion comes after cataclysm would be a Nov 2012 release :-P
theRaptor Aug 23rd 2009 4:54PM
@Aigarus
No they don't need to recreate them. They need to patch the "holes". Most of that is scut work you give to the work experience kid ("put some mountains here"). Stuff like fixing Stormwind would take longer, however my suspicion would be that the world art team have been doing this tweaking as soon as the terrain for wrath was finished. It is perfect filler work, little creative input needed and can be done very piecemeal.
I also suspect we will find aerial fatigue for those large chunks of the world that are currently barren (the bits big enough to hold an entire zone).
The meat of the design was done five years ago so at worst they need to copy+paste the majority of the zone and retouch the borders. That is a bit of work but no where near the over all effort of creatin an entire new continent.
Cadychan Aug 23rd 2009 1:19PM
2010, eh? I gotta finish WotLK first... >_>;
Luisette Aug 23rd 2009 1:22PM
You and me both. My guild still hasn't finished Naxx (troubles of an itty-bitty guild). /sigh
But I know you can do it!
Jagoex Aug 23rd 2009 1:23PM
10-10-10 stands out in my mind.
Of course, as Adam noted, dates mean very little this early in the game. Pardon the pun. :)
Kerberos Aug 23rd 2009 1:30PM
While at first I was hoping to get a beta key at next years Blizzcon and the usual tenative November release, this is looking much more complete that the last two at announcement. I'd almost guess at a 2nd quarter release.
Matt Hamm Aug 23rd 2009 1:28PM
I believe there's no doubt that it will release in Q1. They'd be fools not too. D3 will be out this year, in order to take the place of Cataclysm, and SC2 will probably be next fall. They don't seem to want to have games out within 3 months of each other. We'll get 3.2.2 in November, and 3.3 as a Christmas present. Then we'll get Catacylsm in Spring 2010, just in time for spring break.
I myself forgot that WOLTK was announced at Blizzcon 2007, but there wasn't complete details until last year. They've been hard at work on Catacylsm since about a month before WOTLK launched last year. They want expansions out every 12-16 months, and I don't see that changing. And since they're already much farther ahead than we probably think, judging from the trailers, it's impossible that it will be this time or winter of 2010 that it will be released.
The Claw Aug 23rd 2009 4:34PM
"D3 will be out this year"
Interesting take. When they said "the two releases planned for 2010 are SC2 and Cataclysm," everyone else took that as meaning D3 was not until 2011.
Syggy Aug 24th 2009 2:00AM
There is no real chance D3 will be out this year.
Reason: They are not even sure what the 5th play class is going to be, anymore. (stated at the 'con.) For Starcraft 2 they gave a very strong statement that they think it will hit next year. WoW XPac 3 they dropped hints that make me think they are aiming for a Q2 release, next year. For D3 they made numerous statements that there was still work to be done on it, and they were redoing some stuff, etc.
Blackhawk003 Aug 23rd 2009 1:34PM
Yeah, with their year-and-a-half targets of which I've heard, I don't think they would want a full two years between expansions... more money to be made and more of the base retained by churning them out more quickly
Clevins Aug 23rd 2009 1:52PM
And yet... back in reality where the sky is blue, they have had 2 years between releases. Come on people connect the brains - if 3.3 is the ultimate patch for 3.x they aren't about to repeat the mistake they made with the first Naxx and release a raid, then an expansion, meaning people don't get into the raid. 3.2 in August... 3.3 at the earliest is December or so - about 4 months. December is 13 months from Wrath ship - they're not going to release the final raid of Wrath and then turn right around and release Cataclysm 3 months later. God, people, think before you type.
Aigarius Aug 23rd 2009 4:04PM
Ony in September/October, 3.3 around December/January and 4.0 in March/April and the expansion in the summer of 2010. I would be *very* surprised if it was much later than that.
wdm+hall Aug 23rd 2009 1:47PM
If it's not out before the next Blizzcon then what will they talk about since they spoiled everything already.
Waiting for all these changes will be tough but on the bright side my altoholic and leveling addict self might finally get something done in endgame since I'm going to wait to roll a Worgen Druid and a Dwarf Shaman.
How's that for limited QQ?
Prinny Squad Aug 23rd 2009 1:35PM
They'll hold until end of 2012 for the End-of-the-world Mayan feel :p