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Pachter: World Of Warcraft Will Reign For Another 20 Years

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by Phil Kollar on December 10, 2010 at 03:05 PM
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With just over six years of being the most popular MMO under its belt, World of Warcraft celebrated this week with the release of its much-hyped third expansion pack, Cataclysm. How long will Blizzard's online juggernaut be able to maintain momentum? According to analyst Michael Pachter, it has a nice long run ahead of itself.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Pachter stated plainly, "Nothing will topple World of Warcraft for another 20 years." How will they stay on top? He explained:

"As long as the Blizzard guys keep working on it, the quality will remain very high, and it will remain the dominant game. Your question is analogous to asking what will topple Google in search or Facebook in social media, and the answer is the same. I don't see any game catching up, the lead is insurmountable."

Not everyone looking at the MMO business is as optimistic toward Blizzard's future as Pachter. Cryptic Studios head Jack Emmert says he believes other games will "slowly chip away at" WoW's lead rather than a single game coming along to replace it.

Others, such as Age of Conan director Craig Morrison and GamersFirst head Bjorn Book-Larsson, rejected the idea that WoW needs to be toppled, suggesting that there's plenty of room in the market for competing products without them needing to replace World of Warcraft.

Whatever the case, the positive buzz for Cataclysm certainly seems to suggest that Blizzard doesn't need to worry about ending their run at the top any time soon. Do you think they'll be able to make it 20 more years, though?

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  • by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:12 PM
    No way they will make it 20 years without some massive overhauls. Eventually some new concept in MMO gameplay will take over, unless WOW does it first...
  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:14 PM
    That's a pretty dumb thing to say.
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    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:17 PM
    Wow, Pachter really is gloating in the limelight a lot lately huh?
  • by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:24 PM

    I mean come on, WoW is already getting old for a lot of people anyways.

  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:25 PM

    WHY do people listen to this idiot?

  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:26 PM

    Is this "National-Pull-BS-From-My-Rear" day?  In 20 years we will probably be fully integrated into 3d gaming and possibly full Virtual Reality games.  Not to mention games will be photo-realistic.  WoW is already an eye sore.

    This is as likely as Firefly making it to it's 20th season.  Or The Tick with Patrick Warburton.

  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:27 PM

    20 years? I doubt it. Gaming and it's technology evolve too fast and are too unpredictable to make such a long-term prediction. Nevertheless if it can be done, Blizzard has the money and fanbase to do it.

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    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:29 PM

    TOR. Enough said.

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    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:36 PM
    I'm starting to hate Pachter more than Bobby Kotick. He has no *** clue what he is talking about, as usual. According to him, 95% of gaming PC's out there aren't as powerful as the PS3. Hell, even Blizzard themselves are working on a new MMO to be release in a few years. You don't think they are going to try to push their player base to the new game?
  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:40 PM

    I think it's funny how the analyst says WoW will stay popular but it's competition says it won't

  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:43 PM

    It will only be toppled if they don't improve the graphics. I would pay $60 for the next expansion pack if it gave amazing graphics.

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    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:43 PM

    I give this game 3-5 years before they'll only be down to a million subscribers...

    However, at the pace WoW has set for itself, I can see how he came up with the 20 year figure.

    Love it or hate it - Blizzard is doing something right.

  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:45 PM

    hmmmmm idk maybe but i think that at most he has 10 years at the most and thats pushing it

  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 03:56 PM

    I don't understand why we need to take down WoW to have a successful MMO.

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    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 04:06 PM
    Are you kidding me? The game had already revealed its overt simplicity and redundancy to me less than two years of it being out. In my opinion the only thing keeping WoW going is its level of polish, met with other MMOs' failure over and over again to so much as launch in a complete, finished state.

    The next MMO to launch as a finished experience and not a glorified beta, and with one or two innovations on gameplay, will make a major, major dent in WoW.

    Blizzard launching their so-called "Project Titan" in a few years as a supposed replacement to WoW could absolutely keep them on top, but to say that this very very plain (and already ugly as sin) game is going to hold up even 5 years from now is ridiculous.
  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 04:06 PM
    Is that a Thor?
  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 04:09 PM
    This statement is so stupid im just gonna tell myself he is being paid to say it thats all.
  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 04:19 PM
    World of Warcraft itself? A little iffy. Blizzard? I can believe that at least.
  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 04:40 PM
    20 years, huh? That's probably when Starcraft III is coming out. In all seriousness, I doubt it. I give it 10 tops, and that's stretching. The people that play WoW now likely won't be playing it in 10 years. New generations of gamers will be born in this world, and they won't have a strong interest in this MMO. I mean, most gamers today know what Crash Bandicoot and Spyro is, but they have absolutely no desire to play them. That's because after time, a game loses quality. Every game. So what I predict is that young people will know what WoW is, as it is at that moment-a washed-up MMO that should have died between 2010 and 2020. The gamers of tomorrow aren't looking at the same WoW we are, and chances are, they're looking at it worse. And I for one enjoy some vitamin D once in a while. Just saying.
  •
    by Friday, December 10, 2010 at 04:53 PM

    It's honestly hard to say when WoW will eventually fade away.  I personally hope that it enjoys more success for many years to come.

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