WoW: The War Within director says there's "no long-term advantage" to buying the controversial $90 early access edition
Nov. 10, 2023Blizzard says it’s doing “everything” in its power to make the expansion’s different editions fair
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
A week after World of Warcraft: The War Within fans blasted developer Blizzard for the expansion’s $90 early access fee, the game’s director has said there’s “no long-term advantage” if you buy this edition.
Understandably,MMO players were quick to blast the “disgusting” $90 early access chargeas they feared that the players who could afford the most expensive edition of the game would get ahead of those who couldn’t. Following the backlash, World of Warcraft director Ion Hazzikostas says that Blizzard is doing “everything” in its power to make sure “there’s no long-term advantage” for early access players.
As reported byPC Gamer, Hazzikostas addressed the growing trend of studios charging extra for early access, explaining: “It is a trend across the industry that we’re paying attention to. A number of games have done it. We’re looking to make sure that we’re maximizing the value of our expansion offerings, of these expansion bundles.”
The director then addressed the main issue players are having, adding: “The immediate concern that we knew we needed to tackle, and I think frankly I wish we’d done a better job of explicitly spelling out when we announced it on the web page as part of the pre-sale process, are the restrictions that are associated with the early access.”
“We’re looking at end-game power advantages,” Hazzikostas reassures players. “Our goal here is, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure it’s the case, that there’s no long-term advantage. You shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between someone by the time Season One [with its raid and Mythic Plus dungeons] starts, who had early access to someone who didn’t.”
Need a break from World of Warcraft? Take a look at ourbest MMORPGlist for ideas on what to play next.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I’m also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.
Former WoW and League of Legends MMO dev showing off new game today, but be warned - “We’re taking Unreal Man with a bunch of store-bought assets”
WoW veteran says the MMO’s devs had to make “ten times the amount of quests” as originally planned to sate playtesters, and now the game has 38,000 of them
Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand devs say Baldur’s Gate 3-style level caps help make games shorter, because not everybody has “time for 100-hour RPGs”
