Mists of Pandaria was trademarked by Blizzard in late July. MMO-Champion reported the news a few days ago, and you can read the article here if you would like. So what exactly does this mean?
Well, anything is pure speculation at this point, but it does appear to be associated with online game codes. If this is indeed the next expansion of WoW, why Pandaria? What happened to Emerald Dream? Here are my thoughts on why we might actually see Pandaria and the Pandaren.
Blizzard, from what I gather, would very much like to introduce the Pandaren race, but has publicly addressed an issue with China and the Panda as a sacred animal. So as not to offend an entire population, the Pandaren have been left out of WoW thus far.
However, with two consecutive reports of a 600,000 and 300,000 subscriber loss, Blizzard has reported almost 1 million lost subscribers in the last two financial quarters. That’s nothing to scoff at. While publicly they say these losses are not linear, and associated with the rapid movement through Cataclysm content, it still has to be a concern.
So, what better way to bring back a flood of players than to introduce the Pandaren race for the next expansion, which is something players have been clamoring for over the last several years. This would be huge in terms of player anticipation for an expansion, and no doubt would breathe full life back into the game.
Fighting for Players
Blizzard is walking a fine line with end-game content by creating masterful, brilliant encounters, but at the same time still creating an environment that keeps players glued to their computers for hours on end. It’s a viscous cycle, and one that I’m afraid will ultimately send more players away to other games, or just quit all together.
Mists of Pandaria. I’m already sold. I think it’s a brilliant move by Blizzard. What about you? Will you stay to play if it is indeed the next expansion?