Blizzard Reveals What Made It Finally Pull The Trigger on WoW Forever
World of Warcraft Forever came out earlier this week, and has been a massively successful launch. It almost begs the question, "Why wait this long?" Well, Blizzard has revealed what made it finally release the Classic+ game mode.
World of Warcraft Forever launched earlier this week and has been a huge success. Many are wondering why Blizzard waited so long to release this game mode. According to Blizzard senior game designer Josh Greenfield, the company had been considering WoW Forever even before Classic released in 2019. However, the team initially postponed the project, opting to release the Classic port first.
While the Forever idea was put on hold, the Classic team began experimenting in 2023. The release of Season of Discovery, a new game mode that introduced radical changes like ability gems and converted old 5-player dungeons into raids, had a significant impact, both on Classic itself and on the entire retail WoW game. This success ultimately led Blizzard to greenlight WoW Forever, also known as Classic+.
Season of Discovery's popularity sparked conversations about a permanent version of the game, according to Greenfield. The game mode's success also convinced leadership to allow development on Forever to proceed. With new graphics engines in place, all the pieces seemed to fall into place. IGN's early review of WoW Forever is highly positive, praising the game for making players feel like they can return home and discover new surprises.
Early reports suggest that the launch was largely problem-free, thanks to Blizzard dedicating a significant amount of hardware to ensure smooth server operation.
Written by urgent.news from IGN's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
