Blizzard Entertainment Postpones WoW Shadowlands Expansion

World of Warcraft Shadowlands, the latest expansion slated for the MMO, has been delayed by Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard Entertainment announced that the upcoming expansion had been forced into postponement status, citing the COVID-19 pandemic for eliminating access to their standard office equipment. Developers have worked from home computers to complete WoW Shadowlands. Details weren’t provided on the new release date for this expansion, with Blizzard Entertainment evoking it’ll arrive later in 2020.

Lack of an official date could mean postponements into 2021, which would disappoint long-time supporters of WoW. Expansion opportunities have been minimal in recent years, prompting a large percentage of the community to switch-over to “Elder Scrolls Online”. Blizzard Entertainment wants to regain those played with WoW Shadowlands, which emphasis on similar environments with EOS’s Greymoor Expansion. Both are in winter-esc locations, with Elder Scroll Online Greymoor supporting better visuals. Blizzard Entertainment is accounting for graphical fidelity during the postponement period.

Shadowlands Executive Producer, John Hight, explained that deciding to postpone the release of this expansion wasn’t easily accomplished. John High mentioned that the decision was necessary and couldn’t be avoided if Blizzard Entertainment was to provide gamers with an exciting experience. Development time is being dedicated to polishing the game, indicating Blizzard Entertainment recognized lack of graphical improvement. This doesn’t mean that gamers can’t try-out WoW Shadowlands by November 5th. It’s known that the Pre-Patch Beta is arriving for top-ranked players in World of Warcraft, with their suggestions being taken account for the final build.

WoW Community Heard

The postponement period won’t have been enacted if the WoW Community hasn’t expressed graphical improvements & balance concerns for the latest environment. Considering that Blizzard Entertainment promises Shadowlands is their most intricate expansion to date, failing on that statement could result in World of Warcraft becoming hated by its remaining core fanbase. Blizzard continues to protest that Shadowlands is exceptional, and that gameplay will revolutionize MMOs for decades to come. These sentiments will be hard for Blizzard Entertainment to sustain. Under the impression that promises are genuine, World of Warcraft will obtain a prominent percentage of their fanbase back from Elder Scrolls Online.