During a recent roundtable following the Warcraft 30th anniversary event, Ion Hazzikostas, the director of World of Warcraft, shared some exciting news. He emphasized that the introduction of player housing is set to be the most daring feature ever added to a WoW expansion.
When fielding questions from the press, Hazzikostas boldly mentioned, “I dare say it’s our most ambitious feature in a WoW expansion to date. One reason it’s taken so long to bring it to fruition is that we couldn’t just rush it and offer a minimal version, even if we planned to expand it later. We aim for greatness in everything we do, especially with features that carry such expectations and history in the MMO landscape. It’s crucial for us to start with excellence, creating a foundation that will support years of further expansion and creativity.”
Before diving into this, we were curious about why the team, once hesitant about player housing, is now fully embracing the idea. Hazzikostas elaborated on this shift.
“Player housing has been on our minds and has been a topic of discussion for a long time,” he explained. “Our community has consistently shown interest, and we’re aware of that. In the past, it wasn’t as if there was a philosophical barrier; we didn’t think it was a bad idea or that it wouldn’t enhance the social fabric of the MMO.”
He continued by noting, “The truth is, we were assessing what it would take to execute the concept to meet the quality our players expect and deserve. This includes resource allocation, customization options, and the technological infrastructure needed for seamless integration into the game world. Previously, we had to decide between offering housing or pursuing all other expansion features, and the latter always seemed to take precedence.”
This exciting project has been quietly in the works for several years. It’s a development that extends beyond a single expansion cycle, and the team is thrilled to finally introduce it to players with the upcoming Midnight expansion. Hazzikostas promised more details soon about how it will function, its limitations, and its future path. He added, “We wanted to give players a sneak peek at what’s looming on the horizon and perhaps a bit selfishly to spark a community dialogue about housing – to get their feedback on what they hope it to be and what they’d rather it not be. This feedback will help us ensure that our development is on track.”
Looking ahead, Hazzikostas shared that more information will be gradually released through blog posts and official Blizzard channels into 2025. For now, we’ll just have to be a bit patient and watch for more updates!
