Mark Androvich
23:29 (BST)
24/06/2008
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Warcraft intended to be ad-supported
During a keynote Q&A at the Paris Game Developers Conference, Blizzard SVP Rob Pardo revealed that World of Warcraft was originally planned as a free-to-play title.
According to a Gamasutra report, Pardo told GDC executive director Jamil Moledina: "When were first going to make World of Warcraft, we wanted to make it free and advertising supported."
"We didn't want to charge a subscription, but as we researched market conditions, we realised that wouldn't support us."
Pardo also referred to the upcoming Activision and Vivendi Games merger - forming a new entity to be known as Activision Blizzard.
"It really doesn't affect us at all," he said.
"One thing that was great about this particular merger is that Bobby Kotick and all the great people at Activision didn't want to do this deal unless everyone at Blizzard bought into it."
"They really wanted to get to know us, and that's never happened before... they wanted to merge with us because ultimately it would make us a stronger company."
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