Last week, Blizzard co-founder and former president and CEO Mike Morhaime said he thinks accessibility in World of Warcraft has the unintended side effect of making the game less social. Accessibility does not mean aids or settings that open up the game to more players, but rather eases the learning curve and the need for polishing: "Why you need to play with the same group over and over," he said.

Morhaime's remarks drew a lot of attention, including perhaps from current Blizzard president J. Allen Brack, who does not seem to share his predecessor's assessment of the state of the game.

"World of Warcraft has been fortunate to be designed as a very social experience. Over time, we have listened to the feedback from the community and the game has evolved into what we now call a "modern game" and has really expanded the breadth and depth of the gameplay.

According to Brack, Blizzard views both modern WoW and World of Warcraft Classic as "one community under one subscription" and aims to continue releasing content for both. While Classic WoW has been particularly strong in the Eastern market (presumably referring to China), the recent growth in the West has been primarily driven by players returning to the modern game, which has fueled strong pre-sales for the upcoming Shadowlands expansion.

I'm not going to argue with Mike Morhaime about what made "World of Warcraft" such a huge success, but it's not just "WoW" that has changed the socializing equation. Believe it or not, WoW came out in 2004, and the entire world has changed dramatically since then. And let's not overlook the fact that "World of Warcraft" remains a phenomenally successful MMO. The momentum seen in both modes in March continues, and the active community is growing faster than ever."

Brack also noted that despite the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, the launch of the World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands, is on schedule: the Shadowlands expansion will be released in the holiday season of 2020. The Shadowlands expansion will be released in the holiday season of 2020.