Blizzard is almost ready to send World of Warcraft’s player base into the Shadowlands. And today during gamescom’s Opening Night Live show, the developer finally announced an official release date for WoW’s latest expansion.
After debuting an animated series that corresponds with lore for Shadowlands, the developer announced that players will be able to jump into a live version of the game on Oct. 27.
Blizzard has repeatedly told fans about its intentions to release the game before the end of 2020. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic forced developers to work from home, the company hasn’t changed its message.
With alpha testing for the expansion beginning in April, many streamers continued to ask the game’s lead developer, Ion Hazzikostas, if the game would come out before 2021 when given the chance during Q&A sessions. But he had the same response every time.
By July 15, Blizzard moved the expansion into beta testing.
The late October release is on the earlier end of Blizzard’s originally projected time frame for the game’s release, but it still fits in line with the schedule Blizzard has followed for previous expansions.
The past two WoW expansions, Battle for Azeroth and Legion, both came out in August. Before that, Warlords of Draenor and Mists of Pandaria, launched in November and September, respectively.
