Blizzard, the developer of World of Warcraft (WoW), has been hit with another leak.
One of the most exciting parts of Blizzcon, the annual fan event for Blizzard taking place on November 1, is all the announcements the company has for their beloved games.
However, a recent Reddit post may disrupt the big reveal for the next World of Warcraft expansion. It is not known at this time how credible the leak is.
The image shows an advertisement displaying merchandise for “WoW Shadowlands.” There is also an image of the Lich King, the main antagonist of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King,” on the advertisement.
Presumably, if the post is real, the ad will be used during Blizzcon 2019. Fans would be able to buy merchandise after the Shadowlands expansion reveal.
To bring some validity to the Reddit post, fans have been talking about Shadowlands for a few months now. Back in July, details of the possible Shadowlands expansion were posted on 4chan, including zone images, and the WoW logo with the name Shadowlands underneath. Content creator Pyromancer, who discussed the items, claimed that he was contacted by Blizzard employees who confirmed the leaked images.
WoW fans have only a few days to wait to see if this conspiracy rings true. Blizzard has tweeted how fans can get involved with Blizzcon virtually.
These leaks tag onto Blizzards brutal year.
They have been linked to controversies like their announcement of Diablo Immortal during Blizzcon 2018. The developer took backlash from long-time fans who were expecting Diablo 4 news, not a mobile game, and felt like Blizzard betrayed their social contract with them.
Reports came out late last year that Blizzard, to save on costs, was offering money to employees for them to leave the company.
Two of their co-founders left the company this year. Frank Pearce left the company in the summertime and Michael Morhaime left in April.
The company also lost top executives this year. Blizzard fired their chief financial officer Spencer Neuman, and Amrita Ahuja left Blizzard to work for Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s company Square as their chief financial officer.
The bumpy road doesn’t stop there. Blizzard landed themselves into more hot water when they temporarily banned Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai from eSport events for publicly supporting Hong Kong during a Blizzard sponsored eSports stream.
The developer has taken a lot of heat from fans for this move, which has sparked the internet civil rights watchdog, Fight for the Future, to start a campaign against Blizzard. Read more about the Gamers for Freedom campaign. Furthermore, the banning of Blitzchung has resulted in United States legislators sending a letter to Blizzard, urging them to reverse the decision.
It has definitely been a year for Blizzard.
Regarding the leaks, fans will find out soon what is real and what isn’t.
Leaks are always frustrating for companies that have in place a grand reveal. Blizzard wasn’t just hit with this leak just before Blizzcon either. Diablo 4, the next game in long-time Blizzard franchise Diablo, was subject to leaked artwork as well.
Fans will have to wait a few more days to get clarity if these leaks are legit or not.
