Blizzard Changes WoW Game Time Purchase Options

In light of recent developments which I’ll cover in this article, it seems Blizzard Entertainment has never heard the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” At least, that’s the general response I’m seeing from many of Blizzard’s customers in the wake of an announcement the company made yesterday concerning World of Warcraft. More specifically, Blizzard has rather drastically reduced the amount of game time players can purchase at once.

According to what’s known as a “blue post” on the game’s forums that has since been reported upon by both Wowhead and MMO-Champion, Blizzard claims to have “conducted a review on the available services in all currencies. Based on this, we have decided to alter the available Game Time options in the Blizzard Shop. As of [yesterday], the Game Time options of 30, 90, and 180 days have been removed and Game Time is only available as a purchase of 60 days.”

As a result of this, the only amount of game time you can purchase outside of a normal monthly subscription will cost you $29.99 USD. This move also affects the amount of game time players can gift to their friends. I should also note that Blizzard seems to wish to emphasize that this unexpected change does not affect the prices of subscriptions or WoW Tokens. Additionally, Blizzard states that any game-time players purchased previously will remain unaffected by this alteration.

Even so, it certainly seems Blizzard has upset a not-insignificant portion of World of Warcraft’s player base with this decision. Granted, in Blizzard’s defense, they can’t please everyone, but this move still seems inexplicable and completely out of left field to me. I’m sure players out there who might be affected by this change have their own opinions as to Blizzard’s motive behind this, but I, for one, will hold my tongue until such time as I feel compelled to speak out.