World of Warcraft's subscription price hasn't budged in most parts of the world for 20 years. Long before our collective nostalgia birthed WoW Classic, you had to pay Blizzard $15 a month to spend hours auto-attacking wolves in Elwynn Forest. The only difference now is that the wolves are in high-definition.
Hight says a price increase"gets brought up during discussions from time to time," but points to things like WoW Tokens—items players buy for in-game currency that convert to game time—and regional price adjustments, like in"I'm kind of proud of the fact that we've been able to maintain this price point," he said."I'd rather have a big, healthy happy audience, than have the risk that the audience gets smaller, but the subscription went up.
His definition of"everything" is a little generous considering Blizzard has sold exclusive mounts and other cosmetics in its shop for years, but it's true that nothing you can buy outside the game gives you an advantage over other players. The $15 subscription fee is all you need to experience every version of the MMO that started it all, including every successful or controversial feature Blizzard has put into it over the last 20 years.
Tyler has covered games, games culture, and hardware for over a decade before joining PC Gamer as Associate Editor. He's done in-depth reporting on communities and games as well as criticism for sites like Polygon, Wired, and Waypoint. He's interested in the weird and the fascinating when it comes to games, spending time probing for stories and talking to the people involved.