Blizzard is on a roll. At first it was Diablo 3, and now it’s the massively popular World of Warcraft. According to reports, Blizzard has officially confirmed that the company’s popular MMO title World of Warcraft will now support in-game transactions.
Blizzard community manager Bashiok, as he's known on the Blizzard Community Forums, recently confirmed and detailed the plans for an in-game store for World of Warcraft that will offer items for sale with real world money.
“For players who are already interested in the in-game items we offer, such as Pet Store pets and mounts, the benefits of an in-game store are pretty clear. We think everyone would appreciate the convenience of being able to make such purchases without having to leave the game, and ultimately that’s our long-term goal for the system, though there’s quite a bit of work involved in retrofitting those existing items into the new system,” Bashiok stated.
He added that to begin with, the team will first test the in-game store “with some new kinds of items we’re looking into introducing (in Asian regions, at the outset) based on player feedback: specifically, an experience buff to assist with the leveling process, as well as an alternate way to acquire Lesser Charms of Good Fortune.”
The team, over the months, has received “a lot of requests from players in different regions for convenience-oriented items such as these, and as with other new ideas we’ve introduced as WoW has evolved—including Pet Store pets, mounts, and more—your feedback plays a hugely important part in determining what we add to the game.”
Players managed to discover an experience-boosting spell located in the game's public test server, pointing toward an in-game store. Shortly thereafter, a WoW community manager revealed that Blizzard was working on adding an in-game store to the long-running MMO.
“We are currently exploring the possibility of adding a way for players in certain regions to make purchases directly within the game. As part of this process, elements related to this will be appearing on the PTR. We’ll provide additional updates on our plans as development progresses,” the post read.
However, everything related to in-game transactions is “still too early in the process to make any final determinations about our plans” and more information is expected to arrive in the coming months.
