Blizzard's Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams has stated that Blizzard have already decided on
WoW's next expansion.
In an
interview with PCRetail, Sams was asked if Blizzard have planned what's next for WoW. He told them that although Blizzard have no news to announce, it's pretty much been decided what they will be doing for the next expansion:
"Well, we don't have anything to share on that but the development team has a very long forward look, and they don't know all the specifics elements of the future, but the general framework is in the heads of the production staff, designers and team members. So they do know where it is going to go, but a lot of specifics they determine along the way". Sams continued "We have a lot of creative people on the team and they have no shortage of great ideas – it's a matter of figuring out the right ideas for each content update or expansion that fits the story that we're trying to tell. Every time I talk to that group the ideas just keep overflowing, so we feel there's a lot still to do."
It's great to know that Blizz are working on this already, but will there be another expansion after the next one? Sams seems to think so:
"..you can count on there being further expansions for World of Warcraft. There's a passionate group of players that play World of Warcraft and we're going to continue to support that group for as long as there are a meaningful number of people that want to play it.".