Blizzard Sparks World of Warcraft Fan Backlash for 'Breaking Promise' Over Housing Microtransactions
Back when housing was added to World of Warcraft at the beginning of Midnight, Blizzard issued a set of guiding priciples that, among other things, promised that the company wouldn't add cosmetics to the cash store that represent one of Azeroth's races or classes. This week, Blizzard broke that promise.
Blizzard released two housing packs yesterday: the Haunted Grimtide Estate pack with a housing exterior and a pre-built interior, along with the Grimtide Decor Pack, which includes 21 different decorations that you can fill that interior with. The company is charging 2,500 hearthsteel for the Haunted Grimtide Estate pack and 1,000 hearthsteel for the Decor Pack, or $25 and $10, respectively.
It would make sense to have a spooky decor pack ahead of Halloween, but the aesthetics of all of these items looks like they were ripped right from Stormsong Valley and the Kul'Tiran humans that debuted in Battle for Azeroth. And the problem there is that charging for packs that so directly reference a WoW race and zone goes directly against the guiding principles that Blizzard itself published when it released housing.
Understandably, a lot of players are upset about these housing packs. One of the biggest WoW influencers, BellularGaming, tweeted a screenshot of Blizzard's promise, adding, "Kul'tiran housing decor bundle in the store! Ever wondered why I dgaf about having a professional relationship with Blizzard anymore? When their words mean nothing, Interviews are a waste of time."
In his replies, user LucasMillican begged players not to buy the items, saying, "Call it out, keep calling it out. Hold them accountable for their words. And for the love of god, people, don’t spend money on it. If you buy it, that tells them it’s okay. Don’t f***ing buy it."
Over on Reddit, WoW fans are rallying around a WindowsCentral article calling out the decor packs, in a thread that has over 660 replies at the time of writing.
User AliceLunar said: "And now here we are, still paying a monthly fee, buying new expansions every other year.. But now we have a whole cash shop, $90 mounts, $75 tree houses, pets, skins, built in RMT, new race locked behind a $30 paywall and the list goes on. WoW has more greedy and insane monetization than a F2P MMO from 20 years ago, but it's not free to play, and people keep opening their wallet."
Another user, Tiroler_Manu, wanted Blizzard to admit it was wrong, saying, "Just openly say: 'Yeah it was a greedy f**k up move, we violated our own principles, we won't do it again, we will give all players this and former house costumizations for free and refund purchases of House customizations. House customizations from now on will not be buyable, except special (non racial) collaborations for charity events (where of course the money will go to the charity).'"
The World of Warcraft cash shop has grown considerably over the last few years, and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. I'm not sure if community pushback is going to do much for this specific pack, but hopefully there's a chance that it'll dissuade Blizzard from charging for other housing items that so clearly reference the races and classes that players identify with.
This controversy is coming to one of the most popular additions to World of Warcraft in years. When Midnight first launched, housing blew up so much that players (myself included) rushed to collect a ton of housing items to create their Azerothian home. It was so popular, in fact, that Zillow even added a page to show off players' homes.