Screen Digest's research discovered there was evidence that North American and European MMOG market grew 22 percent during 2008 from wilkinson's blog

The title itself sparked an uproar, considering that Blizzard entertainment's World of Warcraft is the most massively multiplayer online game in the world. Its more than 12 million users assist Blizzard, which is one half of WOW WoTLK Classic Gold Activision Blizzzard's 100 million dollars in revenue each month. If any console manufacturer could at wooing the notoriously PC-focused developer publisher with the results of its revenues and royalty payments would provide it with an edge in the battle between tooth and nail consoles.

The body of GI.biz's report was less robust than the story's head suggested. "Speaking in The Luminaries Lunch today during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, World of Warcraft could only confirm that Blizzard is in discussions with Microsoft which is a sign that the process of development of the new hardware for consoles is on the process." (Emphasis added.) (Emphasis added.) Luminaries Lunch was a small event, reportedly planned in the name of Acclaim the chief of creative and an industry expert David Perry.

The official version is that when P2Pah contacted P2Pah, Blizzard reps shot down the GI.biz report straight up and claimed that the publication was not even following up with any inquiry to clarify the World of Warcraft's comments.

"In the Lunch with Luminaries discussion, Rob said that Microsoft sometimes bounces ideas off of us, but without any specific reference to any next consoles." explained the representative. "This is not a surprise, since our games are run by the Microsoft PC operating system. We're not currently in discussions with Microsoft about any possible consoles in the future." (Emphasis added.)

Bogus or not?: Bogus. But, Blizzard has publicly stated that the console MMORPG is possible. A number of real-time strategy games --Blizzard's second specialization--have been played on consoles, however the potential for profit from the genre outside of the PC is still untested.

The console industry continues to grow at the rate it is currently, and isn't impacted by an OnLive-style service--the publishers is foolish not to develop into the market. At the moment, however this seems to buy WoTLK Classic Gold be far off, at least in the official sense in any case.