Blizzard play down micro-transaction talk
No payments in WoW
Blizzard's Rob Pardo, one of the highest-ranking developers in control of world-beating MMO World of Warcraft, has dismissed talk that the developer might introduce micro-transactions in WoW, despite their growing popularity as a business model with other MMO titles.
Speaking at the GDC in San Francisco, Pardo said such a system would "betray" players, the VP of game design stating that the introduction of real world cash would unbalance the experience, especially if the buying of gold was officially sanctioned.
"We've taken the approach that we want players to feel like it's a level playing field once they're in WoW." the exec explained.
"Outside resources don't play into it - no gold buying, etcetera. We take a hard line stance against it. What you get out of micro-transactions is kind of the same thing and I think our player base would feel betrayed by it."
More from Pardo can be found in this new interview.
