World of Warcraft could become obsolete, says game’s publisher

Throughout most of its life, World of Warcraft has been an unstoppable tour de force, a phenomenon with a scary potential to keep growing. Then, sometime around the end of 2008, it stopped growing.

Now, one publisher has predicted the game could be toppled. This isn’t the prediction of another put-upon rival MMO publisher, however. It is Activision.

Yes, the same Activision who, along with Blizzard, publish World of Warcraft. The company expressed its concern in a recent annual report, and you know what? It’s all bloody social gaming’s fault. Yeah, Farmville, and co., I’m looking at you.

“We also compete with other forms of interactive entertainment, such as casual games like iPhone applications and other mobile phone games, and games developed for use by consumers on social networking sites. Future increased consumer acceptance and increases in the availability of such games or other online games, or technological advances in online game software or the Internet, could result in a decline in platform-based software and negatively impact sales of our console and hand-held products.”

There may be a lifeline for Activision, however – World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm is out later this year, and might get gamers back to the MMO – but surely it’s a temporary fix.

[Via Eurogamer]