Blizzard Delays World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Expansion to 'Later This Year'

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Some unfortunate news for those that were looking forward to playing the new World of Warcraft expansion. Blizzard announced today that the upcoming Shadowlands expansion will be delayed to 'Later this Year'. It was set to launch on October 27th, but given the Coronavirus situation, it's not too surprising to see the game delayed, especially since Cyberpunk 2077, Magic Legends, and numerous other games have been delayed already this year.

While we don't have an exact release date for Shadowlands anymore, it can't be much further out as most of the game seems to be ready to go according to the official Blizzard comment and 'later this year' means at most late December.

The Shadowlands 9.0 pre-patch is set to arrive on October 13th though and will contain the new leveling experience, the new Exile's Reach starter area, new customization options, and the Scourge event.

“The anticipation and demand for Shadowlands is the highest it’s ever been for a World of Warcraft expansion, and it is important for us to deliver an experience that meets our highest expectations and those of our players,” said John Hight, executive producer for World of Warcraft. “With that in mind, we made the decision to do what’s right for the game and take the extra time, and we think players will enjoy this expansion even more as a result of the additional work.”

Further Reading: Official Blizzard Post