John Hight

Attention all raiders, rovers, freebooters, buccaneers, corsairs, and scallywags! Today is the final day of Plunderstorm, with roughly 14 hours left to finish farming renown before the limited-time event leaves our shores! Luckily, even if you haven't reached Renown 40 and unlocked the full list of rewards yet, all renown is still doubled throughout the final hours of the Plundersurge, until the event ends with tomorrow's weekly reset. Note that because Plunderstorm is separate from the regular game servers, it is likely to shut down tomorrow for other regions as well, rather than with their own weekly resets. Although the event is leaving for fairer seas, it isn't necessarily gone for good. In an interview with IGN, Warcraft General Manager John Hight discussed the possibilities of bringing the event back or evolving the technology into future events.

In a short interview with IGN following his GDC talk on 30 Years of Warcraft, Warcraft General Manager John Hight said that while traditional AI is useful for freeing up creative developers from tedious tasks, Blizzard isn't using generative AI in World of Warcraft. John Hight Discusses AI with IGN The key here is generative AI, which is to say the type of artificial intelligence that use machine learning models to generate brand new data, text, or images, as opposed to traditional AI, which primarily processes, analyzes, or classifies existing data. Whereas relatively new generative AI might be used to create complex characters, art, or dialogue, traditional AI has been used for years in things like algorithms helping NPCs path around obstacles or procedurally generate environments using predefined set pieces and rules. Learn more about the evolution of gaming AI to get a better idea of the differences between these two tools and how they are used.

World of Warcraft is open to bringing back Plunderstorm in the future, either as a direct repeat, or with new twists. According to Blizzard, the future of the popular new World of Warcraft game mode will rely on what fans want from it.

In a recent IGN interview at GDC 2024, General Manager of Warcraft, John Hight, discusses the future of the Warcraft IP including the possibility of another Warcraft movie, future games, and even if Season of Discovery will extend past level 60. IGN Interview We've provided a brief summary below, but be sure to check out the complete interview for more information and additional context.

World of Warcraft franchise director John Hight says Blizzard Entertainment isn't using generative AI in the massively multiplayer online game (MMO).

IGN interviewed General Manager of Warcraft, John Hight, discussing the future of Plunderstorm and other possible seasonal events! IGN Interview In the interview, John Hight talked about future plans for many events like Plunderstorm; that is, events that are seasonal and the team can use whenever they need them. They aren't opposed to firing up a Plunderstorm or another event whenever the players want something new.

Blizzard has said that it doesn’t make use of generative AI to make content for World of Warcraft. Speaking with IGN at GDC, Warcraft franchise director John Hight said that, while the studio has made use of machine learning to do things that might be cumbersome – like trying to fit armour sets on the game’s different playable races and classes – the more artistic elements of World of Warcraft are still made by actual artists.

Artificial intelligence and its uses in games remained a hot topic in the industry during the Game Developers Conference in March. And while some studios were touting AI-generated NPCs or AI-driven level creation, Warcraft franchise director John Hight was a bit more conservative.

Warcraft franchise director John Hight says he loves the 2016 film Warcraft. It’d be silly of him to tell me he doesn’t, given his job. But in a world where it seems like every major gaming IP is going ham on multimedia, Hight differs notably from his fellows in one major way: he doesn’t want to be a filmmaker.

World of Warcraft recently held a retrospective panel at a Games Developer Conference that reflected on the rise, fall, and recovery of the MMO over the last several years. During the lecture, World of Warcraft admitted to the mistakes it made during Shadowlands, and revealed the subscription trends between each expansion.

It's easy to roll your eyes and say that MMORPGs are dead if you, ya know, don't play MMORPGs. But 20-year-old World of Warcraft still seems to have plenty of spring in its step, according to Warcraft general manager John Hight. Its latest expansion, Dragonflight, has more subscribers now than it did at launch, and one intrepid content creator thinks they may have extrapolated roughly how many: over 7 million.

During a Games Developer Conference lecture reflecting on 30 years of Warcraft, Senior Vice President and Warcraft Franchise General Manager John Hight shared World of Warcraft subscriber trends from Legion through Dragonflight, noting the successes, failures, and changes made to course correct dwindling numbers following Shadowlands. As reported by Korean webzine Inven, Hight's talk began with history of the franchise, how it captured players with a revolutionary RTS and evolved into both an MMO and several other game types. While the talk itself is interesting enough, the focal point of the discussion reflects specifically on the successes and failures of World of Warcraft, how it built decades worth of fans, why some fans had turned away, and what changes were made to bring them back, with slides depicting subscriber trends from Legion through Dragonflight.

In a video interview with IGN, General Manager John Hight and Executive Producer Holly Longdale discussed the future of Warcraft, from Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) style expansions to potential movies!

In an interview with But Why Tho?, Warcraft General Manager John Hight expanded on the growth of the Warcraft franchise, from newer additions such as WoW Classic and Warcraft Rumble to the core of World of Warcraft and its future with the Worldsoul Saga. Read the full interview on But Why Tho?

Most Warcraft fans expected an expansion announcement for the massively multiplayer RPG at last weekend’s BlizzCon 2023. But to hear Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas tell it, Blizzard Entertainment’s bold decision to debut the next three expansions at once made even its own leaders nervous.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Warcraft General Manager John Hight and Executive Producer Holly Longdale expanded on their plans to create and release faster World of Warcraft expansions throughout Worldsoul Saga, standing up additional teams to work on two expansions at the same time while another continues to deliver new live content. Check the full interview on Bloomberg

Digital Trends interviewed Warcraft franchise General Manager John Hight and Warcraft Rumble executive producer Vik Saraf about what the future of Warcraft looks like, looking at Disney as a model while crafting an ongoing universe, and supporting the franchise for years to come. Digital Trends Interview with John Hight & Vik Saraf

World of Warcraft will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in November next year, and just in case you were wondering, Blizzard Entertainment plans to keep the massively successful MMORPG around for plenty more time.

Blizzard announced at BlizzCon 2023 that World of Warcraft's next three expansions will be part of a larger narrative called The Worldsoul Saga. To learn more, IGN had the chance to speak to WoW vice president Holly Longdale and Warcraft SVP & general manager John Hight about why the team chose to make this saga three expansions and why it's going to be a bit like the MCU.

During BlizzCon 2023, Blizzard announced three new expansions for World of Warcraft. Starting with the next expansion dubbed World of Warcraft: The War Within, the trilogy of expansions has been referred to as the start of The Worldsoul Saga.