With that type profit maybe they can upgrade there server so they don't lag like hell ( and yes it is them ping plotter shows the route) and hire some programmer to straigthen out the bugs in the software that been there since Beta.

I just love how they call it "lucrative". Like, is Blizzard gonna club the competition in the knee cap? Are they going to kidnap developers and hold them hostage?

All joking aside, I'm not surprised that they make that much in profit. The profit margin across the board is similar for Pay to Play MMO's. I've read several articles on the breakdown of cost versus revenue in the MMO market. That's why so many free MMO's are appearing, because it really isn't that costly to run an MMO.

Wow, you guy's really don't know how corporations are run. The owners of the corporation are the shareholders. The shareholders elect a Board of Directors to oversee the company, all the Board is given a salary. So all profit goes to the shareholders. I can't wait for my Activision stock to get a piece of the WoW action when the merger goes through.

Okay, I have no qualms about folks making money. There's plenty of other companies making absolute crap that make more money than Blizzard. So a company making and maintaining an amazing game like WoW generating buttloads of profit doesn't really bug me. But I disagree that most of those profits are going toward future titles. What they aught to do is split that profit margin in three parts. The first, biggest chunk should go toward future game developments. The second, slightly smaller chunk should go toward cutting down play fees. The final, very small sliver should go to the shareholders. Will this happen? Of course not. The company is not run by gamers, in all likelihood; it's probably run by businessmen, who are interested in one thing: money. So that profit margin's probably going into their pockets. Sad but true.

Operating expenses would include future development as well. The $520 million would be in excess of maintaining the game and development.

The real question is though: How much of that profit is going into shareholders pockets? And how much is being used to fund additional development. My bet is the majority of it goes to additional development. How else would blizzard be able to afford to keep creating these great titles?

this game is the best i have ever played and it doesn't look like i'll be playing anymore games for a long time. i thinks it's nearly imppossible to get bored on the game beacuase there's so much to do. oh and by the way i definately dont think blizzard should drop the fees they need to keep them beacuse if they drop them the graphics will look really bad and the game wont be be as good of a quality so Go Blizzard!!!

when i see ppl playing wow it gives me the impression that i am watching pokemon movie

I'd love to give it a try sometime, but until Blizzard does away with the fees, ArenaNet is the way to go for me. It does look fun though, but I've got Guild Wars, and I'm quite happy with it

Wow...Wow...Wow...The Best game ever...Whats wrong with it? Good Grahpics...Awsome Game play and well nothings wrong with it so A+++++!
Emethist
Eleun Be Praised!
Well They Desrve it..We have so much fun and they deserve it

I knew they were making bank, I just didn't know how much of it was profit before this article. Time to remove the gold-plated toilet seats in Blizzard HQ and put in platinum!