Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! World of Warcraft's Midnight expansion, due out, March 2 is a hurricane, introducing a brand new housing feature to help shake the 22-year-old MMORPG up, along with a whirlwind of customization features. But, according to developer Blizzard, something this ambitious could only be accomplished without crunch. Game director Ion Hazzikostas tells reporter Christopher Dring in a new The Game Business interview, while Midnight is certainly "the fastest expansion we've ever made, in terms of the shortest gap between expansions," he's glad its developers didn't have to sacrifice their weekends to produce its size and quality. "No corners cut, no compromises in terms of what we're delivering to our players, and no sacrifices to quality," Hazzikostas says. "And I think most importantly, perhaps, no sacrifices to team health." World of Warcraft Midnight "brought me to the verge of tears," says MMO's production director, and it's not only "our best expansion ever," but maybe one of the most important ones in 10 years World of Warcraft has always asked us to call Azeroth home, but Midnight's new player housing is the first time you'll have one to call your own After 21 years of feeling at home in World of Warcraft, Midnight finally gives me a real place to call home The director also notices that the game industry's notorious "crunch" periods requiring extreme hours from its employees are, thankfully, becoming less acceptable. He tells The Game Business, sacrifice "may be a rarity in the game industry, but thankfully that's starting to change more." So Midnight "is an expansion that was made without crunch. This was an expansion that was made without telling the team, 'All right, we need to come in weekends and stay late, and work harder.'" It's important for both World of Warcraft itself and its creators that Blizzard stick to this balanced approach to development. "Because at the end of the day," Hazzikostas says, "we're going to keep making this game for years and years and decades. And this is a marathon, not a sprint. And we need to treat it accordingly." World of Warcraft has always asked us to call Azeroth home, but Midnight's new player housing is the first time you'll have one to call your own.