Since the surprising announcement that World of Warcraft: WotLK will launch in 2022, there has been some concern that the upcoming expansion is being rushed out the door. Shadowlands hasn't been great and it's easy to assume that, like us, Blizzard wants to close the door on the current expansion as soon as possible.

"We've seen concern in the community of like, oh, is it too soon? Is it going to be rushed? I understand looking solely at alpha and beta timelines, how that might seem to be the case." WoW's game director, Ion Hazzikostas tells PC Gamer. "But if you take a step back and ask: is two years after the last expansion too soon for the next one? Well, no, that's in line with a kind of historical precedent there."

For reference, Battle for Azeroth launched in August 2018 while Shadowlands arrived in November 2020. So WotLK's release on or before December 31, 2022, is spot on.