WoW Gold: Cataclysm “on track”

Speculation has been building on whether or not Cataclysm, the anticipated World of Warcraft expansion, will be released in 2010 owing to the lack of a confirmed launch date.

But Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime told investors the expansion is expected to go live this year and will come in the heels of the smash summer hit StarCraft II, saying:

StarCraft is one of the highest quality, and it’s further confirmation of the unique talent that is embedded in Blizzard. This will again become clear with the launch of Cataclysm later this year… Although an exact release date has not yet been announced, we are on track to launch the expansion by the end of the year. As with all Blizzard games though, we won’t release until it’s ready.

The reassurance came during the Activision Blizzard second quarter earnings call where the company highlighted their performance expectations for the second half of 2010. But note the caveat inserted at the end in case the expansion hits a rough patch and gets delayed to 2011.

Luckily for us, WoW Gold Cataclysm seems to be hitting its development stride. Mr. Morhaime expressed satisfaction at the progress of WoW Gold Cataclysm beta testing, which began last June, and is set to blow up as it participates in high-profile gaming conventions:

There are currently tens of thousands of players participating in the beta test, and we’re planning to add more in the coming months. Additionally, more than 200,000 gamers and media will have the opportunity to play Cataclysm later this month at GamesCom’s in Germany.

Now if we can only get our hands on those elusive beta keys & WoW Gold, we can see first-hand how ready Cataclysm is for public consumption.