The Daily Grind: Is "Cataclysm" the name of Blizzard's next MMO?

I somehow doubt this is the new MMO. The name is somehow too generic for me. Cataclysm sounds like a Korean F2P game in perpetual beta.

Starcraft: Ghost never materialized, but it was definitely in development (it was shown at E3 one year).

The timing is about the same as it was for the trademarks for Burning Crusade and WoTLK before their respective Blizzcons. So, my bet is that this is the next WoW Expansion name.

However, the cataclysm in WoW is something that happened in the past... so what could it mean? Another coming cataclysm? Or did they finally jump the shark and go back in time?

"Is Cataclysm the next Blizzard MMO?"

Does it really matter? Blizzard could put a pile of steaming doggie doo into a box, call it an MMO, and it would get the same level of unabashed slobbering that every single one of their products gets. It seems that Blizzard is the only game company one earth that has a 'get out of criticism free' card.

Perhaps a Post-Apocalyptic MMO? With a Name like Cataclysm, you can guess they want something big. Or, it could be related to WoW, and although I'm not a fan of the game, it would be interesting.

I'm pretty sure the "Cataclysm" is referring to the sundering in Warcraft's lore. They are definitely hinting something about a Maelstrom/Emerald Dream expansion. I remember before WotLK, they announced the book based on Arthas, and they just recently announced a book about Malfurion Stormrage who has been locked away in the Emerald Dream for all of WoW's lifespan.

Also, the Sundering is what caused the Maelstrom to form in the first place, so I think it's very likely this could be the next expansion, not their new MMO.

The definition on Dictionary.com says Cataclysm is "an extensive flood; deluge." and "a sudden and violent physical action producing changes in the earth's surface." Those definitions pretty much spell out the Sundering, and the Maelstrom.

Is it just me, or does Cataclysm sound way too generic to be trademarked? A cataclysmic event is at the core of many, if not most, MMO and even video game lore stories/backgrounds.

It would be analagous to trademarking the word "post-apocalyptic" or even "online".

Even if it is the next Blizzard MMO, like I said, the word is so generic that it offers us nothing else in the way of furthering our knowledge of the project, except that it exists, and we already knew that. :)

Yay!

A Dragonlance MMO!

wowcataclysm.com just happened to expire on the exact same day that the trademark was filed, and it is now (and maybe was before, i dont know) held by the same company that handles all of Blizzard's domain names. points to the next expansion if you ask me

Post-apocalyptic MMO? They have a lot of potential with that.
I can see them doing something in the line of Hellgate: London. The IP, not the game features obviously.

Does anyone even care? Wow fanbois will just keep playing wow, and anyone that's moved on from wow probably has a lot of blizzard-resentment at this point (myself included).

Let's face it, no matter what they promise it's not like it will be anything other than wow with new graphics/setting, further more when it comes to modern Blizzard "new graphics" doesn't exactly mean mature/adult/dark (even if it IS post-apocalyptic the style in all of their games is following a very specific common trend now) and "new setting" probably just means stolen ideas from someone else.

Blizzard is, and clearly always will be now, about mass market appeal. Honestly their games suffer as a result (though clearly their wallets do not, maybe more of the people who threaten to quit actually should). This is especially true when it comes to mmos where even keeping a specific niche group happy is a challenge and keeping everyone happy just results in numerous watered down and broken mechanics.

They're just trade marking the impending events of 12/21/12.

I think it's a stunt -- you know how Blizzard likes to play coy with the details of their releases. "It'll be released when it's ready" and all that

For whatever reason, I still think Blizzard's next MMORPG will be World of StarCraft.

And they'll make a gazillion bucks from it ...