Canessa mentioned her experience that the most recent time Blizzard offered a retail-only product that did not have a regular revenue stream was in 2003 with an expansion called the World of Warcraft expansion for WoTLK Gold. After seven years it was a change to transcend the thought about the logistics of shipping an MMOG game and to return to the issues that are that are unique to retail shipping games.
The last topic they discussed was the building and expanding of the team. Over the past 18 months it has been reported that the team has quadrupled to more than 50 employees and there's vacant positions of a dozen. Also, they have organized three times when their mission changed.
Canessa noted that it's hard to recruit new players due to the fact that it requires a highly specific kind of talent and there aren't a lot of game companies that can draw on. In the end, Canessa said Blizzard had to hire those who were skilled in the core of development and also had relevant experience -- people who were enthused about the services a game could bring to the table.
The standard for online services has been raised significantly over the last 10 years according to Canessa. Many of the things that customers expect and want from a gaming platform including rewards and microtransactions, are completely different than the past 10 years. Furthermore, the announcement of the service is only the beginning. Team members at Blizzard has many exciting new features in the pipeline in WOW WoTLK Classic Gold and is working on roadmaps that include features that will be available for World of Warcraft.