During the recently held London launch of The Burning Crusade (which was flooded by undead-looking people, if I might add), Blizzard's VP of development Itzik Ben Bassat issued some statements regarding the company's plans after WoW:BC.

Given the HUGE success of WoW (more than 8 million users, baby!), a lot of people are speculating that the company may pattern their next titles after WoW. But during the launch, Bassat hinted that their next MMORPG won't just be a clone of their worldwide hit title.

When asked about this by British magazine Empire, Bassat said,

When we announce our next MMORPG it's not going to be another WOW - we're not a company that tends to tread the same ground. It'll be something innovative and new that really brings entertainment to another level.

Bringing Warcraft to the movies is the next step for us, we want to let people bring World of Warcraft into other aspects of their lives. After all, we're competing for people's entertainment time, whether it's listening to music, watching TV, or going to the cinema.