Blizzard SVP Rob Pardo gave listeners a shock in a GDC Paris Q&A session when he told them that World of Warcraft was slated to be free-to-play. Pick your jaw off the ground and see what he said:

"When were first going to make World of Warcraft, we wanted to make it free and advertising supported."

However, the Blizzard exec noted: "We didn't want to charge a subscription, but as we researched market conditions, we realized that wouldn't support us."

Guess the millions Blizzard has made over the years tells them they made the right decision. Still that's news a lot of people could have lived without knowing.

Read it all at Gamasutra.