In an interview at BlizzCon, Holly Longdale talked about the possibility of World of Warcraft coming to Xbox now that the Microsoft acquisition is complete…

 

 

Now that Blizzard Entertainment has become part of Microsoft, many World of Warcraft players are wondering if Blizzard’s flagship game will ever come to consoles. Executive producer Holly Longdale talked a lot about this particular topic. WoW came out at a time when MMOs were primarily made for the PC audience. Although it has enjoyed almost unparalleled success over the years, many of its competitors, such as Final Fantasy 14, have since given console gamers a chance to delve into the MMO experience. By announcing Worldsoul Saga for World of Warcraft, Blizzard has an opportunity to bring the game to an even wider audience.

Although the team is primarily focused on the development of Worldsoul Saga, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has already closed, and the possibility of World of Warcraft coming to Xbox has been an elephant in the room since then.

Developers have a lot to do anyway. The release of The War Within is planned for the end of 2024. It’s important to note that Blizzard is now in a unique position to bring WoW to Microsoft’s console.

The Xbox version of Final Fantasy 14 will also be released in early 2024. Blizzard is probably leaving money on the table if they don’t follow suit. During an interview with GamesRadar, Holly Longdale was asked if an Xbox version of WoW had already been discussed within the company. To this he replied: “Of course! Yeah, we talk about it all the time.”

“We’ve got these three expansions, and we are so excited about them. But, yeah, of course. It would be very insincere to say that we’re not, like… of course we’re talking about that. We are Microsoft now,” Longdale added with a chuckle.

She explained that the console audience approaches gaming on a completely different level. The question is, after all, more complicated than it might seem on paper. However, based on the response from the head of Blizzard, it is very likely that WoW will receive its console port at some point in the future.

The War Within will bring many evergreen features to WoW. What players can look out for will be the inclusion of console-friendly features. Shadowlands, for example, added native controller support in patch 9.0.1.

With the release of Cataclysm and Season of Discovery in World of Warcraft Classic, Blizzard showed a willingness to develop the Warcraft brand in a non-linear direction. It is not yet known how long it would take to develop an Xbox version. But Longdale has at least confirmed that the development team is on the same page as the audience in this regard.

Source: GamesRadar