Blizzard Entertainment’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft, may potentially be coming to consoles, based on the latest report.
Speaking during an interview at BlizzCon 2023, Holly Longdale, the vice president and executive producer for World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment, stated that the development team discusses the possibility of the game being on consoles “all the time”.
In response to a question regarding technical hurdles potentially holding World of Warcraft back from coming to consoles, Longdale stated that she doesn’t think that is the case. As per her, Blizzard Entertainment is pretty well positioned for a potential console release, which is basically why the development team talks about the possibility. She said that it would be insincere of her to say that it isn’t already being discussed at the studio. “We are Microsoft now”, she added.
However, the team at Blizzard has yet to discuss the possibility of World of Warcraft coming to Xbox Series X|S or Xbox Game Pass PC with Xbox Game Studios. “We haven’t actually had a conversation yet,” she said. It remains to be seen whether something actually comes out of these discussions at Blizzard, though with Microsoft’s console business being a vital component of the Xbox platform, a World of Warcraft port for Xbox consoles seems likely at some point.
In related news, it was previously reported that, upon successfully acquiring Activision Blizzard King, Microsoft now owns 13 video game franchises worth more than $1 Billion. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, shared this information during the company’s first quarter (Q1) Fiscal Year 2024 earnings call.
While no specific names were given for the aforementioned franchises, they are likely include Minecraft, Halo, Gears of War, Forza, Age of Empires, Flight Simulator, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo. Nadella also stated that he’s looking forward to an “incredible first party lineup” to finish the year 2023, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Forza Motorsport at the forefront.
