You could soon be able to enjoy one of Activision Blizzard’s biggest franchises on your mobile device. During its recent 2021 financial results, the company revealed that it will put “all-new mobile Warcraft content into players' hands for the first time.”
Blizzard’s announcement gave an impression that the new mobile game will be unrelated to other games in the Warcraft franchise such as World of Warcraft and Warcraft 3. Nevertheless, it’s still unclear as to where the new game will be set and how it would connect to the larger universe.
Alongside the new mobile project, Blizzard also shared that World of Warcraft reported strong engagement throughout 2021 and confirmed that its developers are working on “new experiences” in both WoW and Hearthstone.
This upcoming Warcraft project won’t be Blizzard’s first venture into bringing one of its biggest franchises to mobile. In 2018, the company announced Diablo Immortal, an online MMO exclusive to mobile devices. Back then, the official confirmation drew a significant amount of criticism from disgruntled fans who at the time were expecting a reveal more akin to Diablo 2: Resurrected or the now-confirmed Diablo 4.
The majority of criticism towards Diablo Immortal has since subsided, particularly after early alpha and beta tests appeared to be well-received by fans. While this could be reassuring to both gamers and Blizzard itself, the jury is still out on whether the same sentiment would extend to the upcoming Warcraft mobile game.
Blizzard’s announcement on the future of Warcraft comes shortly after the company revealed its plans for a brand new survival game set in a “whole new universe”. The news came just days after tech giant Microsoft confirmed its intention to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion to beef up its Xbox Game Pass catalog.
According to Bloomberg, the acquisition deal is still subject to a pending investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. Whether or not the FTC will have grounds to prevent the merger or if the investigation is simply a formality remains to be seen, though gamers have already been discussing the pros and cons of the acquisition for weeks on end.
We’re going to need to wait for Blizzard to share more details on the new game before we can draw any conclusion, especially whether or not it could potentially contend with some of the best Android games and the best iOS games available.
