With a twenty year history behind World of Warcraft, it’s no surprise that this is a game that has been consistently referenced in pop culture across various other media forms, the success seemingly unending for the MMO. Over the years there have always been discussions about the potential to bring World of Warcraft to an entirely new populous of gamers with a console release, and with exciting expansions on the horizon for WoW, console gamers are undoubtedly eager for any sort of information Blizzard can provide about a potential port in the future.
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WoW On Console
As mentioned, this is a topic that’s always been hot for the WoW fandom, particularly since last year when speaking to GamesRadar, World of Warcraft vice president and executive producer Holly Longdale was asked if Blizzard had considered bringing the popular MMO to consoles. Her response was an enthusiastic, “Of course! Yeah, we talk about it all the time.” While this is undoubtedly something the community has wanted for years and therefore it’s same to assume this is far from the first time Blizzard have held discussions on it, it’s possible the complexities in the games would make them incredibly difficult, maybe even impossible, to port. On this particular topic Longdale noted, “Well, it depends on who you ask. I don’t think it is, frankly. I think we’re pretty well positioned, which is kind of why we talk about it.”
Bringing the MMO to console would be a less daunting task with current console capabilities, as many massive multiplayer games like Fortnite perform just fine, with multiple MMOs existing on console now. Online and multiplayer capabilities seem to be becoming increasingly popular, in fact, with last year’s major Game of the Year award winner Baldur’s Gate 3 hosting online capabilities (that will expand into crossplay in the future).
While there haven’t been any further advancements or announcements since then (that have been made public, at least), that doesn’t mean it’s a topic that’s been completely left alone. Per a more recent interview with Longdale conducted by Video Games Chronicle it’s still a topic of conversation, as the producer states: “Of course we still talk about it. We’re gamers, I don’t think anything is out of the realm of possibility, but we don’t have anything to talk about right now.”
But this interview isn’t all. Eurogamer was also able to bring up a potential console release to Longdale at a World of Warcraft: The War Within expansion event, where she reportedly started her reply with a cheeky “I mean…” before continuing on to a somewhat promising response. “I will say nothing’s impossible. I can’t say anything more than that.”
Now that Blizzard was officially acquired by Microsoft last year and therefore has a rather direct line to Xbox, it would seem like these discussions have likely increased in the months since the acquisition was finalized. Perhaps these conversations are why Longdale couldn’t say more than “nothing’s impossible,” but hopefully we’ll see an exciting announcement in the future, as at least an Xbox release seems like the natural next step for the game.
