World of Warcraft Spin-Off Game Reportedly Canceled

A mobile World of Warcraft mobile game has reportedly been canceled after already being in development for years. The game in question was said to be code-named "Neptune," and according to the reports of the cancelation, was intended to be a mobile spin-off MMORPG set within the same universe as World of Warcraft. This reported cancelation comes amid a time when Diablo Immortal, another mobile game published by Blizzard that's also on PC, is making quite a bit of money on the mobile market alone.

News of this game's supposed cancelation comes from Bloomberg which said that the game had been in development for three years. Neptune was said to be created by both Blizzard and NetEase, the latter being a Chinese gaming company known for mobile games like Knives Out, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, Dead by Daylight Mobile, Marvel Super War, and more. According to the report, the two companies disagreed over the terms of the projects and ultimately halted it. Over 100 developers were said to be working on the game, and those familiar with the matter said only some of the creators were offered transfers to other projects and positions.

Blizzard has been exploring the mobile arena more with various spin-offs from its franchises branching out there which begs the question as to what went so wrong to result in a mobile World of Warcraft game being shelved. Diablo Immortal is the best example of that thus far, a game which has been criticized heavily for its microtransactions but has been financially successful regardless. Blizzard also teased not long ago that it'd be revealing a new mobile Warcraft game which turned out to be Warcraft Arclight Rumble. While more closely associated with the Activision side of Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty: Mobile is another example of the company's mobile endeavors.

It was also said recently that Blizzard canceled another Warcraft mobile game, one that was meant to take after the success of Pokemon Go and would adopt augmented reality elements into it.

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