Blizzard on WoW coming to Xbox: We're Microsoft Now

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/blizzard-says-it-talks-about-bringing-wow-to-consoles-all-the-time/

Blizzard says it talks about bringing WoW to consoles ‘all the time’

“OF COURSE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THAT… WE’RE MICROSOFT NOW.”

Blizzard has said that it considers bringing its seminal MMO World of Warcraft to consoles “all the time.”

Speaking to GamesRadar at BlizzCon2023, Holly Longdale, the vice president and executive producer of World of Warcraft, said that it talks about the prospect “all the time.”

“It’s a complicated question,” Lonngdale said. “For a console audience, the approachability is likely going to be different.”

While in the past, MMO’s of World of Warcraft’s size were more at home on PC due to computing power, some of the largest MMO’s today are extremely popular on console, such as Final Fantasy 14.

“Right now, we’re focused on the Worldsoul Saga. But if that comes up then we’ll reexamine things but, man, we’ve got enough to deal with right now,” said Longdale.

“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,” she repeated, before adding: “We are Microsoft now.”

What say you fellow SW fans? What do you think about adding WoW to Xbox consoles? Would you pay the monthly fee? I know that back in the day, when I played it on PC, I would have for sure paid monthly for it on console. I rarely play online anymore, so I am not sure this is something that would appeal to me any longer.

Maybe include it with Game Pass Ultimate? What are your thoughts?

Yes please! I would certainly love to see that happen myself. Make it happen Phil! 😎

Bring it on. :D

But...

lol :P

Wonder how an MMO would play with a controller, be interesting. I thin MMO and RTS are hard to beat on PC because of all the shortcuts/hot keys you can map.

WoW already supports controller. I have used it with a controller, and it wasn't bad. But yes, the keyboard commands with WoW are numerous as can be. But consoles support keyboard/mouse, so that would be an option too.

Would be interesting to see how well it would be received. Think there would be a monthly subscription to play it? If not that would quite the advantage over the PC model.

@kvallyx: I am not an MMO fan, so I'd be more excited to hear about a proper Warcraft/Starcraft title than WoW.

That being said, if they can figure out the controls, why not? I'd bet a lot of non-PC gamers would like to try WoW.

I agree. I am not a PC gamer, but I do love me some RTSs on a PC. I'd love a new, proper Warcraft or Starcraft game.

The most non committal answer I've ever read.

Well, now Phil gets to decide whether it happens.

KB and mouse is usable on Xbox

I feel like it would never hit Game Pass.

I can see a free month of wow on Gamepass to hook new players.

You are aware both current-gens supports KB/M right? If you were to play WoW on a console, you can use KB/M on Xbox Series X.

Taken from the interview (Not from OP) on a different place:

Longdale says as much in her interview, saying, "...man, we've got enough to deal with right. 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 MS now."

It's also important to remember that we're still in the early days of Blizzard being a MS studio. Longdale says they haven't really had conversations with MS about things like console ports or bringing WoW to Game Pass yet. That said, those conversations will undoubtedly happen, and World of Warcraft fans may have something even more exciting than the WorldSoul Saga to look forward to in the near future.

Basically, it's a yes for a console port. It's not a matter of how but when...will it come to Xbox Series. I don't know about PS5, but knowing MS, they need to make up all the money they can get. I don't see WoW coming to Nintendo though.

Heck it could be something they don't get done until the gen 10 Xbox.

I got to be honest, I forgot about the KB/M support.

I get that, wonder if a massively popular game like WOW would push console players to use them.

I can't picture many using KBM on console. I mean, I don't personally know of any, and I can't imagine adding WoW would add a substantial amount of KBM players.

Believe it or not, I know a guy who has an Xbox Series S, and that is his full fledged computer and gaming device. He uses the Edge internet browser for everything, email, google docs, etc.

The kicker though....he uses a controller for all of it 😨

I dont know a single person who uses a kb/m with any console. At that point, might as well build a gaming PC.

I cant imagine using a console for my general PC use, that would be so alien to me. I don't type the fastest but having to use a controller for emails, ect would suck..lol

I am not sure if I would play it, but more options is always good. I would love if they included the monthly sub to Gamepass. I would be much more likely to try it then.

More importantly, I want to see Warcraft 4 and Starcraft III.

@kvallyx: "WoW already supports controller. I have used it with a controller, and it wasn't bad. But yes, the keyboard commands with WoW are numerous as can be. But consoles support keyboard/mouse, so that would be an option too."

They make tiny keyboards that attach to the controllers too, perhaps it's time games made use of them.

StarCraft 3 is said to be in development from what I've heard. Honestly, if they do StarCraft 3, I'd be annoyed if they ruined the happy ending some characters got in the end. Unless it's gonna be a brand-new universe or a prequel, I'd be down for it.

As for Warcraft 4, as I've said in another thread, any plans for Warcraft 4 would have already been used for WoW. So I personally don't see Warcraft 4 ever happening.

It would take me an hour to compose a one sentence email on a console using a controller!

There are few things I care less about.

FFXIV plays well on controller, but it's also designed around it, WOW isn't. Tho most of the stuff in WOW play fine with controller, it's just targeting that's a major pain

Cows - “I never liked WOW anyways”

Baldur’s Gate 3’s controller scheme isn’t so bad

That would actually give me a reason to turn my Xbox on... one of my all time favorite games. I've been waiting for that for a long time.

Use to play wow but quit, the subscription didn't seems worth it. They include wow sub with gamepass, I'll jump back in

I mean it'd be cool to see, curious how they'd implement it.

Would be great to see it bundled with Game Pass, too; save me a subscription fee.

Yeah, that's my only real concern. Playing an MMO effectively, you need to have a lot of buttons mapped out, with modifers. I've got 1-through-0, shift-1-through-0, ctrl-1-through-0...that's not even getting to basic movement controls, misc. interface controls...

...oh ya and chatting via text. Though I imagine most will just go with voice chat?

Yeah I actually just cancelled mine since I had been so inactive for so long.

I like to check in once in a while, play for a couple months after an update or some new content comes, which is why if they tied it to Game Pass it'd be perfect.

I'm still a fan of WoW in either case; Shadowlands was meh but they came back in good form with Dragonflight. Still worth playing for at least a little while imo.

Quit durring BoA. Heard dragonflight is good. If I go back in I might just play classic. I'm not sure how classic works, do they have Vanilla and BC servers now, I saw they announced Cata. But if I want to just play Vanilla or BC can I still do that?

I wonder if we will see that KB accessory that slotted into the bottom of the controller make a comeback?

@Heil68: Aren't there already a handful of MMOs on PS5? like Final Fantasy 14 and Elder Scrolls Online?

I wouldn't know though, MMOs are garbage.

I'm not sure my guess is yes. I've never been into MMOs either.

WoW has a 1.5 GCD, FF14 has a 2.5 GCD.

Not to mention, haste and skills outside the OGCD.

That said... people have played WoW on a controller.

i'm all for bringing more games to console (and vice versa).. options are good..

I doubt we'll see WoW subscriptions being folded into the Game Pass sub though.. if anything, there may be perks for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers..

Letsa goooo!!

Educate me on the meaning of GCD and OGCD.

GCD = Global cooldown, abilities that share cooldowns.

OGCD = Off global cooldowns, abilities that don't share global cooldown.

👍🏽 I know the term but I haven't seen it abbreviated.

For those asking about kb/m... I used kb/m and a controller on PS4 to play FFXIV. Worked great. Controller was used for movement and basic attacks. Keyboard was used for crafting mostly but also had 1-9 set to macros and space bar for my limit breaks. Mouse was used for in menu navigation but didn't really need it much. Glad Xbox is getting some MMOs. More players, the better.

@Heil68: I looked into this the other day when I had the thought of WoW coming to consoles. Apparently it has controller support.

@joshrmeyer: I’ve always been wary of mmos though, because we hear stories about addiction in China. Or is it not really like that?

@HalcyonScarlet: Well I've only played FFXIV and yes, it's definitely like that. It was basically a full time job. You'll definitely get your money's worth if you're willing to devote that much time to it. There's endless things to do. I spent a ton of time just crafting items and selling them on the market place or buying items on there and reselling them for profit just to see how much money I could make. I don't know much about WoW though. It could be way different.