Blizzard Launching Mobile Version of Warcraft This Year

Blizzard Entertainment announced that it would be releasing a mobile version of its Warcraft series this year, bringing the franchise to a whole new audience. What impact will such an endeavor have on the gaming industry?

Blizzard has announced that they will be launching a mobile version of the popular Warcraft game this year. The game will be free to play, but players can purchase items with real money.

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Fans have already condemned Blizzard Entertainment for attempting to transform Diablo into a mobile game with Diablo Immortal, but that hasn’t stopped the firm from attempting to do the same with one of its other popular brands, Warcraft. Activision Blizzard said that it will be extending the Warcraft brand with a new mobile game slated to arrive this year as part of its fourth-quarter and 2021 financial results. Although no story or gameplay information have been published, officials confirmed in 2021 that many Warcraft mobile games are in development, all of which would be free to play.

Activision Blizzard Reports Fourth-Quarter and Fiscal Year 2021 Results (Activision Blizzard)

Within the Warcraft series, the combination of the Modern game and the Classic game under a single subscription continues to boost fourth-quarter World of Warcraft reach and engagement. Outside of a Modern expansion year, World of Warcraft had its best engagement and net bookings in a decade in 2021. Hearthstone’s net bookings increased year over year in the fourth quarter, thanks to a consistent stream of new content.
In 2022, Blizzard plans to release a slew of new material for the Warcraft property, including new World of Warcraft and Hearthstone experiences, as well as the first-ever mobile Warcraft content.
Diablo II: Resurrected sold more copies in the Diablo series from September through the end of the year than any other Activision Blizzard remaster during the same time period. Diablo ImmortalTM received favorable response from the public during its public testing on mobile.
Blizzard is making significant progress on its pipeline, which includes new Warcraft experiences, continued Diablo and Overwatch development, and an intriguing new IP.

Blizzard is working on’multiple’ free-to-play Warcraft mobile games (IGN)

[…] Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said that “several” mobile Warcraft experiences are in “advanced development” at the business.
“We want to produce more regular premium content in our Warcraft brand to maintain and increase the World of Warcraft community,” Kotick told investors. “And we’ve developed a number of mobile, free-to-play Warcraft experiences based on our beloved franchise’s IP, which are currently in advanced development.”
Since 2017, when Blizzard released job postings for a new mobile game that seemed to be based on the Warcraft property, rumors about a mobile Warcraft game have circulated. Blizzard was said to be working on a Pokemon Go-style augmented reality game in 2018.