World of Warcraftplayers have been holding out hope for a console version of the game for as long as it’s been around, and its Game Director has answered that PlayStation or Xbox ports of Blizzard’s flagship title still remains a definitive no. The ability pruning thatWarlords of Draenorbrought in 2014 was perhaps the start of any serious speculation in the community aboutWorld of Warcraftcoming to consoles. Some players believed that reducing the number of abilities would pave the way for a console version of their favorite MMO, and given thatseveralWorld of Warcraftcompetitorsbranched out beyond PC at the time, it was a decent theory.
With Microsoft pursuing the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, many were left wondering if this would open the doors to anXbox port forWorld of Warcraft, effectively mirroringFinal Fantasy 14having its console version on PlayStation. While the idea was sound on paper, it would seem that Blizzard Entertainment plans to stay the course, and Microsoft is content to let Activision Blizzard franchises remain as they are.
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In a recent interview on theend ofShadowlandsand the start ofDragonflight, conducted by Twitch streamer Annie Fuchsia, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas dispelled the rumors aboutWorld of Warcraftgetting a console version by stating that the game would remain PC-only, with no plans to port it over to Xbox or PlayStation in the near future. That being said, accessibility is still on Blizzard’s agenda, and Hazzikostas was forthright enough to mention that official controller support was something worth exploring, which would line up with the PlayStation and Xbox icons datamined duringDragonflight’s beta.
Beyond the question of a console version forWorld of Warcraft, the interview also explored thesuccess ofShadowlandsSeason 4. In a break from the standard end-of-expansion drought,Shadowlandsbrought forth a rather brilliant idea. Instead of letting the players grow tired of raiding Sepulcher of the First Ones for over eight months or more, it brought back the previous raids fromShadowlandsinto a weekly rotation cycle. Ion Hazzikostas strongly implied thatDragonflightwould pursue something similar with its own tier progression.
Moreover, Hazzikostas confirmed that an oft-requestedWorld of Warcraftfeature, the ability to save and load character creation options, was being looked into by the developers. Conversely, despite a dye system being the pipe dream for mostWorld of Warcraftplayers, Ion confirmed that implementing customization like that wouldn’t work well from a technical and artistic perspective.
WithWorld of Warcraft: Dragonflightlaunchingin just three days from now, the developers are looking forward to hearing feedback from players regarding the new auction house, user interface, backpack, and other updated systems. Though there are some aspects of the game Blizzard intends to keep addon-only, the team wants the default UI to be more than capable of standing on its own. Even if the game might not come to consoles, it will aspire to be modern on PC.
