Digital Trends Interview - A Grand Vision for the Future of Warcraft

Moderna Publicado 10/11/2023 a las 08:18 por Archimtiros

The Worldsoul Saga

The series’ strong showing at BlizzCon was about demonstrating to players that Blizzard is doubling down on Warcraft.

Both developers made it clear that there are no signs of Warcraft slowing down across the MMO, mobile, and even real-time strategy (RTS) spaces. In fact, they'd like to get World of Warcraft expansions out faster.

Digital Trends

“We wanted to tell our players that we’re doubling down on story. A lot of our players have told us over the last two expansions that story is so important,” Hight told Digital Trends in an interview at BlizzCon 2023. “It is different for us at Blizzard because, normally, we’re a little bit secretive, but we felt like our fans were telling us they want to know more about what’s in store for them. It’s tricky to weave that in such a way that we didn’t spoil it.”

The Worldsoul Saga story had to be told across three expansions, not just the one coming next year.

However, the culmination of The Worldsoul Saga in the Last Titan expansion is not the end of World of Warcraft, just the end of that big chapter. Blizzard will continue to do expansions beyond that.

Digital Trends

“Executive creative director Chris] Metzen and the story team had this incredible idea, and it all evolved around the 20th anniversary coming up. What story can we tell that is worthy of 20 years of operation?” Hight explained. “There’s no way that story was going to fit into a single expansion. The notion of doing it as a trilogy came forward because it provided for the creation of a conflict, a resolution, a turnaround, and then a bigger payoff at the end.”

No specific release timeline for Midnight or The Last Titan, but many production improvements have been made in recent years to allow Blizzard to deliver quality content at a predictable rate, and GM John Hight hopes that rate gets even quicker over time.

In a group Q&A, associate design director Maria Hamilton also reaffirmed that content for these The Worldsoul Saga expansions are being worked on in parallel.

Digital Trends

“The ultimate goal for us is to be able to deliver content in a predictable fashion so players know when to expect the next expansion,” Hight said. “We would like to do it more frequently, we don’t really want people to have to wait two years for the next expansion. We’re not ready yet to commit to what that cadence is going to be because we’ve got to find that sweet spot between our ability, how much time we think we’re going to need, and when our players start to indicate to us when they’re ready.”

The War Within also falls during Warcraft's 20th anniversary, and while they do something to celebrate the franchise birthday every year, players can probably expect it to be even more over the top in 2024.

Ready to Rumble

The game launched after spawning from an incubation team within the larger pool of World of Warcraft developers.

They want Warcraft to always “be where the players are” and mobile could be an appealing entry point for many of them, but they still want the game to be its own thing and feel tailored to mobile.

Early user reviews for Warcraft Rumble across iOS and Android appear positive; Blizzard is eager to build on that success and let the game live on as long as Hearthstone and even World of Warcraft have.

Digital Trends

“Blizzard is known for creating forever games,” Saraf tells Digital Trends. “That’s what we aspire to be as well. You look at World of Warcraft, almost 20 years; Hearthstone, almost 10 years. Seeing these elder siblings essentially have games that have lasted as long as they have, it’s really inspiration for us to aim for that as well. We’re fortunate enough to have a very active, engaged, and committed community that allows that to be a lot easier for us, but our job is just getting started. We want to make sure that we are servicing fans with what they want and able to continue to inject new life into the game so it continues to stay relevant and fun for them to play for years on end.”

The interplay between these Warcraft games is still being explored. At the very least, Warcraft Rumble is somewhat of a throwback for the franchise as a real-time strategy game, which Hight has a long history with.

Digital Trends

“I love strategy games. When I was a game director many moons ago, I was game director for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2,” Hight explained. “I play every genre of game. I love Warcraft. The storylines and characters are so unique, it’s so fun, it has got humor, it also has got danger, and it’s fantasy! I think we have the potential to do all kinds of games, as we’ve seen with the RTS, then the MMO, then with Hearthstone, and now Warcraft Rumble.”
Foundations for the Future

Blizzard doesn’t plan on slowing down with Warcraft anytime soon. Hight believes he’s just laying a foundation for future developers, following in the footsteps of companies like Disney.

Digital Trends

“What I tell my teams is we’re the caretakers of the universe. If we’ve done our jobs right, we’re handing off to the next generation of developers, and they will carry it forward. I look at Disney as a model for us. We should be crafting that universe; we should be putting enough care behind it. Same thing with Marvel. It started off as comic books in the 1930s and look where it is today. As long as we’re being thoughtful and careful and laying that groundwork, future talent will be able to step in and take it even further. There’ll be new devices, new forms of entertainment, new ways for people to get together and enjoy this universe.”

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