VGC: Blizzard says it 'still talks' about a console version of World of Warcraft
Eurogamer: Could World of Warcraft on console finally be happening?
The Eurogamer article definitely feels juicier. They're cooking something over there...
Speaking to VGC in a recent interview, Holly Longdale, the vice president and executive producer of World of Warcraft, discussed life after becoming part of Microsoft.
Asked about a console version of the game, the producer replied: "Of course we still talk about it. We're gamers, I don't think anything is out of the realm of possibility, but we don't have anything to talk about right now."
Longdale also addressed the prospect of a console version of the game at Blizzcon 2023, calling it "a complicated question."
"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."
"If anything, it's just been helpful," Longdale said of the acquisition. "We got time with Helen Chang from Mojang, and we were sharing information, so it's almost as if we have access to what worked for them, we got to speak to the Elder Scrolls Online team and share what we're up to and what's been working, it's almost like we get a benefit.
"There's no one asking us to do anything," Longdale continued. "World of Warcraft is doing very well and they're very proud of what it's been able to accomplish, so it's almost like just let it be, and let it keep being awesome. They've been tremendously supportive and it's like 'let Blizzard be Blizzard'."
Eurogamer: Could World of Warcraft on console finally be happening?
In the autumn of last year, Holly Longdale, the executive producer and vice president of World of Warcraft, made headlines by saying the team talks about putting WoW on console "all the time". It's a question the company has been asked repeatedly over the game's near 20-year lifetime, and it's an answer we've heard before, but it gained new momentum in light of Microsoft's recently completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. When better to bring the game to Xbox than now?
I had a chance to put the question to Holly Longdale again at a World of Warcraft: The War Within expansion event in London this week. Should people finally get their hopes up?
"I mean..." Longdale began, cagily.
After a pause, Longdale answers. "I will say nothing's impossible," she told me, smiling. "I can't say anything more than that." Then, she laughed. She started to say something after this but then stopped herself before I could make out what she was saying. "No, that's all I'll say," she said, and then laughed again.
The Eurogamer article definitely feels juicier. They're cooking something over there...