According to GamesIndustry.biz, Blizzard’s vice president of business operations Paul Sims recently stated that “World of Warcraft was really built with a focus on PC, and while I think it certainly could get to Xbox, it’s not something that at this moment we’ve decided to do.”
Sims also stated that Blizzard has been in contact with Microsoft over the possibility.
World of Warcraft has been by far the most lucrative brand in the games industry over the past 10 years. With over 10 million players around the world each paying a monthly subscription fee, the game rakes in more than anything else currently being played.
This colossal success is at odds with broader trends in the gaming market, in which console game sales now far exceed PC game sales. From a business perspective, it would therefore make sense for the publisher to bring the most profitable game in the world to the most profitable systems.
However, whether the Xbox 360 control setup would be conducive to successfully replicating the WoW PC experience to console, is another question. Sams himself identified this as the most obvious obstacle, stating that most/keyboard peripherals have traditionally not worked well on console. “Those are things that are not standard, they’re peripherals, and peripherals have historically not done well for any of the console companies unless you’re talking about additional controllers or memory cards,” said Sams.
Console based MMOs are nothing new, and Square Enix was the first to dip a finger into this particular pond with Final Fantasy XI on PS2. If Blizzard has already spoken to Microsoft about the possibility, then there seems a fairly good chance that they will be looking to move WoW to console at some point. Do you think WoW would work on Xbox 360? Share your thoughts in the forums.
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