Since its release in 2004, the behemoth MMORPG that is World of Warcraft remains a purely PC title, to the chagrin of console players and even Blizzard.
However, several rumors concerning a console port have regularly been whispered over the long life of Blizzard's golden goose. With the historic takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, it may be that a console version, and more precisely Xbox, of World of Warcraft will become more than ever a reality.
A new world for World of Warcraft?
If Elder Scrolls Online was quickly declined in a console version, it is in particular thanks to the fact that the controls are relatively simple to adapt to a controller. But World of Warcraft veterans may be perplexed by such an ordeal for Blizzard's MMO. The myriad of skills and action bars sometimes even struggle to find enough hotkeys or mouse buttons.
Despite everything, the idea of a console port of World of Warcraft has always been a dream for console players who have never set foot on the lands of Azeroth. One of them even imagined a sketch of an interface adapted to the rather convincing controller, cited in source below. A dream that never came true for many reasons, the first being that World of Warcraft has been in slow decline since its last expansions.
But the takeover of the American giant by Microsoft could change everything. Xbox could give Blizzard the keys to a successful console port, and thus breathe new life into this age-weary giant. We are also not immune to the integration of World of Warcraft into Game Pass, or even a transition to the free-to-play economic model.
However, we will have to wait for the cataclysmic consequences of such a takeover to settle down before we have a clearer picture of the future of World of Warcraft, and of Activision Blizzard as a whole.
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