Blizzard Cancels World of Warcraft Mobile
It’s always a shame when anticipated games suddenly vanish from the radar, never to be heard from again. With that in mind, recent information shows that after spending nearly three years in development, Blizzard has unfortunately decided to shelf its World of Warcraft mobile spin-off. Originally developed in collaboration with NetEase, the project will no longer be launching for mobile devices in the foreseeable future.
The game was initially planned as a free-to-play title, as opposed to the subscription-based system employed by the mainline WoW games. Reports state that there were disagreements between the two companies, leading to the eventual demise of the mobile spin-off. This seems like a massively wasted opportunity, given the rising popularity of online multiplayer games on smart devices, with several AAA titles such as Warframe and Torchlight set to launch spin-offs on smartphones and tablets.
With this recent development, it’s most likely that Blizzard will focus all its mobile-related efforts into Diablo Immortal, which has proved to be both commercially successful and controversial at the same time. The game has received its fair share of criticism for its in-game microtransactions, but nevertheless became profitable several weeks after its release, earning up to $100 million in revenue.
Source: Droid Gamers