It’d be a severe understatement to bill Activision Blizzard’s recent release ofDiablo Immortala success. This bombastic launch has already earned millions upon millions of dollars for the publisher, and it was only a matter of time before a similar approach might be attempted with some of its other beloved intellectual properties, such asWarcraft.
In fact, it just so happens that Blizzard recently posted an all-new job listing, where the company is hiring for an unannounced live-serviceWarcraftmobile game. Citing significant room for growth for the IP, Blizzard is now hoping to getWarcraftback into the limelight, too, and it’s not a big leap to suggest thatDiablo Immortalmight be the obvious inspiration for this new, unannounced project.
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Even thoughthe NetEaseWarcraftmobile game is now canceled, Blizzard is still hoping to stake the franchise’s claim in the mobile gaming arena by the looks of it. The aforementioned job listing cites the need for a new Product Management Director to lead the production of a new, unannouncedWarcraftlive-service mobile game. The hire would be tasked with aligning players' needs with the company’s business goals, as well as maintaining the health of the in-game economy alongside a variety of other related tasks. The “next great game” in theWarcraftfranchise may, therefore, be similar in some respects toDiablo Immortal.
TheDiablo Immortalmicrotransaction controversyis a known quantity by now. Quite simply, the game asks players for hundreds of thousands of dollars if they want to stay competitive on the ladder. Activision Blizzard has been widely criticized for such an aggressive monetization scheme as soon as the initial reports were made available, yet this doesn’t seem to have affected the company’s bottom line in a meaningful capacity.
Namely,Diablo Immortalmade over $100 millionon mobile devices alone, suggesting a huge profit margin for the publisher. It’s virtually impossible, then, that theWarcraftgame described in this job listing would be immune to something of a similar sort. One could argue that it’s far more likely that Blizzard is hoping to leverage theWarcraftIP similarly as they did withDiablo, and it’s not a huge stretch at all to imagine a similar monetization system in place there, as well.
Of course, Blizzard is still working to support its coreWarcrafttitles, too.Wrath of the Lich King Classicis comingout in late September, which ought to keep fans of the old MMORPG thrilled for a while longer. The actual next step forward for theWarcraftsaga, however, might not be a bombastic AAA role-playing experience that fans may have come to expect by now.
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