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[IbizaPocholo]

World of Warcraft Game Director Dismisses Rumors of Eventual Console Port - IGN

Over the years, there's been a series of rumors that, one day, World of Warcraft would get a console port. But at least for now, WoW game director Ion Hazzikostas is dismissing these hopes.

www.ign.com

In an interview about the game's newly announced expansion, Dragonflight, I asked Hazzikostas if a console port was on the horizon specifically because of the planned UI overhaul announced as a part of the expansion.

With the MMO getting improved controller support recently and now a fully customizable HUD that players can move around however they like, the time seems ripe to make the jump to consoles.

But Hazzikostas doesn't seem keen.

"Nah, I think World of Warcraft is a game designed from the ground up for the PC," he says. "I think we've just been looking at the ways in which add-ons have at times felt increasingly required, or like the first thing you do when someone comes to the game for the first time is tell them, 'Hey, go download this add-on pack and move this stuff around' and we want to do better for our players."

 

[CamHostage]

Bold of them to stick to PC. Seems like it'd work okay on consoles with these refinements, but they're not chasing another kind of community.

It could be great if they ported it around (and it's long past due for it to happen if it ever would,) but then again, they know what they have know and they know it works; adding in console (or mobile, for that matter) could upset what they have, and what they have is, and has been for two decades now, WoW.

 

[TheDreadLord]

I think it would be an awesome addition to the Xbox ecosystem.

 

[STARSBarry]

I honestly question why they can't do this...

Are they afraid they can't make a control scheme that allows console players to effectively raid?

 

[Frank Horrigan]

I'm suprised they haven't already.

4 face buttons x 4 shoulder buttons + 2 stick clicks is 32 hotbar locations.

 

[PlayedStation]

I thought a port was definitely going to happen. Fools. Oh well.

 

[reinking]

Was this ever a real rumor? I thought it was just fans trying to will it to happen.

 

[March Climber]

Ah, they're taking the Guild Wars 1 and 2 route, another set of games that could have been easily ported to consoles with an easy growth in player numbers, but the developers have too much pride in PC only. It's fine, that just means ESO, FFXIV, and PoE will keep those player numbers instead and keep growing.

 

[LazyParrot]

I doubt It’d be all that fun to play WoW like that anyway. It works in FF14 because that game has a 2+ second global cooldown (probably largely because they didn’t want controller users to break their fingers), but they’d never be able to implement something like that in WoW. PC players would riot.

 

[Rykan]

I think people in this thread are seriously underestimating how difficult it is to port a PC MMORPG to console. Every MMORPG that has been released on consoles has been designed from the ground up with consoles in mind.

You can transfer some aspects of WoW to console rather easily, sure. Basic combat and simple go kill xx quests are not an issue. But WoW has plenty of quests or tasks that require interaction with objects in different ways or even take control of a vehicle. All of those quests would have to be reprogrammed to work on consoles. Then the entire UI would have to be completely overhauled and reprogrammed to work with controllers.

It's a daunting task and it's probably not worth it. How many people are seriously going to start playing WoW, a game that runs on any potato, if its released on consoles?

 

[Ceadeus]

This game alone would be worth porting to X and fully feature mouse and keyboard.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I'm suprised they haven't already.

4 face buttons x 4 shoulder buttons + 2 stick clicks is 32 hotbar locations.

Most likely because playing without add-ons is ass.

 

[lughnasadh123]

It very well might not come to console, but honestly I don't take anything as a solid "no" anymore. I'm sure they were pretty dead set against having something like a classic server or playable Pandas, yet here we are.

 

[treemk]

Tell me you dont play wow without telling me you dont play wow

You actually think a +15 key is doable on controller? A heroic raid? Both are just mid/low difficulty for wow. The only thing that would work well in controller is open world questing and low level dungeons. They would have to completely retune the entire game, which might not be out of the question eventually but it would be completely detrimental for pc players.

 

[Mr1999]

It would need its own console only servers, then they would have to cripple the game to great lengths to accommodate it. Cross servers would never work, 'PC side would never allow you into their raids without mods installed. It's easier to just play the game on PC.

 

[Memorabilia]

So, it’s coming to Xbox confirmed.

 

[LordCBH]

If FF14 can work pretty damn well on console, WoW can. It’s going to happen eventually.

 

[RoadHazard]

A game where you need add-ons to make it good seems like a bad game.

 

[March Climber]

It very well might not come to console, but honestly I don't take anything as a solid "no" anymore. I'm sure they were pretty dead set against having something like a classic server or playable Pandas, yet here we are.

This would require the PC fanbase to complain enough on the behalf of console players. It's difficult for me to see that happening.

I think the alternative here is that these changes are a test run for their next MMO to be console compatible, like all of their recent games.

 

[Moses85]

Wow, anyone still playing this old ham?
We're lucky that this old tale remains exclusive to the PC. Ridiculous, as if that would still lure someone out from behind the stove.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Ybarra always said it would NEVER come to console and I always replied...

 

[Mr1999]

Wow, anyone still playing this old ham?
We're lucky that this old tale remains exclusive to the PC. Ridiculous, as if that would still lure someone out from behind the stove.

It's the only game I still play. I don't know about anyone else, but WoW is very special to me. I started playing WoW with fileplanets beta, Ive got an original vanilla collectors account and have been playing it since then.

Although I'm not as deep with the end game content as I was before, but that's because Ive got a 2 year old now, but I still play every other day for a few hours and on the weekends.

WoW quenches my fantasy thirst and it's why I really can't enjoy any other fantasy rpg, I just end up going back to WoW again. I love WoW, id be lying if I said I didn't. Plus throughout the years Ive really built my character as far as achievements, titles, pets, and mounts go.

 

[Wohc]

Not possible anyways. Some classes like the warlock got 30+ skills + Addons + macros.

 

[nominedomine]

Pretty silly excuse. Consoles support M&K and addons alone aren't a good enough justification to not port the game.

A console port of Classic WoW would get me interested, since it's pretty much the only version of WoW that I care about.

 

[Fuz]

I think people in this thread are seriously underestimating how difficult it is to port a PC MMORPG to console. Every MMORPG that has been released on consoles has been designed from the ground up with consoles in mind.

You can transfer some aspects of WoW to console rather easily, sure. Basic combat and simple go kill xx quests are not an issue. But WoW has plenty of quests or tasks that require interaction with objects in different ways or even take control of a vehicle. All of those quests would have to be reprogrammed to work on consoles. Then the entire UI would have to be completely overhauled and reprogrammed to work with controllers.

It's a daunting task and it's probably not worth it. How many people are seriously going to start playing WoW, a game that runs on any potato, if its released on consoles?

This.

Never believe PR speak, especially when they try to paint themselves as friends of the players.

 

[Captain Toad]

WoW is ancient. What consoles would they release it for? The PS2and original Xbox?

 

[Orbital2060]

If they do go console it should really be on both Xbox and PlayStation, and crossplay with PC. Which could be a problem in terms of how well people on controllers work for high level guild raiders. Many guilds require their players to use certain raid mods. It would probably be possible to have mods on console too but they would have to be curated somehow, and the mod scene is already pretty fragmented and poorly curated (at least it used to be with dodgy third party sites). Not sure it would work. Maybe have console players marked in the game as such, but it could still be a messy situation and be annoying for longtime players on PC.

But only on Xbox would be a poor decision I think, if they do.

 

[Holammer]

Just require M+KB for the console versions. COD allows it nowadays right? Use the best tool for the job.
If you don't want to give console users straight up mod support, have presets with the most popular UI configurations and a few curated mods.

 

[Frank Horrigan]

Wouldn't the bigger issue be paying a sub on top of a multiplayer sub (gold/PSN)? How does ESO and FF14 compare in that regard?

 

[Quezacolt]

Wouldn't the bigger issue be paying a sub on top of a multiplayer sub (gold/PSN)? How does ESO and FF14 compare in that regard?

FF14 has a sub on ps4, but you dont need PSN to play it because of that

 

[Hari Seldon]

It would absolutely have to be a separate game not tied to PC servers. There is no way in fuck you could possibly do any end game content without the necessary add-ons. I mean you could do it, if you were with all PC players carrying your ass.

 

[Grumpy Toe Nail]

No reason it can't be made for console. Controller players dont have to be 100% on par with kb/m. You don't even really use the mouse normally if you're decent, also most classes are pretty faceroll. Just make the game so its good enough to not require addons like it was originally intended to be.

 

[Magic Carpet]

It's been forever and a day since I played WoW, but I rememver having a gazillion icons on screen to play the game. They would have to enable mouse and keyboard on console if it ever comes to console.

 

[The_Mike]

I honestly question why they can't do this...

Are they afraid they can't make a control scheme that allows console players to effectively raid?

I believe they fear dumbing the game even more down than they've done the last couple of years to reach a wider audience.

 

[ManaByte]

Some classes like the warlock got 30+ skills + Addons + macros.

Not in modern WoW.

FFXIV is fully playable on the PS5 and it's more complex than WoW.

 

[nikolino840]

It would need its own console only servers, then they would have to cripple the game to great lengths to accommodate it. Cross servers would never work, 'PC side would never allow you into their raids without mods installed. It's easier to just play the game on PC.

Work good for ff14

 

[ReBurn]

WoW would suck on consoles without good kb/m support anyway

 

[Kenpachii]

If FF14 can work pretty damn well on console, WoW can. It’s going to happen eventually.

FF14 was designed for consoles, ported to PC.

FF14 is incredible clunky as result in everything it does.

 

[TheGreatMusashi]

This is bewildering, I never expected a console port but at this point why not?

 

[lughnasadh123]

This would require the PC fanbase to complain enough on the behalf of console players. It's difficult for me to see that happening.

I think the alternative here is that these changes are a test run for their next MMO to be console compatible, like all of their recent games.

It's less about PC players and more about FF 14's continued growing success on consoles maybe being a consideration for changing their stance on it if feasible. I just can't believe there hasn't at least been a cost vs gains discussion on the merits of it. Who knows, maybe the money they're pulling in is enough to just not give a shit about putting it on anything else.

 

[Wohc]

Not in modern WoW.

FFXIV is fully playable on the PS5 and it's more complex than WoW.

Maybe, but if you port current wow you would also have to port the classics since it has lots of fans.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

There Are Still No Plans to Bring World of Warcraft to Consoles

World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas reveals Blizzard's stance on a console version for the game, as well as other fan requested features.

gamerant.com

In a recent interview on the end of Shadowlands and the start of Dragonflight, conducted by Twitch streamer Annie Fuchsia, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas dispelled the rumors about World of Warcraft getting a console version by stating that the game would remain PC-only, with no plans to port it over to Xbox or PlayStation in the near future. That being said, accessibility is still on Blizzard's agenda, and Hazzikostas was forthright enough to mention that official controller support was something worth exploring, which would line up with the PlayStation and Xbox icons datamined during Dragonflight's beta.