I was just wondering if anyone knew why Blizzard are against porting the game to consoles now they support keyboard and mouse input. I’ve got multiple people I work with who all bought Xbox Series S consoles and have said they would try World Of Warcraft but don’t have or want a gaming PC. For £249 it would instantly become the cheapest way for someone to experience this game - nevermind all the people who already have them and could be tempted for £8.99 to try it out.
I’m assuming there is some technical limitation despite what Sony and Microsoft say about making the games more PC like in architecture, but I was just interested in why it never happened.
Simple reasons: Addons. Neither Microsoft, nor Sony allow game addons the way WoW does, and both of them have different restrictions. That, in turn, means that console players would have no access to addons, putting them at a huge disadvantage compared to PC players. And that, in turn, would result in PC, XBox and Playstation players not being able to play together.
Suddenly it doesn’t sound so easy and shiny, does it.
…you don’t need a gaming PC for WoW, though. If you have a computer capable of running Windows 10, an SSD to slap WoW onto, and a GPU that was made in the past decade, you’re pretty much good to go. Maybe not on max settings, but at acceptable quality.
Indeed, but at what cost? Blizzard would need to maintain extra servers for them, they’d need to maintain two extra builds for the client, and if anyone ever decides they want to play on another client, they’d have to transfer their characters first.
The playerbase would be significantly smaller than on PC too, and everyone would start from zero. That… doesn’t work with retail. I mean, Blizzard has been merging small population servers. Why would they introduce two new platforms, each with their own even less populated servers?
While technically possible, indeed, the lack of addons, the restricted playerbase, the development and maintenance costs are simply not worth the effort.
I mean, there’s a whole lot of people (myself included) who have been playing WoW for well over a decade on Linux. I’m pretty sure we’re more numerous than console players would be. There’s no additional platform restrictions withe regards to addons like on the Playstation and the Xbox. Blizzard has (or at least had) plenty of people active in Linux communities (Slouken, former lead software engineer at Blizzard, who was co-founder and programmer for Loki Games, who ported plenty of games to Linux). Yet, there’s no Linux client, while there’s certainly a market for it, and it would be easier to develop and maintain than any console port.
I can’t see addons being the main reason. Obviously Blizzard are the only ones with the real stats but I’d be surprised if the majority used many addons. And anyone who needed loads of addons to compete at high level raiding or Mythic would more than likely play it on PC. My mum for example has a 60 hunter and uses no addons. Just happily goes about doing dailies and quests for anima.
Add ons are irrlevant as they are exactly that.
Add ons.
Blizzard don’t program add ons. 3rd party users do.
The players on console would have to make do with the standard blizzard ui.
Yes you can. Players just don’t want to because they need their hands held.
But it’s all irrelevant. Blizzard have always maintained that WoW is only going to be on PC.
Just remember the howls of outrage and wailing from the PC Master race when they learned that Diablo 3 was going to be released on consoles.
The howls would shatter the earth if Blizzard even hinted it would be released on console, even a starter account.
But they are. Like it or not, addons are a major part of WoW. Not having access to them on half the platforms WoW would support would be quite a big hit. Not being able to play with the existing playerbase (due to splitting consoles off because of lack of addons) would be another.
The majority uses at least a few addons. That’s enough to put consoles at a noticable disadvantage.
To provide another reason why a console port is unlikely: it’s only worth it if it brings in new players. If it only keeps the numbers we have today, why even bother? Those who play on PC, will still play on PC, because due to the playerbase split, they can’t switch between console and PC, and they aren’t going to abandon their existing toons.
So ask yourself this: would you play WoW, on a small, fresh server, with people new to the game, without addons, without being able to play with the PC playerbase? I certainly would not. Half the appeal of an MMO is in the first two letters: Massively Multiplayer. Console would be anything but that.
Wouldn’t surprise me if the real reason would not be the console compatibility, as they have talented engineers… The problem is the GUI. They just don’t have the ability to ever fix their own interface because nobody knows how their terrible lua setup works
I believe that the only reason why WOW has not seen a console release is purely down to money; there just isn’t enough in it for Activision-Blizzard. They would have to pay for the creation and optimisation of the ports. And then they would likely also have to tithe a percentage of all expansion charges, subscription fees, and in-game microtransactions to the console manufacturers. And there is no guarantee that the console versions will bring enough new players to justify the expense. They’d likely mostly get people who already play on PC using the console version if they do not have separate subscriptions.
I actually think we’ll see a streaming version of WOW before we see console ports.
I think that is an easy problem to solve though. Fallout 4 did get mods on console but it was through a Bethesda-curated storefront. Activision-Blizzard could do something similar if they were prepared to pay some money for curation and providing support.
You think wrong. Neither Sony nor Microsoft allows the kind of addons WoW does. Bethesda was able to “solve” the issue by severely restricting what mods can do. Having a storefront was required too, but not enough in and of itself.
For reference, Sony does not allow addons to run custom code. That rules out all WoW addons, because they’re all custom code. Blizzard would need to introduce a system like Bethesda’s CreatorKit that allows you to lego some addons together, kinda like WeakAuras but without the ability to run custom code. They aren’t going to maintain two separate addon systems. Microsoft has different restrictions, so to support PC/Mac, PS, and Xbox, that’d be 3 different addon systems. It’s easier to just not have addons on PS and Xbox then, but that would render the console port nigh useless.
I can’t imagine addons being the reason. It’s not like the game is unplayable without them. Let alone to players who have never even played the game before and therefore couldn’t have been spoiled by them.
I’ve read a couple of reasons people have given as to why WoW on console hasn’t happened over the years.
At first it was because the consoles couldn’t handle it. Then there was too many abilities to put on a controller. Then it was the lack of m&k support. And now it’s addons.
In my personal opinion I think it’s a travesty that Blizzard hasn’t at the least attempted to bring WoW to consoles and reach new audiences. I think it would benefit the game, the players, create new experiences, friendships, etc.
But sure, keep making goofy excuses while FF XIV monopolizes the console scene as far as MMORPG’s go.
