"The future of Blizzard is brighter than ever." That was the message from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer as Blizzard Entertainment outlined the shape of things to come for Diablo 4, Overwatch 2, and World of Warcraft – with each title pushing for greater transparency with players and quicker cadences of new content. But hanging over all of these efforts is the $69 billion dollar acquisition Microsoft closed on October 13, 2023. What impact will Xbox Game Studios have on the evolution of these live-service experiences, and how will Xbox Game Pass exposure impact their audiences?
Speaking to key creative leaders across Blizzard, the vibe is one of excitement with just a hint of lingering trepidation. Spencer and other senior Xbox executives recently visited the Blizzard campus in Irvine, California, but it wasn't to talk business – rather the team wanted to meet with its new colleagues and play some Warcraft Rumble ahead of its launch on November 3. So, where does that leave Blizzard as it looks to 2024?
"We all want to talk to Microsoft to see what other opportunities we can get, but we haven't had the chance to talk to them about all that yet," says Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president for World of Warcraft. "But we're so excited by it. There's obviously a huge amount of potential to unlock things for us even further."
The World of Warcraft
"There's a lot of really awesome opportunities there"
Holly Longdale, executive producer
World of Warcraft has the most to gain from the acquisition. It may be one of the best MMOs of all-time, and is set to celebrate a monumental 20th anniversary in 2024, but there's still so much potential for it to evolve and grow. At least, that's the view from Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president at Blizzard who oversees World of Warcraft and World of Warcraft Classic. "With the acquisition, when you have the opportunity to have a conversation with a company like Microsoft, you can imagine that there's probably a lot of really awesome opportunities there."
Spencer says that "our commitment at Xbox is to bring more great games to more players in more places," and while he won't be drawn on questions surrounding World of Warcraft's release on Xbox or Game Pass, both would speak directly to his core philosophy of tearing down barriers to play. Longdale stresses that those conversations haven't begun yet. The focus right now is on the Worldsoul Saga, comprising three new expansions which are being developed in parallel. Longdale thinks of The War Within, Midnight, and The Last Titan as a "foundation for our future" – a unified experience which can "stretch where we take World of Warcraft."
Even with all that to consider, it hasn't stopped the World of Warcraft teams from starting to think about what comes next. "We talk about it all the time," Longdale laughs as I ask about the possibility of World of Warcraft coming to console. "It would be very insincere to say that we're not, like… of course we're talking about that. We are Microsoft now." She believes that the WoW team is "pretty well positioned" to overcome the technical hurdles associated with bringing the MMO to Xbox, although it could be a while before we hear anything concrete. "Right now, we're focused on the Worldsoul Saga. But if that comes up then we'll reexamine things but, man, we've got enough to deal with right now."
WoW Classic
"Hardcore shows that WoW Classic can be really interesting for new players"
Tim Jones, assistant lead designer
The potential for a Game Pass release does also raise interesting questions about World of Warcraft Classic. The experience, perhaps best thought of as the original version of the MMO encased in amber, is currently available to all Warcraft players who hold an active subscription. Entrance into Game Pass could mean that Classic is exposed to an entirely new wave of players – not just people who may want to indulge in a little nostalgia for the past, but folks who have never played a second of World of Warcraft before.
Game producer Linny Cooke believes that the game is better set to receive brand new players than you might expect, pointing to the success of WoW Classic Hardcore earlier this year. "It's actually been really interesting to see how popular Hardcore has been for both playing and streaming, and it's something that's actually gotten a lot of new players interested." This is reaffirmed by Tim Jones, with the assistant lead designer telling me that they have "data which shows there were actually a lot of people who had never played any version of Warcraft before come and try Hardcore out."
WoW Classic Hardcore was an interesting experiment for Blizzard. It presents a version of the original MMO where, if you die for any reason, you need to go create a new character to try again. It's a brutal setup, but one which has actually worked to create the feeling that many players experienced when they took their first trips into Azeroth back in 2004. "The focus of Hardcore is the leveling journey; there's no rush to the endgame because everyone is dying all the time. So the early zones are constantly populated with new players," says Jones. "The capital cities and low-level zones feel more alive, and so you really get that MMO community feel in Hardcore."
"Phil [Spencer] and Mike [Ybarra, Blizzard president] have been talking about this drive to make our games accessible to everyone, however they want to play. I think the future of WoW Classic is going to be super exciting, because Hardcore shows that it can be really interesting for new players," Jones adds. He does also make it clear that he's not been privy to any conversations surrounding Game Pass, and notes that he's "not really responsible for making those decisions" on questions surrounding Classic breaking out of the subscription to become a standalone product, but it is interesting all the same to see WoW Classic captivate an audience who weren't able to experience it the first time around.
Diablo 4
"Microsoft is very committed to Diablo 4, so we see a bright future there"
Brent Gibson, associate game director
Of all the titles in the Blizzard portfolio, it's likely that Diablo 4 will enjoy the easiest transition as Xbox steps up its involvement. Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson has worked for and collaborated with Microsoft for two decades. The game should make for a blockbuster entrant into Game Pass next year, which is when Spencer has teased that Activision Blizzard titles will join the subscription service. And speaking of Spencer, he used some of his precious stage time at BlizzCon to say: "I can't wait for you to see what the team has planned for that game, it's going to be awesome."
"You know, I love the fact that Phil Spencer is a Diablo 4 fan," says associate game director Brent Gibson. "Yeah," laughs game director Joe Shely, "it certainly doesn't hurt." The pair are looking to the future of Diablo 4 with anticipation, with the studio committed to the release of quarterly seasons and premium annual expansions. It's demanding work, and work the leadership team believes can be better supported by the involvement of Microsoft.
"We build elements of the game in parallel with each other – we're developing these expansions in parallel with seasons," says Shely. "It takes a dedicated team to do that, and it's incredible to have Microsoft's support to do that. "Microsoft is very committed to Diablo 4, so we see a bright future there." Gibson adds: "The opportunities for growing the Diablo franchise are huge, and we have a brilliant team that has a boundless amount of great ideas. What we are today isn't necessarily what we could be tomorrow, and that's a wonderful place to be."
The team is quick to note that something players shouldn't expect is for Xbox franchises to begin immediately invading Sanctuary. "We are always interested in collaborating, when it's something that feels right," says Gibson, pointing to recent Diablo 4 cosmetic skins inspired by World of Warcraft as a great example of cross-pollination. "The team is passionate about keeping the dark tone, making sure that things stay appropriate [...] So trying to keep things as true to the IP as possible is very important to us."
Overwatch 2
"Feedback is what makes us better, and it's what makes the game better"
Jared Neuss, executive producer
Less clear is how Microsoft may influence the future of Overwatch 2. The free-to-play competitive shooter is currently battling to regain its reputation after a challenging launch window, with its development team using BlizzCon to showcase wide changes to its competitive systems and promise that three new heroes are on the way. Jared Neuss, executive producer and vice president for Overwatch 2, says that "something we're really proud about is the fact that we're taking risks and trying new things, and when you try new things some of them will work and some of them won't. It's always challenging to hear feedback, but feedback is what makes us better and it's what makes the game better."
While Neuss tells me that it's too early to get into the particulars of how Microsoft may shape Overwatch 2, something he is keen to lean on is feedback from other internal studios from within the Xbox Game Studios group. "Being able to tap into even more people who have experience in this space, who have tried different things and have learned different lessons, is something I'm personally very excited about," he says. "Just knowing that we have that many more people that we can reach out to and just have frank discussions with about the development process is super exciting to me because there's a lot that we can all learn from each other."
The relationship between Blizzard and Microsoft is in its earliest days. There's a lot of important questions to be asked, problems to be solved, and decisions to be made – complexities to layer across an already packed release schedule. But the time being, Spencer maintains that his "commitment at Xbox is to bring more great games to more players in more places."
How that statement relates to the games Blizzard is creating remains to be seen, but Spencer is certainly saying all the right things: "Now that Blizzard is part of Xbox, we will nurture the essence of what made Blizzard unique. We're going to empower our new colleagues in a culture of trust, inclusion, and collaboration to continue what they do best: redefining existing genres, creating never before seen experiences, and uniting players in new ways."
