warcraft-mobile-isnt-dead-yet

Where one unannounced Warcraft mobile game falls, another unannounced Warcraft mobile game rises.

Well, that didn't take long. Despite us reporting last week that Blizzard and NetEase's unannounced Warcraft mobile game met its untimely demise following a breakdown in the studios' relationship, Blizzard quickly brushed themselves off and is apparently powering through with the project - or something similar - regardless. That is if a recently revealed job listing is anything to go by.

Of course, this isn't at all surprising. For better or worse, Diablo Immortal has made the developer a hell of a lot of money despite the rampant backlash. And if and when this World of Warcraft mobile game releases, you can bet your bottom gold piece it will follow a similar monetization model. After all, Diablo Immortal fans have proved once and for all that we guys do, in fact, have phones. And more importantly, credit cards.

The job listing in question is for a Product Management Director of an "Unannounced Warcraft mobile game". This rules out the already announced Arclight Rumble and the long-awaited Pokémon Go-style Warcraft game, which was scrapped earlier this year. So we can safely assume that this project either aims to pick up where Blizzard and NetEase left off, or bring yet another unique(ish) Warcraft IP to mobile.

The unannounced Warcraft mobile game will be set in the Warcraft universe, and will require the successful applicant to "build, maintain, and optimize balanced monetization models that improve long-term franchise revenue, including content, monetization, testing, and optimization."

From what we've seen from Diablo Immortal's success, another safe assumption is that what Blizzard means by this stipulation is that this new mobile game should probably follow the same path. After all, there's no listed requirement to "monetize in a way that won't make Blizzard the pariahs of the gaming industry." And in some ways, the damage has already been done.

Either way, we can be sure there is still a long time to wait before we hear anything. This means there's still plenty of time for fans to guide Blizzard down a path that won't cheese off every core-series loyalist. We can hope.