wow-console-port-discovery

There are new reasons to suspect that a WoW console port might be on the cards.

Blizzard has announced the official Dragonflight release date, and rest assured it really is just around the corner. But that doesn't mean that internet sleuths can't still data mine the living heck out of the beta while there's still time. Which is, of course, exactly what they are doing. And in doing so, have reawakened an age-old conversation surrounding a possible WoW console port. Or more accurately, a conversation that was last had earlier this year.

But before we dive into the latest evidence for the seemingly inevitable WoW console port, we'll get into the stuff we know for sure. Provided everything goes swimmingly between now and then, we can expect to be soaring through the skies of the Dragon Isles on 28th November.

The release date announcement shows Blizzard's confidence that the Dragonflight beta has been going well, despite all the digital pickaxes that impatient data miners have been bringing to its code (look, I don't know how data mining works, OK?) Because an Icy-Veins forum post spotted by PC Gamer claims to have unearthed another nugget, this time in the form of some assets tied to controller binding.

If real (and there's no reason to suspect it isn't), then this means two things:

Firstly, more controller support will be coming to Dragonflight, allowing gamers to kick back with a PlayStation or Xbox controller with a hopefully more optimised experience than in Shadowlands.

And secondly, if Blizzard can prove that WoW controller compatibility really does work, then it opens up one very conspicuous door that gamers have been trying to break down for years: that there's no stopping Microsoft, which is in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard, from porting WoW to Xbox.

The idea of a WoW console port still has its sceptics, however. "I can't imagine WoW working on consoles, FF14 works so well because the combat is WAY slower and WAY less reactionary, it also has a metric ton less abilities per a class, there is 0 chance of making a viable hot bar in WoW on a controller." Read one response on Icy-Veins.

And it's fair to say that they have a point. Just not one big enough to stop us dreaming of some innovation that will lead to a glorious WoW console port in 2023. But I wouldn't hold my breath just yet.