There's been a lot of conversation previously about whether or not Blizzard's legendary MMO World of Warcraft could one day come to consoles, so is there a chance now that the Microsoft acquisition is complete? During an interview at BlizzCon 2023, World of Warcraft vice president and executive producer Holly Longdale mentioned how the team is apparently open to the idea and talks about it "all the time".
When asked more specifically about a possible release on the Xbox in the future, Longdale mentioned how the team was also "talking about that", while reminding everyone that Blizzard is technically "Microsoft now".
As for the immediate future of World of Warcraft and "big questions" like an Xbox or Game Pass release on PC, she notes how Blizzard hasn't actually had a conversation with Xbox about this just yet, as it's been literally weeks since the acquisition.
While it's all sounding quite promising right now, Blizzard hasn't always been so open to the idea of WoW coming to console, with an official comment last year mentioning how it's a game designed "ground up for the PC". In saying this, it has already added some additional controller support. Longdale also apparently stressed how Warcraft's teams have only had limited interactions with Xbox's game studios since the deal was finalised.
Still, Blizzard has entered a new era now, so anything could happen under Microsoft and Xbox! At BlizzCon 2023 this year, Blizzard announced the Worldsoul Saga - with the first expansion "The War Within" releasing in 2024. In addition to this, it's bringing Cataclysm to World of Warcraft Classic next year.