Pardo says Blizzard still not interested in bringing WoW to consoles
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 24th 2009 at 9:00PM
Blizzard has never been keen to put WoW on consoles -- while there have always been rumors, they've never bothered showing much interest. And in a new interview with IndustryGamers, Blizzard's Rob Pardo tells us why: the controller issue remains a problem (it's certainly possible to map WoW onto a controller, but not yet in any way Blizzard would approve of), and modern consoles have come up with even more problems of their own. A hard drive, says Pardo, would be pretty much required, since WoW is up to around 10gb so far, but even the Xbox 360 (which now commonly allows game installs on the HD) still doesn't guarantee players will have that much space available. And Pardo says that while they have been in talks with Microsoft about what the two companies can do together, he says he's wary of the patching process over there -- it's not exactly as quick as they'd like.So it remains unlikely that we'll ever see WoW in its current form on any console systems -- while there's probably lots of money to be made, the game was designed from the ground up to be a PC game, and there are still too many issues flying around (and it's likely too late in the game's lifetime) for Blizzard to try and make the jump. But that next-gen MMO...
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
jfofla Jun 24th 2009 9:07PM
NOOOOO! Blizzard, stay away from Microsoft!!!
B Jun 24th 2009 9:50PM
You do realize WoW is already on a Microsoft platform?
Fausts Jun 24th 2009 9:53PM
Many Mac WoW players may disagree with B.
Faar Jun 24th 2009 10:45PM
B,
If you by "microsoft platform" mean windows, well...duh. Not really the same thing though, because microsoft makes no direct monetary gain from WoW being a windows game (unlike when someone makes an xbox 360 title when MS collects royalties on every copy sold) - and arguably no indirect monetary gain either, since I don't think anyone would have bought windows just to play WoW instead of installing linux or such on their PCs.
So keeping that in mind, what's your point, really?
offday Jun 25th 2009 1:12AM
I love my Xbox 360 and I love my WoW. But I don't think they should go together. And yeah, MS does suck at patching stuff. It takes them 10 years to approve anything.
Wes Jun 25th 2009 1:21AM
@Faust
Learn to read with better comprehension please. Aka, stop listening to babble that Steve Jobb tells you. The following sentance you replied to, you didn't understand:
"You do realize WoW is already on a Microsoft platform?"
There is no implication that Microsoft is the ONLY platform in this sentance. The implication is just that it is already on 'a' Microsoft 'platform'. It does not say 'Wow is only available on Microsoft Platforms and not available on Macs. So where you need to reply about Macs came in from is an oddity in itself. Do you just like randomly mentioning I use a mac in other conversations?
"Would you like fries with that sir?"
Yes, please. Biggie size my fries and I use a mac. Wow is on mac.
"Congratulations Johnson, you've been choosen for the six month stint aboard the international space station."
Great! I've always wanted to be an astronaunt and wow is on macs. I use macs. Mac are great. Only really cool people use macs.
t0ddd Jun 25th 2009 3:36AM
Geez @Wes. No need to snap at Fausts. His comment didn't warrant your little fanboy-ish rant.
@Fausts, what mac do you use?
TheKarmaPolice Jun 25th 2009 7:32AM
@Wes:
"My computer is different from yours, I believe it is important I tell you this with insufferable smugness"
Computer fanboys are even more pathetic than console fanboys
Fausts Jun 25th 2009 7:48AM
@Wes.
Obviously we have some confusion. A lot of knuckle heads seem to get confused as to what exactly is a Microsoft product in relation to what exactly is Windows. Also it's unfortunate that on this format you can't go back and re-edit or add to what you just posted. I already knew I'd get confused hostile feedback minutes after I posted. Here's the dummy ranks so far:
1. B for thinking a game playable on Windows was the same as a Microsoft commissioned game for use on X-Box. (Faar explains this the best).
2. Myself for not making clear the great and wondrous differences between WoW being exclusive to a Microsoft platform such as X-Box and simply playable on a Windows OS pc. Maybe I should have said something like "..but it's not a partnership deal, any WoW Mac user could tell you that" instead.
3. The silliest of all is Wes with his hostile rant. Yes, Wes. I do happen to often enjoy a big Mac while playing WoW on my Vista-64 PC. So I guess I WoW with PC and Mac at the
same time.
Thanks for your support T0ddd. Too bad you got voted down. Actually I do play on PC, but a couple of local buddies of mine both play WoW on a G5 with OS-X. I've given them a lot of help installing addons and setting up Wi-Fi. As for the rest of you, I really don;t want any more arguments about what is what. Especially not about the complexities of Blizzard, Activision, Microsoft, X-Box, Apple, Pippin, and all that non-sense.
Moussi Jun 24th 2009 9:08PM
He brings up a good point about the patching process which I never thought about, and why MMOs will probably never ever be on 360. All updates have to go to Microsoft for certification and that could take 4-6 weeks. Imagine waiting 4-6 weeks for a patch just to certify it.
B Jun 24th 2009 9:52PM
Depends how much weight the developer has to throw around. Microsoft has made exceptions for Epic, Valve, and Bungie before. Blizzard would be no different.
Urza Jun 24th 2009 11:22PM
There's no reason in a major update, or even an update on the WoW disc itself, that part of the 360's harddrive is partitioned off. WoW installs onto that partition. From there, WoW updates itself (without Microsoft cert. process.) If Blizzard screws up, since WoW is on it's own partition of the harddrive, it has no effect on the 360 OS or other content and through the dashboard, you can delete WoW and start over if WoW gets crippled by an update.
Microsoft allows Bungie, Epic, and Infinity Ward to do minor updates to their games without certified patches. They let whoever runs Final Fantasy 11 to run it's own software console to run/launch FF11.
Myria Jun 25th 2009 12:13AM
There's already an MMO on the XBox 360, FFXI has been for quite some time now.
Snapjak Jun 25th 2009 12:57AM
Except that FFXI was developed as a PS2 title before it was brought to PC/360
Mambaru Jun 27th 2009 11:54AM
There's also an MMO on the way called Champions Online. Built from the ground up on PC + XBox360.
Fortone Jun 24th 2009 9:09PM
Interesting article, but no thanks to the console idea. Too many keys that a keyboard uses cannot be substituted for a console controller, unless there's a keyboard for Xbox.
x Jun 24th 2009 9:55PM
there's a keyboard attachment for the xbox 360 controller.
Snapjak Jun 25th 2009 12:55AM
You can plug any usb keyboard into a 360 and use it. It doesn't make use of advanced keys (windows, macro, multimedia)
The keypad attachment for the controller does not make up for a lack of F keys, esc, pgup/dn insert delete numberpad etc.
Retropally Jun 24th 2009 9:10PM
I was thinking of emailing the show about this as honestly, in my opinion it really is the future.
Sony seem pretty confident about MMO success on consoles and tell us time after time that the future is on consoles. They know what they're talking about, afterall they made a success of playstation and bluray...and they certainly have the resources.
I hope MMO's move to consoles as online console gaming has come a long long way in this generation, with games like COD using teamspeak like functions easily. It may not happen in WOW's lifespan...but they do have a secret MMO which we know nothing about.
Retropally Jun 24th 2009 9:16PM
I wouldnt even worry about controllers. The PS3 has the space, the compatibility with things like keyboards and other things and certainly the experience with MMO'S. Theres already a number of MMO's coming to the PS3 and although Blizzards biggest market is probably the PC market...imagine Sony and Blizz working togeather :O