(Below is the beginning of a report filed at MTVNews.com.)
LAS VEGAS — Late last week, employees of the Red Rock Casino Resort Spa were taking down the signs and stands from the three-day DICE video game summit. They were packing up the framed art from the Into the Pixel exhibition. They were dismantling the show.
But sitting in one of the hallways amid this activity, Frank Pearce, co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, was revealing hopes and plans for things his company might build. One of those plans would, in a manner of speaking, put “World of Warcraft” on cell phones. There were other bold notions too.
Pearce has a deep voice, shaved head and goatee, a video game developer not unlike “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in look, if not in as surly a demeanor. He’s the executive vice president of product development at Blizzard, where work has begun on some major things, such as a “World of Warcraft” expansion; “StarCraft II,” a sequel to a game that has become a national pastime in South Korea; and some new massively multiplayer games, which the world first learned about when a job post for work on a next-gen MMO was posted on Blizzard’s Web site last year. About that job post: “That was not by accident,” Pearce told MTV News. “We have to figure out what’s next for Blizzard after ‘World of Warcraft,’ and we have to get the best people in the industry that we can get helping us figure that out.”
In the biggest surprise of his conversation with MTV News, mentioned right before the banging and clanging of the conference’s tear-down overwhelmed the interview and forced a relocation outside, Pearce confirmed that a very small team in Blizzard just might be creating a slice of “World of Warcraft” for cell phones.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:36 am
If I was able to put WoW on my phone…I’d be the happiest person alive! :]
February 14th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Won’t the ‘hardware limitations’ of a mobile phone be a bit of trouble here?
February 14th, 2008 at 11:49 am
yeah u know that may be a little hard to do
February 14th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Not nearly enough memory on a phone to port wow. If they did it would most likely be a second grade dissapointment only created so that they could make more money from poeple who dont appreciate how bad the final game would be. Stick to the day job blizz..
February 14th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I think this would be at least 4 years in the future with those really sick smart phones that are coming out. As he said they dont even have plans they just have talks of plans. It most certainly will be possible a couple years down the road.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I read an article about a new way to get really nice games onto phones, from Game informer. It seems crazy but they seem to be pretty sure it’s going to work pretty well. Essentially they said they are going to try to stream the games rather than port them anymore. If it is working well I can see how Blizzard would want to get in on this too. I’m sure many people will play from work (maybe on their breaks, maybe not), or anywhere else. If this technology works, it seems like it will change, yet again, how we see games. I personally pray that it works.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Hi all,
Just checking… are you all reading through and seeing the whole article? Frank Pearce was not talking to me about putting “WoW” on cell phones. He was talking about putting “WoW” apps on cell phones. So you can use guild chat or check auctions.
Just want to make sure that’s clear.
-Stephen Totilo
Editor, Multiplayer
February 14th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Happy Valentines day!
As refreshing as putting WoW apps on cell phones may sound ,
I personally think that they (Blizzard) should continue to work
on what has been their breadwinner for the last several years
and ensure quality play and develop new and exciting content for
existing customers. I know satisfying 10 million people can be a challenge , However They (Blizzard) Need to ensure customer satisfaction to ensure that high level of capital gains necessary
to develop new technologies.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:56 am
i doubt it would be the full game, the most posible thing i could think of would to be able to talk in guild chat, and or in channels on the game, a auction house would be kewl too, so you could check on your auctions and buy things from it with your in game gold from your phone. anything other than that would be pretty hard. wow can barely run on the oqo, i doubt itl ever be able to run on a phone anytime in the near future.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I dont need to play wow on my phone, but it would be nice if i could handle mail and the auction house from my phone without the annoyance of lag and text spam while playing.