The online card game Hearthstone is on top. During development, that wasn’t always the case. It was said that it was the hardest to convince the leading minds at Blizzard themselves about the game. Furthermore, after a rather unsuccessful port of Starcraft to the N64, there were long-standing reservations against other platforms at Blizzard.
Holy Shit – It worked!
In an interview with Chris Metzen by Polygon about Blizzard’s journey, a chapter is also dedicated to the card game Hearthstone, which causes huge viewer numbers on Twitch and now has 20 million players. This was not planned, as Chris Metzen says: “We did not expect a worldwide success. It was just a little thing that we made with a lot of love. But holy shit, it worked!”
Hearthstone was developed by Team 5 at Blizzard. Team 1 takes care of Starcraft, Team 2 takes care of World of Warcraft, and Team 3 is dedicated to the Diablo franchise. Team 4 dealt with Titan, the planned next-gen MMORPG, and the “Team 5” – significantly smaller than the others – wanted to develop something that emerged from Blizzard’s enthusiasm for Magic: The Gathering.
That, Metzen recounts, was something they played almost excessively during the still modest early days of Blizzard. The company grew larger when Starcraft hit in Asia, and later again when World of Warcraft developed into the giant we all know today.
“What the hell are you doing?”
When the idea of Hearthstone emerged and circulated in the now larger Blizzard, the project was not welcomed everywhere with open arms: “I really can’t say that everyone here was excited about the project. Some asked what the hell we were actually doing – and why?” They could never convey to the colleagues with words what the appeal of Hearthstone was. Only when it made the rounds in a playable state did the critics fall silent.
Hearthstone, it was clear, would work well on the new platforms for games, on iPhone and Android. However, there were initial reservations at Blizzard based on the company’s history. In 2000 they ported Starcraft to the N64, which didn’t go so well. After that, they kept their distance from anything that was not playable with mouse and keyboard.
Hearthstone on Android, iPad, and iPhone also a concession to the new world
However, they have now recognized the signs of the times and reopened: “At my home, most gaming now takes place on tablets. I can hardly get them out of the hands of my children. We are very skilled developers for PC. But just as the world has changed, we need to be open-minded about what is right for our games.”
This change in thinking at Blizzard is likely what has also led to Hearthstone’s port to iPad and the upcoming one to iPhone and Android. An announcement for this is expected at Blizzcon in the second week of November.
