Recently, Blizzard introduced its new mobile game “Warcraft: Arclight Rumble“. Reactions have been mixed, but Twitch streamer Asmongold explains why this game will be important for the company.
What is it about? After 19 years, Blizzard is presenting a new strategy game for Warcraft. With the title “Arclight Rumble”, they aim to reach the smartphones of their target audience. The gameplay sounds like a mix between tower defense and Clash Royale. A combination that might not appeal to everyone.
Moreover, players complain that the game doesn’t look like Warcraft at all.
Despite the criticism, the biggest WoW streamer on Twitch, Asmongold, says that Arclight Rumble will generate a lot of money for the company, more than WoW and Diablo 3.
“I believe this could be a huge game”
What Asmongold says: From the presentation of the game, Asmongold showed himself impressed in his livestream. He believes the game could really be big and popular, making it very significant for the company Blizzard (via YouTube around 24 minutes into the VoD).
“The funny thing is, this game will probably make more money than WoW. I’m pretty sure this game will bring in more money than Diablo 3.” As an explanation, he emphasizes that mobile games print money.
“For each of you who says ‘Oh, this is so dumb, I hate it’, there are a few others out there who will invest $150 in the first week after the game’s release.”
What’s behind it? There is a huge market for mobile games. Especially free games, which then generate revenue through various types of microtransactions, are found in the top revenue positions.
An analysis by Sensor Tower shows the highest-grossing mobile games worldwide in March 2022:
Sensor Tower estimates that Tencent earned $272.4 million alone in March from Honor of Kings through player spending. PUBG Mobile, on the other hand, is said to have generated about $199.8 million in the same period, with a large share of users from China. Overall, mobile games are reported to have generated approximately $7 billion worldwide through the App Store and Google Store in March 2022, according to the analysis (via Sensortower.com).
So it’s not a big surprise that Asmongold predicts such a rosy future for the game.
Activision Blizzard announced in a quarterly report how much money they are making from in-game shops. In the earnings call on November 2, the company stated that, in the third quarter of 2021, they made a whopping $1.198 billion from microtransactions. The management of in-game shops is already established in the company and works in games such as World of Warcraft and CoD Warzone.
What do you all think? Will the game really be such a big hit for Blizzard that it will bring a lot of money to the company in the future, or has Arclight Rumble already flopped for you just by its presentation?
You can see the first 5 minutes of gameplay from Arclight Rumble here.
