The dream of World of Warcraft on PS5 and Xbox was real for a brief moment. Now, the head of the MMORPG has clearly rejected it for everyone.
Finally being able to play World of Warcraft on consoles. At least for the Xbox Series X/S, this dream seemed to come within reach when concrete hints appeared that Microsoft would add WoW to the Game Pass a few days ago. Numerous people were informed via email that WoW would soon be available on Xbox in the Game Pass – but that was just a mistake, as Microsoft quickly admitted.
Now, the Game Director of WoW has commented on the issue and unfortunately has bad news.
There has already been a clear statement regarding WoW 2.0:
The promotional email about WoW was really just a mistake
What happened? When Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard over a year ago and the first Blizzard games landed in the Game Pass, many thought it was only a matter of time before World of Warcraft would be playable there as well.
The dream seemed to come within reach when a promotional email specifically highlighted this – World of Warcraft in the Game Pass and even on the Xbox. At least, that was suggested.
When they then backtracked and said it was apparently a mistake, many responded with a mischievous grin: “But of course that was a mistake. You just announced it too early by accident. Just go ahead and say that WoW is coming to console.”
The hope has likely been dashed for the time being.
What was said now? In a long interview with VICE magazine, Ion Hazzikostas, the Game Director of World of Warcraft, spoke about such a console version. He was asked about how WoW is already quite playable with a controller and they wanted to know when a console version would finally come. Hazzikostas responded:
There are no current plans that we could announce, but we have done a lot of work to support a lot of peripherals. There are not only the standard controllers but also things like Microsoft’s accessibility controller, which uses much of the same interface that our players with physical disabilities use.
We want WoW to be playable as widely as possible. Whether you want to do that with mouse and keyboard or with a PC Surface tablet on the go.
We want to support as much as possible here, but at this time we have no plans for Xbox or PlayStation.
That Hazzikostas is expressing himself so clearly about something is rather unusual. He is generally known for making statements that are a bit vague and at least leave all options open.
That a console version and the current development of it have now been clearly denied will likely bury the hope of “WoW on console” for now. It seems that this is not something we should expect even in 2025 – if it ever happens at all.
Would you be interested in playing World of Warcraft on PlayStation or Xbox? Or do you think a game like WoW can really only work well on PC?
Even though a console version has now become significantly less likely – World of Warcraft is finally fulfilling other wishes after many years. Because in 2025, player housing is finally coming and will be really strong.
