It’s nearly the end of the road for Warcraft Rumble. Blizzard has announced that it will no longer be developing new content for the free-to-play mobile strategy game, and instead focus on “regular, systemic in-game events and bug fixes.” The change comes as the rest of Microsoft’s business is in upheaval: The company is laying off as many as 9,000 employees across its global workforce.
Blizzard’s statement doesn’t get into the details of what motivated the decision, but is clear that Warcraft Rumble hasn’t been living up to expectations. The game “struggled to find its footing” relative to Blizzard’s ambitions, prompting the studio to explore different options to improve it over the last few years. “Some of that work showed signs of progress, but ultimately wasn’t enough to put the game on a path to sustainability,” Blizzard writes.
Warcraft Rumble was announced in 2019 as Warcraft Arclight Rumble. Much like Hearthstone, the game was a high-profile attempt to translate a popular Blizzard franchise into something that works on smartphones and tablets. Warcraft Rumble plays like a more flexible version of Clash Royale, where miniaturized armies face off in PVP or singe-player challenges, and the biggest strategic choices are when and where characters are placed.
Aftermath reports that winding down Warcraft Rumble is a direct result of the wider Microsoft layoffs effecting Blizzard. While some of the team who created new content for Rumble will be given new roles at the studio, others will be let go, according to a staff email sent by Blizzard president Johanna Fairies that Aftermath viewed. Blizzard’s public statement doesn’t acknowledge these layoffs beyond a mention that the studio is “focused on supporting [its] teammates,” which is telling in context.
While Warcraft Rumble will live on for now in a diminished state, some future Xbox games have been outright cancelled as a result of Microsoft’s restructuring, including Everwild and Perfect Dark. The bigger damage is the loss of talent. Greg Mayles, the lead designer on Donkey Kong Country and creative director of Sea of Thieves, is leaving Rare, according to Video Game Chronicle. ZeniMax Online Studios shared on X that director Matt Firor is also making an exit following the cancellation of the studio’s next MMO.
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