Blizzard Doesn’t Mind Licensing Warcraft to Third-Party Developers. 'I Want to Have Warcraft Out There a Little More Than It Is Now'
The Warcraft brand manager would love to bet on brand expansion, although the list of partners Blizzard could entrust with this task is very short.
Blizzard Entertainment has nothing against entrusting Warcraft to an external studio - either film or game. This is claimed by John Hight, who is the brand's main manager, although he adds that such a decision would require "perfect" conditions.
In an interview for IGN, the American stressed that while the idea of entrusting Warcraft to people outside of Blizzard isn't opposed by the company, they would need to have a "cool idea for expressing" the brand, love it, and be capable of meeting the studio's aesthetic standards. An argument in favor would also be the experience with genres unfamiliar to Blizzard.
Hight admitted that he would like to see Warcraft expanded so that the brand could reach new audiences. Not only gamers, because during the conversation, the dev also mentioned the film market. However, the studio is afraid of growing too quickly, and the list of developers who meet Blizzard's requirements for cooperation is "very short."
Blizzard has already attempted to establish a position for Warcraft outside of its default niche. So finally World of Warcraft was born, which has now completely replaced the strategic roots of the series. We also can't forget about Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble, as well as the abandoned (presumably) Heroes of the Storm.
In fact, the idea of commissioning a new game bearing the Blizzard brand logo isn't completely new. That's how Diablo Immortal was created, co-developed with the NetEase studio (until the companies terminated their cooperation).
