Blizzard’s got a massive hit on its hands in Hearthstone, the free-to-play virtual card game based on the studio’s World of Warcraft, and it’s going to get even bigger in 2015 when the game makes the jump from its current home on tablets and PCs to Android phones and iPhones. That mobile release is coming in early 2015, as Blizzard confirmed in a new Battle.net update.
“It’s very important to us that the phone experience for Hearthstone is just as accessible as the tablet and PC versions,” the post reads. “One of the biggest challenges with that is revamping the user interface so it feels intuitive and offers the same quality Hearthstone experience, but this time from the palm of your hand.”
Related: Here’s how the pricing works for Hearthstone‘s single-player expansion
There’s no detail on how the game’s interface will change to fit the smaller smartphone screens, but fans can at least be happy knowing that they’ll be able to lean on their wireless carrier’s data plan when they want to play the Internet-connection-required game on the go.
Much like Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone pits two players against one another as they deal out different, randomly selected cards from their pre-built decks. Each card is based on some facet of the WoW universe, and has different effects; everything from direct damage attacks on an opponent or his/her cards to buffs and heals for cards/heroes on your own team.
The game is offered as a free-to-play download via Battle.net on PC platforms and your app store of choice on tablets. There’s no monetary investment required to experience the full extent of the core game and its multiplayer mode, but you can pay to speed along certain aspects of card-collecting and open up a single-player mode for high-level players.
