An Xbox Series X version World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will not be happening, despite a rating for the game previously on the Brazilian rating board’s website.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is the next major expansion for World of Warcraft, slated for a 2020 release. The expansion is currently set for an exclusive release on PC, though a rating for Xbox Series X indicated otherwise, according to Gematsu’s finding.
Not sure if this is an error, but World of Warcraft: Shadowlands was rated in Brazil today for Xbox Series X + PC. https://t.co/PVcoSIn1ii@Blizzard_Ent @Warcraft Can you provide some insight? pic.twitter.com/h1n1lLUXIY
— Gematsu (@gematsu) July 27, 2020
A spokesperson from Blizzard told Digital Trends, “We currently have no plans to bring World of Warcraft or Shadowlands to Xbox Series X. The platform was listed on the Brazil Ministry of Justice rating website in error, and the entry has since been updated to reflect that the game is coming only to PC.”
This does confirm the many gamers’ suspicion over Shadowlands‘ Xbox Series X rating, though earlier events tend to suggest a potential console release for World of Warcraft. For the first time, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will offer controller support for the Xbox Adaptive Controller, Further, a datamine in April suggested that players could use PlayStation controllers to play World of Warcraft, though Blizzard denied rumors of a World of Warcraft console release at the time.
A World of Warcraft release on console would certainly break the current precedent. Nearly 16 years old, the series has remained a hugely popular PC exclusive, and a release on console would serve to expand its wide audience even further. Now that console MMO’s are slightly more conventional than they were over a decade ago, a World of Warcraft console release might establish a larger player base for Blizzard.
With World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, which has not received an official release date, Blizzard is bringing several changes and new additions aside from controller support. For instance, players will be able to change their characters’ gender without a fee, and the leveling system will be changed with a new “level squish,” which reduces the game’s level cap to 60.
While World of Warcraft: Shadowlands remains one of Blizzard’s anticipated upcoming developments, the developer is working on other titles simultaneously. The company is now working on Overwatch 2, the successor to 2016’s successful Overwatch, as well as Diablo Immortal for mobile devices and Diablo IV for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
