Blizzard Announces 'Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft'

Game Rant

By Curt Hutson

Published Mar 22, 2013

Blizzard Entertainment announces a small project with big aspirations, 'Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft'; a free-to-play, cross-platform card game that promises the same level of epic gameplay as their bigger titles.

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Fresh out of PAX East is a new Blizzard game. No, it's not Titan. In fact, it might be an announcement that will underwhelm some fans of the studio. The game in question is a new free-to-play card game called Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

This will bring the number of World of Warcraft card game spin-offs to two. The major difference is this one is virtual, will probably have microtransactions and doesn't appear to have those kick-ass loot cards. This is all speculative, of course, as outside of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft's main features, there isn't a lot more information on the game.

Blizzard does mention the ability to purchase new card packs. Basically, Hearthstone is a one-on-one Warcraft-themed card game where players can challenge either a computer or other players online. The game will be cross-platform, so there will be plenty of people to battle. In addition, players can access their Battle.net account to challenge players from their friends list. Most of their time will be spent in "Play Mode" where players battle to increase ranks and earn more cards. There will also be a mode called "The Forge", new decks can be built.

Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft Announcement Blizzard

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Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard, is thrilled about Hearthstone, stating the company loves card games and that they're, "putting a lot of focus into creating a fun new game that’s easy to pick up and play, but also has a lot of depth."

They are quite vocal about how small the scope of this game actually is. It was developed by a small team of fifteen, who say their real challenge was to see if they could still make it live up to the studio's epic standards. Players will see when the game is released. More on how the game got started in the trailer below.

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Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft doesn't have a release date, but beta testing is promised to start "very soon–no, seriously." You can sign up on their website. It will be available for Windows, Macintosh and iPad.

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