An unannounced World of Warcraft MMO has been consigned to the dumpster after a disagreement between the two companies working on it.
The unannounced project was secretly known as ‘Neptune’ and had been in development for three years. Bloomberg reported that it was not a direct adaptation of the existing World of Warcraft MMO, but an MMORPG spin-off that takes place in the same universe but at a different time.
Unfortunately, after three years of work, NetEase has pulled back its creative team of more than 100 developers after disagreeing with Activision Blizzard “over financial terms” which led to the game’s cancellation.
And although there’s no official announcement for a World of Warcraft MMO, Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick confirmed in 2021 that the publisher had “multiple mobile free-to-play Warcraft experiences” in advanced development.
Another free-to-play “tower offence” game entitled Arclight Rumble was announced in May. Meanwhile in another report from Bloomberg a different project – a long-rumoured Warcraft-themed take on Pokémon Go – was also reported to have been cancelled.
Where to for Warcraft?
The news of yet another Warcraft mobile cancellation casts uncertainty over Blizzard’s current partnership with NetEase who are publishers of World of Warcraft and many other Blizzard properties in China. Both companies have recently enjoyed the massive success of Diablo Immortal.
While Diablo Immortal has received its share of criticism from fans over its monetisation model, it continues to be a success after making more than $100 million just two months after it was released.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
