Is World of Warcraft coming to consoles? It could be the biggest question of 2008. Ever since Blizzard’s mighty MMO burst onto the scene in 2004 it has taken the planet by storm, surging into the homes of millions, turning the epidermis of entire communities into a seedy shade of white and increasing global obesity by an estimated 5%*. It’s the ultimate in escapism, transporting close to 10,000,000 users to the fantasy land of Azeroth where they can forget their day jobs as schoolteachers and plumbers to become all-powerful Warlocks taking down fiery beasts in the depths of active volcanoes. To date, it is an experience only enjoyed by PC gamers.

Until now…

A bigwig with connections to the highest levels of Vivendi management has seemingly confirmed that World of Warcraft is coming to consoles.

At a recent showing of upcoming Xbox 360, PS3 and PC release PROTOTYPE (check out our huge preview on this kick arse game) this bomb was dropped. Given the sensitivity of this issue and to ensure everything remains in context, we’ll set the scene…

Following the presentation of PROTOTYPE we approached Chris Ansell, Director of Product Globalisation for Radical Entertainment – and nice bloke – regarding the online component of the game. We were expressing our disappointment that the exciting co-op mode will be online only (an issue in Australia where online take-up is relatively low) and was wondering whether such a thing could appear down the track in the form of DLC. He said no, explaining that online co-op was their focus for this game, and that they would be exploring a host of new multiplayer ideas in PROTOTYPE 2 and 3. This lead into the following quote…

“…we have to make sure we support it. Because next-gen consoles demand it. We have to be online. Obviously it’s gonna get more and more like what WoW are doing, with thousands of players on consoles, eventually. Which is pretty exciting. I can’t wait for that. It’ll be pretty fun.”

This would suggest that within Vivendi and Sierra’s inner-circle, the knowledge of WoW coming to consoles is not only cemented, but that future iterations of their games will be using it as the benchmark for their own multiplayer experiences. And if Mr. Ansell believes they will be able to tap into WoW’s console iteration for inspiration for a PROTOTYPE sequel (the existence of which is news in itself) that would suggest a launch for the MMORPG in 2009. That is, between PROTOTYPE 1 (due Q3 2008) and a follow-up (which you would expect in 2010).

Blizzard has been toying with the concept for years, at times pussy-footing around the issue, or flat out denying it. Is this the mystery MMO Blizzard is working on? Obviously this is all speculation, but it would be stupid to think that Blizzard hasn’t explored and even demoed the idea. Tapping into the massive console market would be an extremely lucrative move and in the end, Blizzard is in the business of making money. Stay tuned…