Blizzard Entertainment has announced that its surprisingly addictive digital card game Hearthstone won’t come to iPhone or Android until the early stages of 2015.
According to a post on the studio’s dedicated blog, the decision to extend development time on the mobile port was made after it “become clear that we need a little more time to get that version right,” thereby pushing the bite-sized, Warcraft-inspired experience off of its initial 2014 release date.
“While we have a build up and running internally, it needs a bit more work, and we don’t feel like we’ll be ready to share it with you until early next year. It’s very important to us that the phone experience for Hearthstone is just as accessible as the tablet and PC versions.”
Further in the update, Blizzard stated that it is striving to ensure that Hearthstone on iPhone and Android feels intuitive, so that players can have an experience that is analogous with that found on PC platforms.
Back in September, Hearthstone surpassed 20 million registered players across PC, Mac and iPad, cementing Blizzard’s title as a bona fide success in the free-to-play genre. As a matter of fact, the studio even went so far as to say that the card collecting game allowed the company to reconsider its approach to video game development and, in particular, the types of software it wants to create.
Hearthstone first launched for PC and Mac back in March before weaving its way onto iPad in April. And while news that Blizzard has delayed the iPhone and Android iterations, ardent fans of the game should talk solace in the studio’s commitment to delivering an experience that is true to the platform, rather than just a lacklustre port.
So, come 2015, I guess us commuters will have to put up with missing our stop every once in a while (read: always) as we plan out our next move with good ol’ Leeroy Jenkins.
