Blizzard evaluating the prospects of bringing StarCraft to mobile

VentureBeat held an interview with Blizzard president and co-founder Michael Morhaime, senior vice president and co-founder Frank Pearce, and senior vice president Chris Metzen on the company's plans for future game development, VR, and mobile. While the huge game developer is definitely following virtual reality and all the “funny helmets” that are coming out, it doesn't feel like its franchises are going to benefit much from the 360-degree immersion just yet. Blizzard's games rely more on the social experience, the community aspect, according to Metzen.

However, the company is certainly interested in further tackling the mobile scene and is toying with various ideas. As you probably know, Blizzard's Hearthstone collectible card game is available for Android phones and tablets, iPhone, and iPad, and is quite successful — it still holds a solid spot in the top 40 grossers on iOS.

According to the interview, the company doesn't have another mobile title in the works right now, but is considering on how it could translate some of its popular IPs to the platform. Mobile games need to be fast-paced to allow for play sessions in quick bursts, which is a requirement that often limits developers into building casual, one-tap titles. Blizzard, however, wants to evaluate the possibilities of bringing its “deep heritage” to the mobile platform, possibly in real-time strategy format. And yes, the StarCraft name was dropped, as Frank Pearce said that there is a big opportunity in mobile beyond just casual gaming, but “[StarCraft's] space needs to be reinvented” since people wouldn't be willing to sit down and play 45-minute sessions.

While the latter may sound troubling to conventional console and PC gamers, we're willing to assume that Mr. Pearce was talking about mobile gaming there. And, in that context, it certainly rings true. Blizzard does have a couple of titles that could lend themselves great as real-time strategy or MOBA titles – StarCraft, Heroes of the Storm, even the good-old WarCraft, if one is to dream.

Would you be interested in sending out zergling rushes against your buddies in a mobile StarCraft title?