Blizzard Says Warcraft’s Future Is Bigger Than WoW as Ion Hazzikostas and Holly Longdale Outline a Broader Vision for the IP
Blizzard Entertainment is signaling that World of Warcraft is only one piece of its long term Warcraft strategy. Following the World of Warcraft State of Azeroth showcase, game director Ion Hazzikostas and executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale spoke with The Game Business about what they see as the franchise’s next era, emphasizing that Blizzard has a bigger vision for Warcraft than simply being an MMORPG.
The near term anchor remains World of Warcraft itself. Blizzard is preparing to ship World of Warcraft Midnight on 2026 03 02, positioning it as the next major expansion and the 11th expansion since WoW launched in 2004. But the tone from leadership is less about protecting a legacy product and more about extending the universe with a multi audience mindset. Hazzikostas stated Blizzard believes its best years are ahead, and framed the next phase as both game design and social design, focused on meeting a new generation where they are. The key implication is that Blizzard is willing to rethink how Warcraft is consumed without discarding what made it resonate in the first place.
That broader approach is also being framed as a response to the franchise’s age and reach. In 2026, World of Warcraft is 22 years old, which creates a player spectrum that spans retirees still adventuring in Azeroth and younger newcomers discovering the world for the first time. Longdale highlighted that Blizzard regularly hears requests for experiences that fit real life schedules and relationships, like playing with kids or a partner, and said the goal is to make WoW approachable for anyone. Hazzikostas reinforced that breadth is the core design objective, not a pivot away from depth. His point is that WoW can support meaningful progress in 20 minutes while still offering deep weekend scale play for those who want it, reframing the game from an all consuming lifestyle product into a flexible ecosystem.
Where this becomes strategically significant is how Blizzard talks about Warcraft beyond the current MMO. The interview leaves room for the franchise to branch into new products inside the Warcraft universe that are not necessarily MMORPGs. With BlizzCon 2026 scheduled for 2026 09 and Blizzard teasing it as a major moment, the window is open for Warcraft to expand into other genres and formats. A new RTS is one obvious path given the franchise’s roots, but the more important takeaway is that Blizzard is explicitly treating Warcraft as a world that can support multiple entry points, not a single game that must carry the entire brand.
Blizzard also drew a clear line between modern WoW and Classic, explaining that Classic has its own audience with different behaviors and expectations, with limited crossover. That is a crucial operational insight because it suggests Blizzard is not aiming for one universal WoW experience. Instead, it is actively running parallel products inside the same franchise, each optimized for different player motivations. This is exactly the kind of portfolio strategy that supports the bigger vision claim, because it proves Blizzard is already comfortable supporting multiple Warcraft experiences at once.
Longdale went even further, calling Warcraft an underutilized IP and describing a personal goal to bring it to as many people as possible by evolving what Warcraft means, where it exists, and how approachable it is. The most important line is not about changing Warcraft into something unrecognizable. It is about taking advantage of 20 years of stories told and untold, and bringing that universe out in a broader way while continuing to do the things people love. That is Blizzard’s thesis for the next decade: protect the core, expand the surface area, and create new ways to enter the world.
If Blizzard expands Warcraft beyond WoW, what direction would you want most in 2026 and 2027, a new RTS, a co op action game, or a story driven single player RPG set in Azeroth?
