Mobile WoW MMORPG reportedly scrapped by Blizzard after years of development

Michael Gwilliam
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Blizzard has reportedly scrapped a mobile World of Warcraft MMO spinoff after a financial disagreement with Chinese company NetEase despite the title being in development for over three years.

According to the Bloomberg report, Blizzard had been working on a mobile WoW game that would be separate from its big brother PC counterpart.

Code-named ‘Neptune,’ this MMORPG was planned to take place in the same universe as WoW, but during a different time period. The report didn’t say whether it would be the past or present.

The reason for canceling the project stems from a dispute over financial terms. Due to the canceled project, NetEase has disbanded a team of over 100 developers who were at work creating content for the mobile game.

wow mobile canned
The canceled WoW spin-off would have been set in a different time period.

It’s unclear if any assets will be recycled and repurposed for the main WoW franchise.

The news comes as Blizzard has been criticized for its handling of microtransactions in Diablo Immortal – a mobile spinoff set in between the events of Diablo 2 and 3. Despite this, the game has still earned hundreds of millions thus far.

Although this mobile World of Warcraft game has been canned, there is still a Warcraft game in the works for all of you who have phones in the form of Warcraft Arclight Rumble.

Additionally, Blizzard has said that it has plans to bring all of its franchises to mobile at some point. Though it’s yet to be officially announced, job listings have suggested that Overwatch mobile is in pipeline as well.

About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam