Blizzard on Valve’s Artifact competing with Hearthstone: “It encourages us to be better”
Speaking to Trusted Reviews at BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard Entertainment talked about competition in the digital card gaming space and its upcoming Hearthstone expansion.
When asked about the upcoming launch of Magic The Gathering: Arena and Valve’s Artifact, Hearthstone designer Giovanni Scarpati said that “it encourages us to be better.”
“I think that the games industry as a whole always grows with more competition. It encourages us to be better and also, whenever you play a new game and see these cool features or cool things other games are doing you’re like, oh wow, what could we do or something similar, right? Or could we do that but better? I think it’s really healthy for games everywhere when there’s competition. So, I’m excited.”
Hearthstone’s latest expansion, Rastakhan’s Rumble, is set to launch on December 4 and will introduce over 135 new cards alongside brand new modes and game mechanics.
Artifact is planned to release for PC, Mac and Linux on November 28, 2018, although will not be free-to-play, boasting a launch price of $19.99. An iOS and Android version will follow in 2019.
Players will receive the same number of cards upon purchase, and will be encouraged to trade and purchase new ones through the Steam Marketplace.
As for why Hearthstone will see the return of trolls next month, Blizzard told us that it’s something plenty of fans have been eagerly awaiting.
“It was a really good core idea to work with and once we got into the designs and started working through it it felt like they’re were a lot of mechanics that felt right up the theme’s alley”, Scarpati explains.
Related: Upcoming Nintendo Switch Games
Sadly, in the same interview, they also shot down any suggestions of Hearthstone coming to Nintendo Switch in the future.
“We don’t have any plans to bring Hearthstone to Nintendo Switch,” said Stephen Chang, an associate game designer at Blizzard. Fingers crossed we’ll see it one day now Diablo 3 has arrived on the hybrid console.
Are you looking forward to the next Hearthstone expansion? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter @trustedreviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.