If there was ever a game I’d love to see given the VR treatment, it’s Hearthstone. Being able to explore The Tavern and play a game, all in the virtual world of Azeroth would be incredible. Unfortunately, right now, you’re only able to play Hearthstone on PC and smartphones. You are able to play in VR, but only in Steam VR theatre mode. However, Blizzard recently confirmed with PowerUp! that a working prototype of Hearthstone VR was developed internally.
Speaking with Principle Narrative Designer Dave Kosak and Lead Effects Artist Hadidjah Chamberlain about Galakrond’s Awakening, I asked them about the possibility of an eventual Hearthstone VR.
Kosak told me that it had been discussed and that he thought it would be pretty cool but ultimately, he believed players would prefer to be able to swipe their finger on a tablet.
However, Chamberlain was much more forthcoming.
Hearthstone VR
They told me that during Blizzard’s annual ‘Free Your Mind’ event — essentially a hackathon — two developers worked on a created a prototype version of Hearthstone VR.
They actually prototyped a VR version of Hearthstone during that time. You could walk around The Tavern and sit down to play a game with someone.
They only had two weeks, so they only got as far [allowing you to] throw cards at the table and you could flip the table over!
While this VR version of the game was only created as a prototype and during Blizzard’s Free Your Mind event, it goes to show that the developer has considered the potential for Hearthstone in VR. And if Hearthstone in VR was real and you found yourself spending too much time playing and not enough focused on other things, like school, you could always invest in a coursework writing service to help you out.
After Chamberlain described the prototype version, Kosak told me jokingly that he’d not wanted to talk about the VR prototype because everyone would want to see it.
And he’s right.
Being able to walk around The Tavern, sit down for a game and eventually flip the table over when you lose sounds incredible. Fingers crossed Blizzard takes another look at the idea and eventually releases it.
Thank you to Dave Kosak and Hadidjah Chamberlain for their time.