Why World of Warcraft on Console Suddenly Makes Sense

It’s been a long time since people were able to play WoW on a controller using third-party software, and lately it’s become especially popular on handheld devices like the Steam Deck. Despite that, there is still no official controller support for WoW. Especially last year, many people have speculated that ability pruning and general simplification are actually preparation for WoW eventually moving to consoles. The recent addition of a one button rotation only added fuel to that discussion. For most players who would use it, it wouldn’t really make a difference in performance anyway, since it’s clearly not aimed at endgame players.

As you can imagine, not everyone was happy about these ideas. There was a lot of backlash, but there were also players who genuinely liked the direction. Personally, it’s still hard for me to imagine playing WoW on a controller, but I do believe it could work. Or at least, if WoW were available on something like Xbox or PlayStation, it would be great to have full keyboard and mouse support while playing from the couch. If WoW’s subscription were also included as part of Xbox Game Pass, that would honestly be an absolute win for players. Not only would you get WoW without a separate sub, but also access to tons of other games in a single subscription. Even though Game Pass is more expensive now, it’s still a very good deal.

So why would WoW even be playable on consoles after all these years? Why now? I’ve read countless comments under posts about WoW coming to console, and at first I honestly thought people were crazy for wanting that. I was always a hardcore PC only kind of guy. But then you start reading those comments more carefully, and some of them actually make a lot of sense.

A console costs around 400€, and you can easily get one second hand for half that price. Now imagine someone who only plays WoW. They still need a PC just for that one game. PCs cost money, and on top of that, many people today work 8+ hour sitting jobs. When they get home, they want to play WoW, but they really don’t want to spend another few hours sitting at a desk. That’s something I’ve seen mentioned a lot. Drivers, office workers, people in all kinds of professions saying the same thing: “I just want to relax, put my legs up, and play from the couch with a controller.”

Back in 2004, this argument didn’t really make sense. Most gamers were young. They didn’t have full time jobs, families, or physical issues. But today, I’d bet the average WoW player is 35+ years old. Many of them have families. They want to sit down with their kids, show them what they’re playing, sit next to their wife or husband, and just be present while playing games. Consoles are simply better at that. No matter how good your chair is, sitting at a desk is not the same as lying back on a couch with your family around you.

That’s when I started to understand these people, and honestly, I realized they’re not wrong. I can even see it in myself. I have constant problems with lower back pain. Some days I have to stop playing early and leave my guild hanging because the pain just doesn’t let me sit any longer. The time I planned to spend in the game gets cut short because of it.

Even so, I never seriously thought about playing WoW on a controller. Not once did that idea really appeal to me. Even now, I don’t think I could do high Mythic+ keys or arena on a controller. But the reality is that it does work for many people using third-party tools. For me personally, what would work much better is playing on PlayStation or Xbox with proper keyboard and mouse support. I’d only need to get used to playing on a 55" TV instead of a 32" ultrawide monitor. That would take some time, sure, but it would be far less frustrating than trying to relearn the entire game on a controller.

I’ve tried other MMORPGs on controller before, like ESO and Final Fantasy XIV. I had some success with ESO, but absolutely none with FFXIV. Still, FFXIV is a perfect example that a game like WoW can work on a controller. Whether you personally like it or not is a different matter.

The one-button rotation was added primarily as an accessibility feature for handicapped players and people who, for various reasons, can’t play WoW the way most of us can. Blizzard also did a good job making sure it doesn’t outperform proper gameplay, so it doesn’t harm competitive, skill based endgame content. But that system would also be a great addition for controller play. Most classes don’t have that many rotational buttons anyway. One or two damage cooldowns, a few defensives, and you’re still looking at something like eight buttons total. That’s absolutely manageable on a controller.

With Midnight getting closer and the game becoming more and more streamlined, I can’t help but wonder if Blizzard will eventually move in that direction. Even though they said last year that they have no plans to bring WoW to console and that it’s staying on PC, we all know how quickly plans can change when enough money is involved. And when you’re talking about Blizzard, Activision, and Microsoft, money definitely matters.

Will WoW eventually make it to consoles? Only time will tell. But it’s something I believe many players would welcome wholeheartedly. Of course, there would be backlash, people calling it the end of WoW, the death of the game, and so on. But we’ve seen so many of those “this is the end” moments over the years that WoW feels almost immortal by now.