Blizzard’s World of Warcraft: Forever is the first version of the MMO with native controller support, and its executive producer has linked that work to where Xbox is heading, mentioning Project Helix by name. No Xbox console version has been announced.
Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president for World of Warcraft, and associate production director Clay Stone discussed it in a Big Preview interview with GamesRadar+, published ahead of Forever’s launch on 4 November. Read the full interview there; the main points are below.
Native controller support, tested on a ROG Xbox Ally X
World of Warcraft has always been built around mouse and keyboard, but Forever adds official gamepad support, which Blizzard’s starter guide describes as being in a beta state. GamesRadar+ played the game with a controller during the beta, including on a ROG Xbox Ally X handheld, and found the mapping worked well.
Longdale on Project Helix
GamesRadar+ asked Longdale whether launching Forever on one platform was a missed opportunity. “Play it wherever you want and, at some point, on whatever you want,” she said, describing strong gamepad support as the first step on that journey and Forever as the right place to start.
She then pointed to Project Helix, Microsoft’s next Xbox console, saying she expects platforms to become more widespread. She added that the gamepad work gives players flexibility that “goes beyond consoles”.
No Xbox console version of World of Warcraft or Forever has been announced. Speculation: Longdale’s comments hint at the direction Blizzard is thinking, but she didn’t confirm any plans. Xbox has said Project Helix is designed to play both Xbox console and PC games; neither Blizzard nor Xbox has linked the two. Blizzard is one of the Xbox family of studios, as part of Microsoft Gaming.
What is World of Warcraft: Forever?
Forever is a third way to play World of Warcraft, alongside the modern game and Classic. It returns to the original continents of Azeroth in the vanilla era, set after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core, with a level 60 cap. Xbox Wire’s BlizzCon round-up lists three new zones, more than 1,000 new quests, nine new dungeons, two new raids and the new Skyborne race.
It launches globally on 4 November 2026 at 23:00 GMT, and access comes with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time, as Blizzard’s announcement sets out.
A slower game on purpose
Stone told GamesRadar+ that the team has tried to “preserve meaningful friction” wherever it can, putting the focus back on exploration, discovery and playing with other people. Players travel on foot and group up to see everything, and he said beta players, both returning and new, have reacted well to that pace.
Removing flying mounts is the clearest example. Longdale explained that flying lets players skip over the world and the content spread across it, and the team sees Azeroth itself as the star of Forever.
The beta and launch
Longdale said a game like Forever had been under consideration for a long time, after years of players asking for a ‘Classic Plus’. The beta’s popularity still surprised the team: she described players treating it like the live game, with Blizzard raising server population caps several times and running a public stress test. She also said Blizzard can’t fully predict what launch will look like, and the team is still adjusting the 1-60 levelling balance and changes to racial abilities and traits.
Where Forever fits
Asked whether a third version could split the player base, Stone said the team doesn’t know exactly how players will move between versions, but expects some to stay put and others to try Forever. Longdale added that Blizzard has modelled scenarios for its modern, Classic and Forever audiences.
Stone also said Forever won’t go through the Dark Portal, meaning it won’t move on into expansion content. With the level cap fixed at 60, the plan is horizontal progression: filling out unused areas of the original continents and, possibly one day, other parts of Azeroth.
World of Warcraft: Forever at a glance
- Launch: 4 November 2026, 23:00 GMT
- Access: included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time
- Controllers: native gamepad support (beta)
- Xbox console version: not announced
- Level cap: 60
- New content: three zones, 1,000+ quests, nine dungeons, two raids, the Skyborne race
- Developer and publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
- Official site: World of Warcraft: Forever
Source: GamesRadar+ interview with Holly Longdale and Clay Stone. For the full rundown, read World of Warcraft Forever: everything we know, find all our coverage on the World of Warcraft: Forever hub, and catch up on everything we know about Project Helix.
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