Game Informer talked with Hearthstone producer Yong Woo at Gamescom this week and asked about the game’s future. We like the answers. A lot.
While the Curse of Naxxramas adventure is still currently on-going, it’s normal for many gamers to wonder what’s next with their favorite game. In the case of Hearthstone, Woo was willing to spill some details.
“One of our most requested features is a spectator or observer mode,” Woo told Game Informer. “We want to make tournaments easier to stream. We want to capture that ‘over the shoulder’ feeling when you’re watching friends play. There’s a hunger for more social elements and we want to explore social experiences through this mode, offer that to your friends. You’ll come online, see a friend playing, and be able to watch. It’s in active development right now, and while we don’t have an ETA just yet, it’s coming along.”
It was also mentioned that a full fledged expansion is in the works. For comparison’s sake, Curse of Naxxramas was an adventure, not an expansion, so we can expect Hearthstone : The Digital Cardboard Crusade (not a real title, folks) to have more content along with it.
Woo also mentioned the possibility of a co-operative mode. Magic: the Gathering has a similar gameplay variant called “2-Headed Giant,” where teams of two share a life total and coordinate together in a game. It’ll be cool to see a feature like this implemented in Hearthstone, but it’ll be interesting to see how it would work with a limited chat functionality.