When is the Warcraft Arclight Rumble release date?

Though the news for Warcraft Arclight Rumble has been light, the newest mobile game from Blizzard is still happening. Beta testing is still in progress and all reports is that the game is very polished even though it’s only been 13 months since its announcement. While the game could conceivably drop at any point, I suspect that the development team is monitoring the results from Diablo Immortal and ensuring their monetization and release plan is firm before committing to a launch date. It can obviously release when it’s ready, but my prediction is that Warcraft Arclight Rumble will release on November 7, 2023, shortly after BlizzCon 2023 concludes.

There are a couple reasons to believe the launch will occur later this year. As previously mentioned, the game itself is in a much more playable state than typical for a closed beta so there’s no expectation of a four-year span from announcement to release like Diablo Immortal. It’s arguable that the game should be released already: the interval between DI‘s closed beta and release was eight months — a length of time already exceeded by the Arclight Rumble beta. While the Microsoft acquisition was known when the announcement was made it may be a factor in the lack of a release. Ditto the arrival of DI last year; honestly, it would be managerial malpractice to not consider the launch of your previous mobile-only offering in your planning.

The phrase “mobile-only” may also no longer be true and it wouldn’t surprise me if Arclight is converted into a desktop format like Hearthstone and Diablo Immortal. While a PC option is not guaranteed, I tend to think players would prefer to have the option rather than be forced to play it only on mobile. If the decision was made to add one that would increase the development time and would explain why it hasn’t been released yet.

The final consideration for the release date is Blizzard’s schedule for the year ahead. After Diablo 4 is released on June 6 there’s little else happening in 2023. Sure, World of Warcraft will still be releasing patches and Hearthstone will be releasing expansions but the fall and early winter may be quiet. The return of BlizzCon after a four year hiatus is going to be very “loud” from a marketing standpoint, and having an imminent launch for Arclight allows the team to go all-in and get the hype going. It won’t be the biggest news at BlizzCon most likely (next WOW expansion?) but it’s something that could get a lot of screen time. Launching it the Tuesday after BlizzCon ends would keep that momentum going.