The formerly PC and Mac exclusive collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes Of Warcraft has appeared on the Apple iTunes store in select countries. Australia, Canada and New Zealand are among the lucky few who’s citizens will get to try out the touch-screen version of Blizzard Entertainment’s free to play game. Close to all iPads are supported. The compatible models follow: iPad 2, iPad (3rd generation and 4th generation), iPad Air, iPad Mini and iPad Mini with Retina. While not a game that needs a large amount of processing to run, it is good to see Blizzard supporting such a wide range of consumers.
This mobile edition of Hearthstone has everything players have enjoyed from the PC and Mac versions with touch sensitive controls. Existing players can simply log-in with their Battle.net accounts and be greeted by instant access to their cards. Online modes feature cross-platform play so iPad users won’t be left out of the ranked and arena fun with PC and Mac users.
The developer has stated that the game will arrive “soon” in the rest of the world for iPad owners. This is most likely so that that the currently supported countries can test out the servers and ensure the game runs smoothly before the game is released for the entire world to play. Hearthstone will also be coming to iPhones, Android devices, and Windows 8 tablets later this year. Blizzard originally announced plans for iPad, iPhone and Android releases at Blizzcon 2013.
“Hearthstone’s player base has already grown to more than 10 million accounts registered following the official Windows and Mac release, but we saw that a few people online were holding out for the iPad version,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment in a statement. “Instead of calling those folks up individually, we figured we might as well let everyone know that the global iPad rollout for Hearthstone has begun, and pretty soon it’ll be available everywhere. The game is a natural fit for tablets – we encourage everyone to check it out on their couch, in their backyard, in a coffee shop… or anywhere else they take their iPads.”
Are you going to try out Hearthstone on iPad? Let us know in the comments below!