Hearthstone port for Nintendo Switch not on the cards says Blizzard

Blizzard has no plans to port its hit card game Hearthstone to Nintendo Switch, according to a leading member of the development team. The confirmation follows speculation last year that a version was in the works for the hit home/handheld console.

Currently available on PC and mobile devices, a Switch port would have marked Hearthstone's console debut, but game designer Dean Ayala plainly told PowerUp Gaming that it won't be happening.

"There are no plans to move Hearthstone to the Nintendo Switch," he said.

Released in 2014, Hearthstone is a game about collecting cards and building decks for strategic games based on the fantasy lore of the Warcraft series.

Since its release Blizzard has developed several expansions, introducing new cards to collect. The latest of these were Knights of the Frozen Throne and Kobolds and Catacombs, released in August and December.

Nintendo Switch proved an instant success when it launched last March. Key to that success has been its core design, which allows the device to be both a powerful handheld and a docked home console.

That concept, coupled with an incredibly strong lineup of games, helped Switch top the sales of its five-year-old predecessor Wii U after just ten months. As of the end of 2017, nearly 15 million units had been sold.

Hearthstone being a predominantly online game makes the Switch a slightly awkward destination however, as players will be resigned to the less-appealing single player side of the game when they're unable to connect to Wi-Fi.

Were a future version of Switch 4G or 5G compatible, however, perhaps Blizzard would reevaluate. Such a hardware revision seems unlikely however.