Recently, I caught up with Leah Ruben, chief operating officer of KingsIsle, and Joel White, VP of product for Wizard101. The two have been part of Kingsisle since the studio's early days, and speak to me about the game's Nintendo Switch launch and where Wizard101 is headed next - which could be to your pocket with a Wizard101 mobile port.
Since the console versions were announced, I've been curious to know why, after 18 years of live-service, Wizard101 is finally branching out to other platforms. Ruben tells me that this was intended from the very beginning." We found something that I wrote a week after I started back in 2007. I was like 'this should go on the DS, the Wii - whatever the consoles were at the time'". White agrees, adding that because he got his game development career started in PlayStation games, he had always been keen.
They tell me that, while it's always been in the back of the collective Kingsisle hivemind, making a great experience on PC was the priority until console was brought up by the company that acquired them in 2021, who gave them "a push". But porting any game is a mammoth task, and porting an old one comes with unique challenges because of the small matter of the engine.
"Wizard 101 uses the Gamebryo engine. It's about 22 or 23 years old now. It's done hundreds of amazing games over the years, including ours, but it's not an easy one to just take directly to modern consoles". Thankfully, after reaching out to "15 to 20" different companies, they found the expertise they needed.
Wizard101 on console needed at least four external brains and 12 from Kingsisle to come to life. "There's a few hundred actual interactable screens that come up that you have to click on or control. We tried to make sure to test every one of them", White says. As fun trivia for fans, he adds that the Crown Shop was a whole different story, as it's made with a "completely different tool that doesn't exist anymore".
Fortunately, the company which has expertise in porting Gamebryo games over to consoles happened to have hired the person who made the Crown Shop tool originally, so the shop was able to be moved over in its original state.
Now that a console version exists fully, which you can find out more about via my Wizard101 Nintendo Switch review, I want to know if the team has plans to make a mobile port of one of the best MMORPGs - after all, they've shown that the game can be transported over, it's just a question of 'if'. Ruben assures me that they've been considering it after the huge success of the console launch. "I'd say it's on the table, especially after expanding to console and seeing such success getting into another market". She also highlights that 50% of the games industry revenue is made up of mobile games, so it would be a great market for them to hit.
White gives us a little quiz to answer the question of mobile. "When did Wizard come out?" he asks, and Ruben and I both answer, "2008" in sync. White then says, "And when did the first iPhone come out? It was 2007. When Wizard came out, there were still no actual apps allowed to be made and put on the iPhone. It took them over a year before they allowed it to be an open marketplace for other companies to make apps. So Wizard is older than apps could be on the App Store".
That makes me feel old, personally, and both developers agree. White continues that while he does want to do a mobile version, he wants to make sure the console bug list is tidied up before exploring the option of an app. This essentially means: don't expect to see Wizard101 on mobile any time soon. The team is very busy with several secret projects, one of which could be mobile, but White has his hands still full with console for the time being.
What excites you the most about Wizard101 potentially coming to mobile? Have a chat with us over on the Pocket Tactics Discord if you'd like.