Blizzard looks at ways to bring World of Warcraft into eSports limelight

At 10 years of age, World of Warcraft was born before the modern explosion in eSports. But Blizzard still sees a future nexus for its hugely popular multiplayer adventure and live competitive entertainment.

"I can definitely say that WoW 3v3 Arena right now is kind of hard to watch, in the form that it is," Kim Phan, Blizzard's head of eSports, told PCGamesN. "And so there are things that we want to evaluate."

Blizzard is currently enjoying a smash success with Hearthstone, which is a hit as a spectator event. But the problem of how to retool WoW for audience enjoyment is taxing the company.

"World of Warcraft was obviously created well before eSports blew up to the way it is now," Phan said. "It is taking a game that was out before all of this happened, and then figuring out how to enhance it and support it.

"Ideas have been brought up like Battlegrounds. People enjoy watching live raids at BlizzCon," added Phan. "What makes something an eSport really depends on what people want to see. We are taking a close look into how we can better support eSports."