‘Warcraft 3: Reforged’ update: How the COVID-19 pandemic may or may not affect the game

While many fans already decided to refund the money they used to purchase “Warcraft 3: Reforged,” there are still gamers who decided to stay and play the remastered RTS. The game is obviously far from being perfect, but one has to wonder now how it is going to be affected by the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic.

Will a global health crisis affect ‘Warcraft 3: Reforged’?

The health crisis caused by the spread of novel coronavirus has affected every industry around the world, and the gaming community is not spared. Many video game companies have previously announced opting for a work-from-home setting despite having major projects in the works.

Blizzard project manager Jan Salvesen said in a tweet last month that most of their employees have been sent home to work remotely. It is unclear though which teams have been asked to leave the office to follow health and safety protocols, so this setup may or may not affect “Warcraft 3: Reforged.”

If the work-from-home setup affects “Warcraft 3: Reforged,” it is most likely going to manifest in the timing of the release of the next patch. It can be recalled that Blizzard announced having a dedicated team to work on monthly patches. “Alongside our continued efforts to bring monthly patches with bug fixes and quality of life changes, the team is prioritizing delivering features like Ranked Ladders, Profiles, Clans, and Custom Campaigns,” the developer promised.’

It is still quite early to determine if the April patch would be delayed. The first updates after the official launch of “Warcraft 3: Reforged” were deployed within the third week of the month.

‘Warcraft 3: Reforged’ yet to experience coronavirus-related issues

Meanwhile, the effects of COVID-19 has also been felt in Blizzard’s projects other than “Warcraft 3: Reforged.” It was announced last month that the highly anticipated Overwatch League events in March and this month have been canceled. Battle.net server outages have also been reported last month and were believed to be somehow caused by the COVID-19 pandemic with more gamers now stuck in their homes to quarantine.

Some gaming fans might still want to take their chance at playing “Warcraft 3: Reforged” despite its extremely low user reviews online. They can still purchase the game that includes a remastered copy of the base game and its expansion “The Frozen Throne.”