World Of Warcraft Retail Devs On Controller Support: "Never Say Never"

Published Sep 12, 2026, 10:26 PM EDT

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In case you missed it, World of Warcraft: Forever was announced today at BlizzCon for the first time. The leaks were true, and now we know that it's going to be a "classic" level 60 experience, with a few twists, like a completely reshaped Azeroth (with new zones and quests), as well as a brand-new race of Skyborne Elves.

But the team shared another bombshell after the Opening Ceremony: controller support is planned for Forever, and they're working to get it right for launch. We had the chance to interview several members of the development team for World of Warcraft: Midnight (also known as the "Retail" version of WoW, standing next to Forever and Classic), and they didn't rule it out.

When walking the showfloor today at BlizzCon, I noticed a little sign next to the demo stations for World of Warcraft: Forever, which is being shown off in a playable state. Here's the message that greets fans wanting to try out World of Warcraft: Forever at BlizzCon:

"Welcome and thank you for being one of the first people to try out World of Warcraft's new gamepad option! This experience is currently in an alpha state and the team is looking for feedback as we continue to make improvements. Currently the gamepad can be tested on the Skyborne 1-10 experience only, and not the dungeon playtest. The game will detect gamepad usage, so while in the Skyborne starting zone, press any button on the gamepad to switch."

Custom image by Katarina Cimbaljevic

This is a pretty big deal, as it potentially serves as a taste of what's to come in World of Warcraft. While WoW does technically have controller support through some fantastic add-ons and separate mods, players have wanted official plug-and-play controller support for WoW for many years.

When speaking to Paul Kubit, Associate Game Director, and Kim Flack, Senior Game Designer, in a roundtable interview, Kubit had a bit to say about controller support for World of Warcraft's retail component:

"So Retail does sort of have controller support using add-ons. Official out-of-the-box support is something we're super excited to add in Forever. Never say never for features like that [for Retail]. I think there are a lot of design questions to ask when you look at Modern World of Warcraft compared to Classic or Forever, just with the amount of key binds. But again, I think that the benefits you get from accesibility are obvious here. So we're going to pay a lot of close attention to how people react to the out-of-the-box controller support for Forever.

So there you have it. While World of Warcraft: Forever is getting controller support for sure, "out-of-the-box" and ready for launch, the jury is still out on Retail. The team wants to do it, but it's a matter of logistics, given the hundreds of additional factors to consider for the Retail edition, which has far more complex classes and abilities. After all, the plan is to have Forever capped at level 60 for the foreseeable future, so it's a lot easier to plan for.

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