Magic: The Gathering has been around for over 25 years now in its paper form. It’s had an online presence for many of those years through Magic Online, but MTG Arena has been a massive step forward in how accessible and up-to-date the game is. Being able to play MTG Arena decks online whenever you want instead of at a local game store or through the old software of Magic Online has been an amazing experience.
Today in MTG Arena news, we have a possible answer to the long-asked question: “Will MTG Arena be coming to mobile?”
Will MTG Arena be coming to mobile?
We finally have a possible answer to that question with some MTG Arena news. It comes to us through a job posting for the position of Senior Software Engineering Lead on the Wizards of the Coast website.
In the qualifications section of the job listing, we see the following criteria that the ideal candidate would meet:
- Game development experience with multiple platforms (Windows, iOS, Andriod, etc.)
- Unity development (Unity is the engine in which Arena is built) and mobile development are a plus
What does this mean?
Initially, one might think this news is a solid confirmation that Magic: The Gathering Arena will be moving to mobile soon. In reality, wanting someone who is skilled at mobile game development is not uncommon for this industry and could just be a standard desire for game development these days since mobile is such a booming market.
Additionally, there was a bit of Magic: The Gathering news about a year ago about a mobile game called Project M. Stating that mobile development is needed for this job may simply indicate that Wizards of the Coast needs another designer for this new game. However, Wizards publicly announced that they were working alongside South Korean company Netmarble to produce Project M. Hiring a new person to work on the game seems a little odd unless someone else got fired or moved from the project that has been in development since early 2018 (if not earlier).
Wizards of the Coast could also be experimenting with a companion app. This would be an application you can download on your phone that would hook up with your MTG Arena account so you could build, save, share, or copy MTG Arena decks from your phone wherever you are.
We really don’t know why they’re hiring more mobile developers, but we do know that it’s in an effort to make Magic: The Gathering more accessible to more people.
Arena needs to be available on mobile
Arena coming to mobile would be huge news and a big improvement in accessibility. Currently, one of MTG’s biggest competitors is Hearthstone. In addition to having a PC client, Hearthstone has a functional (if somewhat lackluster) mobile client as well so that anyone with a phone can play the game. Because of the need to compete in the digital card game market, MTG Arena moving to mobile is almost a guaranteed ‘when,’ not ‘if.’
Hearthstone has been in a decline in recent years, and MTG Arena has been a massive success so far. If Wizards of the Coast wants to blow their competition out of the water, a mobile client is exactly what they need. If people can play their MTG Arena decks at home and on the go, there really won’t be a reason to even have Hearthstone downloaded if the player likes Arena more.
This job offer simply shows that Wizards knows they need mobile development.
Conclusion
So, is MTG Arena coming to mobile? Most likely yes, but it will be in the future. I wouldn’t expect news like that to be announced for at least several months if even this year. Until then, thanks for reading this Magic: The Gathering news everyone, I’ll see you in the Arena!
