Blizzard Hits 30M Player Mark With 'Hearthstone' Following iPhone Launch In April

Visitors play ''Starcraft'' at the Blizzard exhibition stand during the Gamescom 2011 fair in Cologne August 18, 2011. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 17 to August 21. Reuters/Ina Fassbender

Blizzard Entertainment is a videogame maker that believes in quality over quantity. The highly successful entity in the videogame business may not pump out games by the dozens each year like dominant publishers such as Electronic Arts and Activision, but the odd game it releases every couple of years is guaranteed to garner both commercial and critical success. "Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft" is no different. The game has just reached an impressive milestone of 30 million players.

Blizzard announced the milestone from the game's official Twitter account. The free-to-play collectible card game is atypical of the usual genre of games released by the company and caught seasoned Blizzard fans by surprise. However, the game was quickly lapped by genre loyalists and newcomers alike thanks to a combination of excellent gameplay mechanics and arguably the best presentation and graphics the genre has witnessed. This is apparent by the fact that the year old game still continues to draw in new players.

Game Informer reports that "Hearthstone" has added five million additional players since January 2015. Much of the game's success is rooted in its ability appeal to hardcore collectible card game fans as well as those loyal to the well-established "Warcraft" franchise. The company has further consolidated the game's reach by bringing it to Apple iPad and Android tablets, followed by a reworked smartphone version compatible with Android and iOS devices.

Additionally, tapping the mobile markets has allowed the game to reach a wider casual audience, which can now tap into a genre that was otherwise restricted to a niche of collectible card gaming enthusiasts. Polygon notes that the iOS smartphone version was introduced in April, so the game is most likely expected to register an even more impressive player count in the coming months. Gamespot points out that the recent spike in player count could also be attributed to the "Blackrock Mountain Adventure" add-on that was launched in April.

It's no surprise that gamers have lapped up "Hearthstone" and are genuinely enjoying it on desktops and mobile gaming platforms alike. However, Blizzard hasn't revealed the economics underpinning the landmark. The free-to-play nature of the game means that the company cannot make money from installs alone. The real source of income lies within in microtransactions that have been incorporated within the core game. So far, Blizzard hasn't revealed raw numbers on the sort of money it has managed to make from the free-to-play game.

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