Blizzard reveals Hearthstone, its first free-to-play game

Today as part of a panel at PAX East 2013, Diablo III developer Blizzard Entertainment revealed Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a free-to-play collectible card game based in the popular Warcraft universe. This is the company's first free-to-play game, and comes as part of its aim to attempt something a bit more experimental and "scrappy" than its usual huge AAA releases, as Blizzard looks to "step outside our comfort zone." A new team has been set up to create the game within the company, made up of just 15 developers, and the idea is that this will lead to faster development cycles. Blizzard says that the game will provide over 300 cards to play around with, and players can purchase booster packs to get new cards for their decks. Each pack of new cards will cost around a dollar. It's currently possible to sign up for the beta at the official Hearthstone website, and Blizzard says the beta will be available this summer, with the full release for the end of the year. The game is coming to Windows PC, Mac, and iPad.