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It has been a long road to release for Mojang’s card battler Scrolls , but it seems that it’s coming to an end.
, but it seems that it’s coming to an end. Nearly four years since the project was announced, the studio has announced that Scrolls will see a full release before the end of November.
Scrolls spent much of 2011 as the subject of legal wranglings with game publisher Zenimaxover the perceived similarity of its name to The Elder Scrolls series. While Mojang founder Markus ‘Notch’ Persson offered to settle the situation with a duel, its eventual resolution was far more mundane; ZeniMax would retain a broad trademark on the word ‘Scrolls’, but Mojang could use it for their game.
Using a similar approach to that which made Minecraft such a huge success, Scrolls has been the focus of extended Alpha and Beta tests. However, part of the reason that it worked so effectively with Minecraft was that its sandbox structure was ripe for continued additions, which attracted a huge audience even before the game was nearing a complete product. No one would have expected Scrolls to match the unprecedented success of Minecraft , but a healthy userbase is critical to any card battler that boasts a multiplayer mode.
Indeed, the fate of Scrolls could be a sign of things to come for Mojang in general. When Microsoft purchased the company earlier this year, there were fears that the studio was to be turned into a Minecraft factory — and the departure of Notch seemed to add credence to that theory.
If Scrolls can find an audience – and the recent price dropwill help – then it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the studio continue to work on a range of projects alongside their commitments to the future of Minecraft . However, if it can’t, there’s a good chance that we’ll see a change in what Mojang puts out; paired with the cancelled 0x10c , if the game isn’t popular then the past few years of non- Minecraft development at Mojang will seem like something of a waste.
While Scrolls certainly puts its own spin on the genre, it’s lengthy development has allowed time for Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft to gain a considerable foothold for players looking for a similar experience. It will certainly be interesting to see how audiences take to Scrolls — and if Mojang can knock Hearthstone off its perch.
Scrolls is expected to release in late November, and will be available for cross-platform play on mobile devices and PC.
Source: Touch Arcade