Hearthstone is a platform now. What does that mean?

Hearthstone made a number of interesting announcements during last month’s BlizzCon Online: a new expansion (Forged in the Barrens), a new mode (Mercenaries), and new mechanics. Now, this is the stuff that excites fans. But something that Hearthstone game director Ben Lee said that February day has stuck with me.

“We really think of Hearthstone as a platform card game,” Lee said, when talking about the growth of new modes within Blizzard’s collectible card game. This statement came after introducing Mercenaries, which blends strategy and role-playing game mechanics as you build teams of warriors; and talking about Battlegrounds, Standard, and Duels.