How Android and Asia are key to Blizzard's Hearthstone world-domination plans

Digital-card game Hearthstone played a significant role in helping Activision to a better-than-expected third-quarter, but the publisher is expecting the card battler to grow even further over the next year thanks to its expansion plans.

During a conference call with investors yesterday, Activision Blizzard highlighted how important Android is to Hearthstone. The collectible-card game is already a hit on PC, Mac, and iPad, and the company is planning to release it on Android tablets in the next few weeks. Versions for iPhone and Android follow in early 2015. As successful it is with hardcore gamers (20 million players; high praise from critics), it’s the Android version that could really help take Hearthstone’s profitability to the next level — and that’s all because of a few territories in Asia.