blizzard-mmo
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Blizzard says Titan unlikely to be subscription-based
No, Blizzard still hasn't made an official announcement about what we can expect from their upcoming Titan project -- which we've heard little about since its development was reset back in May. We still don't know much, but in an investor call today Mike Morhaime did say that Titan was "unlikely to be a subscription-based MMORPG." Of course, that still leaves plenty of room to speculate about what Titan actually will be. Will it be a free-to-play MMO or has Titan become something new entirely? With no official release date, only time will tell what Blizzard has in mind.
Blizzard CEO calls shipping an unfinished product, 'devastating'
When you're going to make a statement, you may as well make it a good one, right? Well, Blizzard CEO Paul Sams has delivered in that regard. Speaking with Gamesindustry.biz (a free account is required to read the whole article) Sams went on to make a bevy of remarks that reinforce the developer's stance of, "It's done when it's done." while also commenting on the "devastating" effects of shipping an unfinished product. So what gets devastated? The people who put in all those long hours of hard work, says Sams. We believe it, too. This kind of issue is bad for any game, but for an MMO we can only begin to imagine the sort of downtrodden emotions that can permeate a dev team after seeing their work pushed out into the world before it's ready. And while we all know MMOs are living, breathing things that are never "Finished." there's still a point where more gestation time is far better than getting pushed out the door prematurely.
Rumor: Blizzard's next MMO to be an MMOFPS
Yep, another MMO rumor for you guys about the Blizzard's next title. While Blizzard has been very adamant in saying that their next MMO would be very different from World of Warcraft, there might be more difference here than just the game's setting. The French gaming site NoFrag is reporting that Blizzard's next game will include an FPS portion as well as a social portion, splitting the player between two systems. While the player will be able to meet people, chat, and make friends in the social area of the game, they will also be able to then launch into the FPS portion with their friends and battle over objectives. Adding this to the widely spread rumor that this next game is going to be a sci-fi title and Kaplan's hints that the game might be hitting consoles? We have a feeling we might be looking at a cyberpunk setting here, if players are switching between two "modes" of play. The social play would be set in the real world while the FPS would be set in a virtual landscape. But, of course, that's just our best guess. [Via Blue's News]
Will Blizzard show their next MMO at BlizzCon 2010?
WoW.com's Zach Yonzon takes a speculative look at BlizzCon 2010 and all the possibilities that lie ahead. The article predicts that Blizzard will officially announce their sophomore MMO effort this year, which seems likely given StarCraft II's impending release and Diablo III being a known quantity. To top it off, the developer probably wouldn't mind stifling some of the substantial buzz building up around Star Wars: The Old Republic. We'd love to see the cyberpunk MMO described in the article, but who wouldn't want a sci-fi MMO that's like Diablo's dark fantasy to Warcraft's light-heartedness? Nobody (well, except for Blizzard) really knows what the future holds, although for now you can read about it and share your thoughts if that helps out -- at least, it helps us feel slightly less helpless when pondering our MMO gaming future.
What is Blizzard planning for its next MMO?
According to a recent interview with Wired's GameLife, Blizzard's next MMO project will be "Significantly different" than what they have now with World of Warcraft. This alleviates most concern over self-competition, since they seem fairly confident that the new MMO will scratch a new itch. And seriously, even if it did take players away from WoW, would it be such a bad thing for Blizzard?This interview with COO Paul Sams (by our own Tracey John) touches on much more than this next MMO, which Blizzard is understandably tight-lipped about. Sams discusses the future of WoW's expansions, the potential of Battle.net across multiple titles and even a bit on micro-transactions. So as we can only speculate at this point, what do you think will be Blizzard's next MMO?
First official confirmation that new Blizzard MMO is original IP
While we've had reason to believe that Blizzard's next MMO would be a new IP, but this marks the first occasion that we've had some kind of official confirmation of our speculation.In a post on the official World of Warcraft forums, Blizzard community manager Zarhym came out and said the new MMO was in fact an original IP, saying, "We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it's a shell of a game thus far. We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this." While it's no press release or big event reveal, this is certainly the closest we've come to someone officially with Blizzard saying that, yes, it's not a previously created franchise.So now that speculation on whether or not it's a new IP is over, we can begin to speculate on what genre this new IP will be! Science fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk or another fantasy setting? It's hard to say, although our hopes go for something decidedly not fantasy since Blizzard has already spent plenty of energy in those genres up to this point.
Surprises may loom in Wrath
Relmstein has posted a theory that Blizzard has been holding back some surprising features of the upcoming expansion Wrath of the Lich King. We've had no news about the expansion for quite awhile now, and no news might mean good news. In the near future, World of Warcraft will be facing some hefty competition from the MMO world, from games such as Warhammer Online. Relmstein has asserted that "Lake Wintergrasp, one hero class, and ten more levels...can't hold up the expansion". Compared to what the competition will have to offer, if Blizzard doesn't up their ante, the launch of Wrath of the Lich King could get lost in the mix. Of course, the expansion will also be including a new profession called inscription, as well as siege weapons, new NPC races, changeable hairstyles, new dances, and other interesting details. Askander, a commenter, pointed out that pre-BC, Blizzard withheld the announcement about the "Shaman/Paladin faction swap" until late in the game, surprising many players. While some players may remain cautiously skeptical, Tigole has been on the forums hinting of bigger things to come. What do you think? Does Blizzard have some dynamic plans in the works that they're not sharing for the upcoming expansion, or will they launch with only the announced features? Do you think they have underestimated their competition, or have grown distracted with development of their upcoming MMO and Starcraft 2? Wrath did make Yahoo!'s list of the most anticipated games of 2008, and was the only expansion listed. Can Wrath live up to our expectations without added features?
Blizzard is not even thinking about making World of Warcraft II
If you were hoping the next-gen Blizzard MMO currently in development would turn out to be World of Warcraft II, prepare to be disappointed. Blizzard's Frank Pearce told videogamer.com that the folks at Blizzard "haven't even started to think about a sequel" to World of Warcraft. So, we can knock one potential title off the "could be the next Blizzard MMO" list.We're not surprised. MMO sequels have had an uninspiring past. Ultima Worlds Online: Origin was canceled before it even reached the beta testing stage. EverQuest II and Lineage II have both been fairly successful but they've failed to attract anywhere near as many players as their predecessors. There's also the whole "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" thing. World of Warcraft is still growing in terms of global numbers (though that growth is probably mostly thanks to China). People numbering in the millions across all continents are still playing WoW. It might make sense to make another kind of MMO with a different sort of motif so as to expand your current base, but as for a sequel to WoW; what would be the point of spending millions of dollars to challenge your own throne?
