Are you ready for Blizzard’s next MMO? Their first since 2004’s World of Warcraft? Well, tough, Blizzard’s not done making it.
The game is codenamed Titan and has been in development for a long, long time. What kind of game is it? We know it’s supposed to have broad appeal. We know that Blizzard has top people working on it. Hey, maybe it’s a sci-fi shooter. Who knows! All we’ve got is the second-ever Kotaku Timeline to show you how the game has been taking shape in the public eye.
Rumours about the game began appearing as far back as 2005. And so that’s when our timeline — which we will update in the months and years to come — begins…
With Blizzcon only a month away and plans to announce an expansion pack for World of Warcraft documented, what other tricks could Blizzard possibly have up their sleeve?
Chris Morris, Game Over’s excellent scribe at CNN/Money gushed about WoW’s success earlier this month. A telling quote by vice president of business operations Paul Sams hinted at what could be next for the developer, “When you look at our history you’ll find we very much support our franchises. Whether those will go into the MMOG arena, I’m not willing to say. But WoW has been going very nice for us, so we would be crazy to not be considering that.”
Alright sleuths, get digging. That quote points to another Blizzard franchise heading to the MMO world sooner or later, so what will it be? And more importantly when, sooner, or later? Here’s hoping Starcraft heads to the MMO realm next and that Blizzard is going to announce it at Blizzcon. Wild speculation? Sure. But since I can’t figure out the Origen puzzle, I need something to throw ideas at.
Blizzard will be making a “major product announcement” in 2007, according to an IGN interview with the developers’ COO.
Paul Sams told IGN that Blizzard was currently working on at least three other unannounced titles at the moment and, just to rub it in, dropped StarCraft’s name.
“StarCraft is my absolutely favorite game of all time,” Sams told us. “As you probably already know, there is no doubt that we will continue the StarCraft and Diablo franchise, and trust me, I will be the happiest person in the world when we announce StarCraft 2.”
I’m not sure which I want to see more: StarCraft 2 or Diablo 3.
GC 2006: StarCraft 2 Hints Dropped? [IGN]
A sharp-eyed reader points out that Blizzard added three new positions on their job openings page yesterday for a “next-gen MMO.”
The company is looking for a lead engine programmer, lead tools programmer and lead technical artist. While the reader theorizes that this is for a console port of World of Warcraft, my money is on World of Starcraft or something like it.
Remember, yesterday was also when Blizzard told us that they intend to announce a new product at the Worldwide Invitational in Korea on May 19. They also said they do plan to revisit the StarCraft universe at some point in the future.
What do you think? A new World of Warcraft, a Starcraft MMO, oooh, maybe Lost Vikings the MMO?
Job Postings [Blizzard — thanks Ryne]
Is there MMORPG life after World of Warcraft? Blizzard’s first MMO has not only been a huge cashcow for the developer, but nothing sort of a cultural phenomenon. So bring on that follow-up! WoW lead designer Jeffrey Kaplan says:
As far was working on another MMO project or a WoW 2, obviously as a company we’d be very interested in further exploring the MMO space.
Gasp. Something that has proven very profitable, and Blizzard wants to further explore it? Kaplan also adds that Blizzard doesn’t have “anything official” to add and that the developer is “definitely looking towards the future as well.” Yes, the future!
Future MMO [CVG]
Back in April we reported on Blizzard’s jobs site listing positions opening for a “next-gen MMO”, which of course led to wild shouts of “World of Starcraft!”, “World of Diablo!”, and my personal favorite, “World of Lost Vikings!, while some speculated that the job listings were simply for work on a World of Warcraft expansion. The issue was brought up in the WoW forums earlier this month, which garnered the highly-revered blue response!
No, it is an unannounced Next-Gen MMO.
And that doesn’t mean an expansion for World of Warcraft either.
For those of you with lives, the blue post on the WoW forums is the color of Blizzard staffers—in this case Drysc—and considered sacrosanct by the WoW community. While we still don’t know exactly what it is, we at least know what it’s not.
New MMO from Blizzard in the works [WoW Forums via GamesIndustry.biz]
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Kotaku takes a look at Blizzard senior artist Nick Carver’s work, who is currently working on Titan, among other projects.
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blizzard entertainment
publisher:
blizzard entertainment
platform:
tba
release date:
tba
genre:
massively multiplayer online game
modes:
online multiplayer only
rating:
tba
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