After confirming it was working on a new massively multiplayer game in 2007, Blizzard Entertainment has divulged only a few details on the project. Today at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in San Francisco, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick offered another breadcrumb of information about the unnamed title--which won't be a competitor to World of Warcraft.
When asked about the efforts behind the new Battle.net online gaming service, Kotick listed Blizzard's upcoming slate. "What we've announced at Blizzard is that we have Starcraft [II] coming, Diablo has been in production?and a new, unannounced MMO that has a little more broad appeal," said the executive.
Kotick's talk of a more accessible MMORPG ads a bit more detail to the still very sketchy picture of Blizzard's mystery-shrouded project. Before officially acknowledging it was in development in 2007, Blizzard said that any new massively multiplayer game it may would not be a World of Warcraft clone. This February, now-ex-World of Warcraft game director Jeff Kaplan began working full-time on the unnamed title, which will be a brand-new property.
Besides mentioning the Blizzard MMORPG and Activision's plans to begin bypassing consoles, Kotick dropped hints of what features the new Battle.net might have. "As we start to add cash play and prize play and better rewards and recognition systems that come through the Internet, you will start to see audiences expand even further," said Kotick, showing a slide of a BlizzCon StarCraft II tournament.
When asked if Kotick's comments meant that cash prizes would be awarded directly over Battle.net, a Blizzard rep pointed out his company's longstanding tradition of having contests that begin online and end at BlizzCon with large cash prizes. "Tournament play and e-sports have been part of the Battle.net experience for years," said the rep, who declined to comment further.
Thats the funny part, really. I wouldn't mind if WoW actually wasn't a casual game, but heck, I have never seen a more casual MMO than WoW (in its current state). I can say I'm not touching any of Blizzard's MMO unless they come up with something revolutionary, which they won't. Casual lifeless crap like WoW have wasted my life enough.
So... how many hard modes have you completed on Heroic Raid difficulty?
I think it will really define Blizzard as a company for the next generation.
A new IP will make or break them IMHO.
They will either create another masterpiece as they did with Warcraft and Diablo, or a complete failure of a game "a la" Flagship Studios. ( Though very improbable)
It just depends on how gutsy they are willing to get with a new concept.
They have been running on safety wheels since the release of their original games in the mid 90's. With such a large fanbase it was hard for them to mess up a game whenever it sported the title (Starcraft,Warcraft or D) They were sure people would buy it and play it.
However with a totally unknown game coming out, and no die hard fans, it will finally test the modern day gaming giant as a company. People will then know if it was the original games that were "bigger than life", or was it Blizzard all along.