Next Blizzard MMO is new IP

By Oli Welsh Published 13 May, 2009

It's also a "shell of a game".

Blizzard has confirmed that its next MMO won't belong to any of its existing game series, and is very early in development.

"We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it's a shell of a game thus far," said Blizzard poster Zarhym in a spirited response to some fan criticism of a perceived shift in the developer's direction.

"We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise," he said, although to be honest we can't remember Blizzard saying any such thing, "which means the lore, art, and gameplay are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this," Zahrym said.

Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce had already poured cold water on the idea of a StarCraft MMO, which has been the subject of speculation almost since World of Warcraft was announced.

Meanwhile, statements from Blizzard luminaries like president Mike Morhaime and designer Jeff Kaplan have strongly suggested the game will head in a different direction to WOW.

We won't know what that direction is for a very long time, but the news that Blizzard is definitely going to launch its first new intellectual property since StarCraft in 1998 is an exciting one all the same.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Skandalle #1 3 years ago

    Not even a niggle of a clue as to where they could take this, i was convinced "Universe of StarCraft" (or something like that) was on its way!

  • Innes #2 3 years ago

    Second.

  • LazyDan #3 3 years ago

    Fantasy, Sci-fi or modern world.


    I'm gonna go with Sci-fi, but then it seems weird that they'd do that and not use Starcraft.

  • UncleLou #4 3 years ago

    Surprising - could have sworn it will be Starcraft, too.

  • gmjapan #5 3 years ago

    Wonder what they rip-off and polish for an 'original IP' this time. Shell of a game so thats wot? 6years away?

  • seasidebaz #6 3 years ago

    Brand new franchise?

    I can see the board meetings already.

    "So, we're making this MMO, and it's got like aliens in it, and space marines and shit. It's like Starcraft but on a huge scale. We'll call it Starcraft Galaxies. We can put Terran, Zerg and Protoss in there, too."

    "No, we need new IP! We need FRANCHISE! Something we can use bleed our followers out of their money with all the MERCH and ACTION FIGURES. And COMICS. Stuff these geeks like."

    ...ten minutes later...

    "So, we're making this MMO, and it's got like aliens in it, and space marines and shit. It's like Starcraft but on a huge scale. We'll call it Mooncraft Galaxies. We can put Terrap, Flerg and Promoss in there, too."

    "Sounds good, get to work!"

  • TriggerHippie #7 3 years ago

    "So, we're making this MMO, and it's got like aliens in it, and space marines and Tauren and Dwarves and shit. We'll call it BlizzCraft Galaxies. We can put all our IPs into it!"

    "Whatever, just make sure no-one can even see a screenshot till 2013"

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #8 3 years ago

    Well the IP may be from scratch but it'll be illogical not to use WoW's engine to some degree. Turbine did it with DDO/LOTRO, CCP are doing it with EVE and WoD, even techically Cryptic are using the Mavel Universe engine they built for Champs (which could be reversed back to marvel), which also did CoV which is the CoH engine..

    So this new IP isn't that far off

  • LazyDan #9 3 years ago

    !!!

    SUPER SMASHCRAFT BRAWL

    Thrall VS Kerrigan

  • Eury #10 3 years ago

    There is no chance in hell that they will reuse the WoW engine. When this game gets released, somewhere after 2015, the WoW engine will be 15 years old or so. That is like id reusing the quake 1 engine.

  • JahB #11 3 years ago

    Turbine did it with DDO/LOTRO, CCP are doing it with EVE and WoD, even techically Cryptic are using the Mavel Universe engine they built for Champs (which could be reversed back to marvel), which also did CoV which is the CoH engine..

    i have no idea what you're talking about

  • zoidberg #12 3 years ago

    I really don't get Blizzard. In 2007 I played Starcraft II at the Leipzig Games Convention and it was superb! Full multiplayer combat. Terran and Protoss fully working. It may not have been perfectly balanced, but still. It was fully playable.

    That was almost 2 years ago and the game is not even in beta yet (according to the article quoted and previous news that the beta will start in the summer). Well hold on there skippy. This is quite interesting now.

    This is the same as the 2003-2005 Half Life 2 debacle.

    There were some gameplay movies surfaced after the HL2 unveiling and the content shown in them (which was 70% of the game) was SCRAPPED and set pieces COMPLETELY changed when the final game arrived in 2005. Why would they do that? Then those movies disappeared. Also, one of the movies showcased HDR lighting, which would not arrive until 2 years later (with Episode 1). I would love to get Valve's take on why the lying and hiding.

    Also, the leaked version of Half Life 2 (the one someone broke into Valve's computers for), contained a playable level called "Borealis", which is the EXACT level (and ship, mind you) that will appear in the upcoming Half Life 2: Episode 3 (it was mentioned at the end of Episode 2). They had HL2 and all the Episodes apparently "in the works" and somewhat playable in 2003-2004. Why the shuffle? Why change it all? Why make a WHOLE new HL2 when you had one ready? Why lie with the HDR?

    I may be one of the only ones to follow this, but at least I can provide screenshots and the raw material. The actual "Borealis" level, the early movies (showcasing HDR in HL2, not Source engine demos, 3 or 4 years before its launch) and more.

  • the_mtfr #13 3 years ago

    13th!!!!

    edit: damn. 14th!!!!!
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 10:42

  • the_mtfr #14 3 years ago

    @zoidberg, that reminds me a bit of Charlie Wiederhold's story about The Chair (the conspiracy of 3D Realms + Epic).

    edit: here's the link
    [link url=http://gamingisstupid.com/2009/05/06/the-chair-stor y-revival/
    ]http://ga mingisstupid.com/2009/05/06/the...[/link]
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 10:46

  • Sycopat #15 3 years ago

    @zoidberg

    I read an interview somewhere with some headguy at valve (Admittedly, I don't know who, or where I read it, and it might have been a video, it was a long time ago) where he admitted all that had happened. Now I didn't know at the time about any "debacle" but he was pretty up front about the changes having been made and attributed them to re-iteration and quality control.

    He admitted the borealis was coming back (And I think he mentioned the code for the level is actually still in HL2 by accident), and that the game originally was going to end in Nova Prospekt(which was much bigger) but they felt that they could do better if they switched some things around and spent more time polishing the game.

    Which makes sense because it happens in every entertainment industry. It's usually called editing. Or drafting.

  • Dr.Haggard #16 3 years ago

    @zoidberg - HL2 was released in 2004, only a year later than originally planned, not 2005. Where did you get the idea that the gameplay shown at E3 in 2003 represented "70% of the game"? They were just scripted set pieces, they weren't fragments of larger, completed levels and as it turned out they weren't even using fully functioning AI iirc. The game wasn't even close to being done at that point.

    You might find this interesting. Have you read Raising the Bar?

  • Dr.Haggard #17 3 years ago

    "They had HL2 and all the Episodes apparently "in the works" and somewhat playable in 2003-2004"

    The Borealis was originally meant to be the opening level of HL2, that's why it was there in 2003, not because they had the episodes planned out. That idea was scrapped and it was intended for the ship to make an appearance later in the game, but that too was scrapped and it became part of the story for the episodes.

  • bu5hhead #18 3 years ago

    @ Eury,

    They could use the same engine with polished graphics, afterall every single call of duty game including 4 and WaW are using a heavily modified "Id tech 3" which is the engine that run quake 3 and that was released back in 1999 so thats a decade of use out of that one.

  • Eury #19 3 years ago

    @ bu5hhead,
    You are right, but the WoW engine will be even older than a decade when this game is out, and I think Blizzard is going to go for a multiplatform release this time. Porting such an old engine to Playstation 4, Xbox 720 or whatever we have by then sounds like a nightmare to me.

    Add to the fact that last engine Blizzard tried to reuse was the Warcraft 2 engine to Starcraft, and they ended up completely rewriting that engine in 2 months after getting heavily criticized for "Warcraft in space".
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 12:37

  • geeza2020 #20 3 years ago

    wow!! Cant wait for the inevitable drib drab of screenshots that will drag this out over the next 4 or 5 years and Blizzards constant use of the line "its done when its done". woopee.

    JahB -

    Turbine did it with DDO/LOTRO, CCP are doing it with EVE and WoD, even techically Cryptic are using the Mavel Universe engine they built for Champs (which could be reversed back to marvel), which also did CoV which is the CoH engine..

    i have no idea what you're talking about

    - seriously made me chuckle. What is this strange language he is speaking?

  • Tio #21 3 years ago

    I think this time they will go for the Console market as well as the PC market , this is why to their diehard fans there will be no or little consternation. Lets face it for them its the final target to go for its the golden egg, for everyone, console players paying monthly subs to play a game and they (and all the other companies) are trying to get that nut cracked.

  • otto #22 3 years ago

    Will it have pre-patch firekicks though?

  • seasidebaz #23 3 years ago

    console players paying monthly subs to play a game

    But Microsoft do this already. It's called Live Gold.

  • daedaloz #24 3 years ago

    People Bitch whine alot about Blizzardīs policy "itīs done when itīs done" But think about this...

    EVERY blizzard game has been HUGE... HUUUUUUUUUGE sucesses.. WoW ? Most popular game in the world almost since release.. Starcraft 2 ? Gonna blow everybodys mind... Starcraft... still sucessfull... Diablo 1+2+3 Very very very popular game series.. and then the RTS of Warcraft which is also popular...

    conclusion?

    Yes Blizzard games take a while... hell.. even a shitload of time to make and release, HOWEVER, when they finally arrive.. they are miles and miles ahead of any other game out there.. and will continue to be so for several years.. so in retrospect.. Itīs not a bad thing :p

    Rather wait 5 years for a game thats totally gonna fucking blow my mind... than some shitty would-be halfassed game in 2 years.

  • Tio #25 3 years ago

    But Microsoft do this already. It's called Live Gold.


    Yeah maybe but thats a hell of a lot different...27.99 for a 13 months , not 8.99 per month...
    Paying Microsoft for more than playing one game , your paying for the whole service and playing all the games on their service, Blizz and other MMO's get paid for one game per month its a whole different ball game.

    I don't know the figures but I guess its a drop in the ocean (moneywise) to the 12 million paying monthly to Blizzard .

  • EmiliasHorse #26 3 years ago

    I hope to see another couple of expansions to WoW before the new MMO.

  • CouldntResist #27 3 years ago

    I love how people whine about release dates. These companies are not obligated to release a game just because you become impatient. They'll release it when it's done, when it's polished and when they think they've ironed out all major bugs.

    If people like CA had this kind of attitude i'd be a much happier gamer.

  • Worxu #28 3 years ago

    That's it! New IP is wonderful news. This game will shake the world! Looking forward to this while playing WoW :)