Blizzard Confirms New MMOG Is New Franchise

[Keane Ng]

Blizzard Confirms New MMOG Is New Franchise

Any hopes for World of Diablo/Starcraft/Lost Vikings should be promptly flushed down the drain, as Blizzard has confirmed that their new and unannounced MMOG is a new franchise being built "entirely from scratch."

Bad news for anyone hoping that Blizzard would be giving one of their other marquee franchises the World of Warcraft treatment with their new and still-unannounced MMOG. World of Diablo? Not happening. World of Starcraft? Nope. World of Lost Vikings? I'll keep the dream alive, but it's a flame barely burning.

The confirmation comes by way of a post [http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16903519279&postId=169024684459&sid=1#20] on the official WoW forums by a community manager Zarhym. In his extensive response in a thread speculating that Blizzard is going the way of Everquest studio Sony Online Entertainment, Zarhym, in the process of rebuking some points, revealed that the new MMOG will "be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch."

So while that's bad news for anyone hoping Blizzard would retread its old franchises, it's good news for people who have been wishing for the studio to try something new. Unfortunately, it sounds like it's going to take a long time. Building games from scratch is "an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel," Zarhym said.

Considering he also reminded everyone that "games take years to develop from concept to release," and that he describes the new MMOG as "a shell of a game thus far," I don't even know if we should expect an announcement at this year's Blizzcon.


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[uppitycracker]

Lol this has been confirmed in several interviews, in fact part of that quote that was left out is "We've already stated it...". Every site seems to be acting like this is news, just seems overlooked IMO.

 

[Omgsarge]

Come on Blizzard...come on. Where is my damn Lost Vikings sequel? I have been waiting for it longer then Starcraft 2. I want to see my favourite Vikings solving head crunching puzzles and drive my fellow player insane with reckless moves.

Really, a good move by Blizzard. I'm really interested to see what new IP they can come up with. I hope it's something that's radically different from their already established ones. Does it have to be a MMORPG from the get go, though? :s

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

It's pretty cool that they're making new stuff, not totally milking Starcraft, Diablo or Warcraft.

 

[Christemo]

cool, it might get as awesome as wow is.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Blizzard are doing something new by making an MMO??

...Am I missing something here? Are they seriously going to create a new franchise out of an oversatured market. Saturated by them, no less.

 

[Raziel5150]

cool, it might get as awesome as wow is.

I'm hoping it'll be better than WoW in terms of depth & storyline. I know there a lot of WoW fans out there, but for me the game was basically an "MMO for Dummies". Every quest showers you w/ exp & gold, so there's no real way to suck at the game. The only time you need to group up w/ anyone to accomplish anything are on raids, which don't really carry a storyline. They're just about getting really good items. That's not to say WoW didn't have some good points, but I was hoping for more varied quests & something w/ a storyline to keep me interested. WoW didn't do that for me.

Now that my little rant is out of the way, I truly hope Blizzard does make something that will breathe new life into an overcrowded genre. They've made great games before (Starcraft being my personal favorite) & I'm looking forward to them creating an MMO w/ a wonderful storyline.

 

[InProgress]

Yay! More games that feel like coffee grinders! Oh, Blizzard, you slowly die in my eyes.

 

[Sanaj]

It's pretty cool that they're making new stuff, not totally milking Starcraft, Diablo or Warcraft.

Ah, you mean Blizzard aren't going for the typical EA re-release strategy then.

If, there is an announcement at this year's Blizzcon, it most likely won't go much further in depth than:

'It's new MMO that's not a previous franchise, it will take quite some time.'

I find it sad when a developer going for new games instead of just sequels, receives negative feedback for it.
It's a necessary and important part of game design.

 

[Falien]

NO! I WANTED MY WORLD OF LOST VIKINGS!

I wanted World of Blackthorne...

 

[Lord_Panzer]

Blizzard are doing something new by making an MMO??

...Am I missing something here? Are they seriously going to create a new franchise out of an oversatured market. Saturated by them, no less.

Seconded as absolutely as one can second something.

GIVE ME STARCRAFT: GHOST, DAMNIT!

 

[Keane Ng]

Blizzard are doing something new by making an MMO??

...Am I missing something here? Are they seriously going to create a new franchise out of an oversatured market. Saturated by them, no less.

Good point. Could be a fresh take on the genre, though.

 

[Gamer137]

That was a close call. Let's avoid a Starcraft MMO.

 

[timmytom1]

It's pretty cool that they're making new stuff, not totally milking Starcraft, Diablo or Warcraft.

No they`re just milking the WOW template

 

[Rhayn]

That they're making a new MMO is neither news nor a suprise - WoW's coming to it's end. But will it be as popular? I want to say it won't, but I've come to expect quality from Blizzard.

I'm completley out of ideas what the new franchise could be about though, somekind of steampunk/fantasy-thing?

No... no. Be it any way, I've got 30 fake internet dollars on the game being released in Q3 2013.

 

[John Funk]

It's pretty cool that they're making new stuff, not totally milking Starcraft, Diablo or Warcraft.

No thy`re just milking the WOW template

That'd be foolish of them. Why cannibalize their own game?

It's in their best interest financially to do something completely different. Single-shard, steampunk, sci-fi, MMOFPS, whatever. Anything to make it as different from WoW as possible.

 

[asiepshtain]

good, good, good. I'm very happy to see this verified, there are some seriously creative people at blizzard and letting them create a whole new world is more then I can ask. Sad it will be at least three years before we can play it.

 

[SonofSeth]

good, good, good. I'm very happy to see this verified, there are some seriously creative people at blizzard and letting them create a whole new world is more then I can ask. Sad it will be at least three years before we can play it.

More like 3 years before they announce it.