Blizzard Restarts "Titan" Project, Won't See Release Until 2016

[Colt47]

I'll be very surprised if 'Titan' even is an MMO in the current sense of the word. The last thing Blizzard should ever do is invite comparisons to their other MMO.

Because, really, how would you follow up World of Warcraft? How would you follow up an MMO that's been so uniquely successful that its very existence distorts the expectations of the entire genre? No other MMO has come close to being the fabled WoW-killer, and no other MMO ever will, except by accident. Not even one made by Blizzard.

That aside, there's a real risk now that this project will be quietly killed if WoW's decline isn't reversed, or at least halted. By any normal standard it's still doing extremely well, but I imagine Acti-Blizz have a very different idea of what constitutes 'success' for WoW.

It's human greed. When we were young and we got our first allowance what was the first thing we did with it? Run off and spend it all on something. After that caution sets in and later on the desire for even more wealth comes. Then we get more money and we end up doing the same thing as before. Eventually everyone gets to the point where it balances out, but keep in mind that Bliz-Activision has had the biggest of allowances in the world thanks to the success of their MMO.

At least, that is my take on the situation.

 

[Marowit]

Probably an expansion to that silly online card game thing they released...The good stuff takes a while to develop guys...

 

[irok]

Eh eh eh! I just wanna know wtf it is! Take all the time you want, just tell me!

Well it's a "causualised" sci-fi mmorpg, so take that for what you will but yes more info would be nice.

Can they really causualise mmos any more, I mean you are forced through tutorials for gameplay that a child could master, they are scarcely better then quick time events in terms of gameplay the only non casual thing is the amount of grind and most of them are getting rid of that as well.

 

[Jadak]

2016 is what they're saying? So 2030 is when we should realistically expect it?

That's ridiculous. No later than 2023.

 

[JayRPG]

It seems like they came to the conclusion most of us would have come to without ever seeing the game.

A game in development 6 years is most likely going to be shit in one way or another by 'modern standards'.

WoW was in development so long (I believe only 4 years though) that it launched with dated graphics, this didn't take much away from the game but it still shows the problem with having such long development times.

It's all well and good thinking "6 years! wow, they really care about the quality of this game!" but it just makes me think "What could they possibly STILL be doing after 6 years?"

Games take time, I know, and usually the longer you take to do something, the more time you have to perfect it but surely there is a point where it's just getting stupid.

It would've been like starting a game using the frostbite 1.0 engine in 2008 and not finishing until it until 2014 - That engine would be on 3.0 (and would have gone through 3 iterations) by the time you released it... of course it is going to be graphically and technically dated...

 

[Frostbite3789]

That's ridiculous. No later than 2023.

Lets give them a little cushion. 2025.

 

[Breywood]

If you've been waiting for Blizzard's unannounced next-gen MMO project "Titan," you may want to stop holding your breath. Despite apparently being in development since 2011, when Blizzard said it had assembled "Some of our most experienced developers" for the project, it now seems that the team has been drastically cut back, development completely reset, and the game's estimated release delayed until 2016 at the earliest. Blizzard chief operating officer Paul Sams once told us that "Titan" will "blow people's minds." I guess our minds will remain intact for quite a while longer.

I remember the exact same thing said about Diablo III. I guess I'm lucky that it told me after over twelve hours of downloading a guest pass on my old P4 that it told me that my video card wasn't supported. Very lucky.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

The problem with Titan is that from the way it sounds on the developer end, they are building this game on the basis of how they can make the most money. World of Warcraft was a labor of love when it came out, unlike what some people might believe, as it was Blizzards first foray into Massive Multiplayer Online Games when the genre was still fairly new. Money was on the mind, but it was also about building an enjoyable game from both the player and developer perspective.

In a way, extreme financial success in the gaming industry is both a goal and the kiss of death for studios it seems.

Fortunately, they've admitted that this strategy didn't work well with Diablo 3, and I'm willing to bet that has something to do with why they're rebuilding it from scratch.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

My guess as to why? It was probably really similar to Bungie's upcoming "Destiny", so they had to do something different. Here's hoping Titan let's me play as the Aliens that wanna destroy the gosh dang Humans instead of just the Human forces! (Seriously, let me play as the gosh dang Aliens!)

 

[walrusaurus]

Eh eh eh! I just wanna know wtf it is! Take all the time you want, just tell me!

Well it's a "causualised" sci-fi mmorpg, so take that for what you will but yes more info would be nice.

You have a source for that? I'm fairly confident that blizzard has said absolutely nothing about what the project is. I fail to see how repeating snarky forum snipes at blizzard as fact has any value. Dunno when Blizzard became the new cool dev to hate, last i checked Squareenix hadn't done anything redeeming to be kicked from that throne.

Wait. I thought 'Titan' was the Marvel thing they made...

And if they've got 70 developers off the project what exactly are they working on? Hats for Marvel Heroes?

Blizzard has never made anything even vaguely connected to the Marvel Universe. Marvel heroes is made by Gazillion Entertainment, not Blizzard Entertainment.

 

[Ishal]

Blizz does it again. And it's a good thing; It shows that the merger hasn't hit their sense of quality. Whether you like their games or not, it is fairly indisputable that their products work and work well.

Umm... Diablo 3 launch? I don't know about indisputable.

I agree that their sense of quality is very much intact though. Diablo 3 was a hiccup, but still, it happened. World of Warcraft and Starcraft are giants in their arena's due to Blizzard's sense of quality. I think Titan will be something interesting.

I think the merger with Activision is something people equate with EA buying up companies and killing them, and those two things =/=

Activision from what I've seen has taken a hands off approach to a lot of the companies its acquired/becoming partnered with. I think Bungie's Destiny will be something great with little negative involvement with Activision.

 

[tardcore]

It sounds to me like they were working on the project the same way Bioware did with SWTOR, going great guns and throwing all the manpower they could at it, and then hit a snag. But unlike Bioware who just kept shoveling more and more money on the fire when they realized they'd screwed the pooch like some demented furnace stoker, Blizzard decided to say fuck this noise and start over. And decided to do so with a streamlined team. Could be a good thing, we'll just have to see. All I can say is if Blizzard does manage to make this a good MMO I'm hoping the nursing home I'll be in by the time it comes to market has good internet service.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

You have a source for that? I'm fairly confident that blizzard has said absolutely nothing about what the project is. I fail to see how repeating snarky forum snipes at blizzard as fact has any value. Dunno when Blizzard became the new cool dev to hate, last i checked Squareenix hadn't done anything redeeming to be kicked from that throne.

http://titanfocus.info/_/news/rumors-leaks/project-titan-info-leak-esports-jay-wilson-blizzcon-2013-and-more-r65 and inside information, which can't be collaborated, although I knew this many years ago but if things get redesigned then all bets are off.

 

[CriticalMiss]

Wait. I thought 'Titan' was the Marvel thing they made...

And if they've got 70 developers off the project what exactly are they working on? Hats for Marvel Heroes?

Blizzard has never made anything even vaguely connected to the Marvel Universe. Marvel heroes is made by Gazillion Entertainment, not Blizzard Entertainment.

The plot thickens... Now I'm imagining them working on stuff they aren't connected to. I should give up this 'gamer' thing. I really have no idea how I managed to get Blizzard working on the game they never worked on, probably a mix of sleep deprivation and only half reading articles on games I'm not that interested in (Marvel Heroes).

At least 'gazillion' and 'blizzard' have a few letters in common.

 

[Ickabod]

So they learned that the real money AH didn't work and they need to retool that. They also learned that the MMO market is changing and what worked for WoW might not work in the future. So the entire game has to be redesigned to be "more"

This looks like a good thing to me.

 

[Seydaman]

Eh eh eh! I just wanna know wtf it is! Take all the time you want, just tell me!

Well it's a "causualised" sci-fi mmorpg, so take that for what you will but yes more info would be nice.

Can they really causualise mmos any more, I mean you are forced through tutorials for gameplay that a child could master, they are scarcely better then quick time events in terms of gameplay the only non casual thing is the amount of grind and most of them are getting rid of that as well.

Huh. Granted the last time I played WoW was in the release of Cata, and I did play D3. I don't recall any shitty tutorials or even really casual-ization of anything.

But all games, eventually, are either planning, or quick time events. At their core that is, everything else is just dressing.

 

[CosmoJoe]

It seems like they came to the conclusion most of us would have come to without ever seeing the game.

A game in development 6 years is most likely going to be shit in one way or another by 'modern standards'.

WoW was in development so long (I believe only 4 years though) that it launched with dated graphics, this didn't take much away from the game but it still shows the problem with having such long development times.

Actually I think Blizzard was very smart about the art/graphics for WoW. The cartoon-ish look they went with has a very distinct style and I find it rather endearing. That sort of style also ages a lot better than if they had gone with a more realistic look for the models; just IMHO.

I really think people put too much stock in tech specs and graphics engines. The feel of the game is also really critical. One thing I will say about WoW is the feel of the game is extremely smooth and responsive. Almost every MMO I have played since, while looking better, has felt a bit off. Either the animations are sloppy, or the jumping, etc is just not that responsive and makes for a clunky play experience.

 

[lacktheknack]

You have a source for that? I'm fairly confident that blizzard has said absolutely nothing about what the project is. I fail to see how repeating snarky forum snipes at blizzard as fact has any value. Dunno when Blizzard became the new cool dev to hate, last i checked Squareenix hadn't done anything redeeming to be kicked from that throne.

They published Tomb Raider. Yeah, they stumbled a bit when they revealed that it was a flop (and all the question marks immediately sprouted from everyone's heads), but still.

Blizzard has been cool to hate ever since Diablo 3, and had the germinating seeds of public hatred ever since they cancelled Starcraft: Ghost.

 

[shintakie10]

It seems like they came to the conclusion most of us would have come to without ever seeing the game.

A game in development 6 years is most likely going to be shit in one way or another by 'modern standards'.

WoW was in development so long (I believe only 4 years though) that it launched with dated graphics, this didn't take much away from the game but it still shows the problem with having such long development times.

Actually I think Blizzard was very smart about the art/graphics for WoW. The cartoon-ish look they went with has a very distinct style and I find it rather endearing. That sort of style also ages a lot better than if they had gone with a more realistic look for the models; just IMHO.

I really think people put too much stock in tech specs and graphics engines. The feel of the game is also really critical. One thing I will say about WoW is the feel of the game is extremely smooth and responsive. Almost every MMO I have played since, while looking better, has felt a bit off. Either the animations are sloppy, or the jumping, etc is just not that responsive and makes for a clunky play experience.

Great example of that, look at LOTRO. At the time it was considered to have cutting edge graphics and the comparisons to WoW's cartooney graphics. Now look at them. LOTRO looks like meh compared to recent MMO's and WoW still looks great.

Aesthetics > graphics every single time because eventually graphics will get better. A great aesthetic always looks good.

On topic! Assumed this would happen at some point. It happened with Diablo. It happened with Starcraft. They cancelled more than 1 project they thought wasn't comin out right. Its what Blizzard does and its why I love em.

A game in development 6 years is most likely going to be shit in one way or another by 'modern standards'.

It's all well and good thinking "6 years! wow, they really care about the quality of this game!" but it just makes me think "What could they possibly STILL be doing after 6 years?"

I wonder if you'll have the same thoughts if Half Life 3 ever gets released.

 

[Gregg Johnson]

Hm. So, basically, midway through production they decided it was going to be utter shit, and had to start over from scratch?

For the Blizzard of today, this does not surprise me.

It was also true of the Blizzard of yesterday. Starcraft: Ghost, for instance, was cancelled long before they merged with Activision.

When you're making an MMO, you really don't want to screw it up.

Edit: Oh, awks, someone's mentioned this before me. Well, uh... let this be a lesson to you!

Oh, I forgot about Ghost! Holy crap, that takes me back...