Blizzards next MMO is........

[Mrbloodworth]

Unknown.




But they have confirmed that they have one in the chamber.

    It's been assumed for quite some time that Blizzard Entertainment is working on a new massively multiplayer online game. In April, Blizzard indicated a "next-gen MMO" was in the works by way of job listings on its official Web site. Playing coy, however, the World of Warcraft developer simply noted that it had a number of unannounced projects under its awnings, but no official confirmation of a new title would be forthcoming.

    At this year's Austin Game Developer's Conference, Blizzard CEO Michael Morhaime reiterated that fact, saying the studio was "starting to think about what we want to do next," but that Blizzard wouldn't be ready to open up about a new project "probably not for a long time."

    That time is apparently drawing nearer--somewhat, at least. After a new batch of job requisitions were posted to Blizzard's Web site, WOW fans flocked to the game's message boards to salivate over the prospects of World of Guitar Hero--stemming from the developer's recent merger with megapublisher Activision. After a fan speculated that the openings were simply for Wrath of the Lich King--announced during this year's BlizzCon as the second expansion to WOW--a Blizzard community representative for the first time officially confirmed that Blizzard was working on a new MMOG.

Let the speculation begin.

Source

[Draegan]

It's obviously going to be Starcraft Universe.  With SC2 coming out then a year or two later an expansion then a year after that an MMO.  If it ain't broke don't fix it, and it worked wonders for their Warcraft franchise.  So that's about 4-5 years from now.  Enough time for Blizzard to milk more monies from 1-2 more expansions.

[Modern Angel]

They've had job postings saying "NEXT GEN MMO" for months now on their website. I'm not sure why mmorpg is all jumping on it now.

[Kirth]

yeh i know its fake, but thought I'd drag it out for this thread.

[Soukyan]

It's obviously going to be Starcraft Universe.  With SC2 coming out then a year or two later an expansion then a year after that an MMO.  If it ain't broke don't fix it, and it worked wonders for their Warcraft franchise.  So that's about 4-5 years from now.  Enough time for Blizzard to milk more monies from 1-2 more expansions.

Spot on.

[stu]

Now that WAR is coming out, this will Blizzard a chance to beat them on the sci-fi front before Warhammer 40k Online can come out lol.

[Hutch]

Blog post from a guy who claims to know something.

Nothing juicy though. Just a timeline of "development" so far, and the fact that some people from WoW development are involved.

An excerpt:

From that meeting in March they began to start the initial development of this new MMORPG, and have begun work on it since April 2007. Right now they are only in the initial stages of development and are only working with a small group. But from what I know the general concept, genre, and intellectual property have been determined. Now all that needs to be done is to make the game!

[NiX]

Holy fucking vague. Schild could probably make a more convincing "leak" of information.

[SnakeCharmer]

They've had job postings saying "NEXT GEN MMO" for months now on their website. I'm not sure why mmorpg is all jumping on it now.

Because it's a shit shit shitty website?

[ahoythematey]

I don't think it's going to be Starcraft...it would be rad if it were to be a MMO Diablo, but I've learned not to get my hopes up concerning that franchise.

[Mrbloodworth]

They've had job postings saying "NEXT GEN MMO" for months now on their website. I'm not sure why mmorpg is all jumping on it now.

Because they were waiting for the official word of "Yes, we ARE working on something - Someone that is official", instead of guessing by going on job postings? Its not just mmorpg.com.. Its most major MMO news sites that are posting this. The news is about the OFFICIAL comment.

[AcidCat]

It's obviously going to be Starcraft Universe.  With SC2 coming out then a year or two later an expansion then a year after that an MMO.  If it ain't broke don't fix it, and it worked wonders for their Warcraft franchise.  So that's about 4-5 years from now.  Enough time for Blizzard to milk more monies from 1-2 more expansions.

Yep, I think this is one case where the most obvious answer is staring us in the face, and anything else is just daydreaming.

[Kirth]

Each member of the team was asked to present their ideas for what sort of new MMORPG they would like to develop that was specifically NOT WoW related.

One wonders why, the wow-ernaught shows no signs of stopping with WotLK dropping sometime next year and a few more years at least worth of expansions they can milk wow for a long time. Are they going to try the tact of SOE's "we have a DIKU, lets make a world builder..." or just re-skin wow with whatever Star Craft/Diablo/... IP they like. My money is on Star Craft, SC2 will flesh out more of the back story and set the stage for a MMO just like WC3 did for WoW.

[Ratman_tf]

Rock n' Roll racing online.

[edlavallee]

Rock n' Roll racing online.

Rock n' Roll Racing in Spaaaaace more likely.

[schild]

Holy fucking vague. Schild could probably make a more convincing "leak" of information.

My leaks aren't "convincing." They're simply true.

I'll inquire about this subject later this weekend.

Hell, I announced Starcraft 2 in 2004. Why not announce this 2 years early also.

[Dren]

Is there any evidence that shows Sci-fi MMO's are anything but niche?  Fantasy is much more popular.

If Blizzard did Sci-fi, they'd probably get bigger numbers than anyone has before, but it won't be anywhere the level of WoW.  It would still be profitable and would help provide a foundation of ongoing games that brings the cash coming in, but don't expect another mega-hit.

I'd be more than happy if they proved me wrong.  Doing Sci-fi right, would be quite nice.

My suggestion is to mix fantasy with Sci-fi (a la Hellgate.)

[Mrbloodworth]

The thing i'm watching isn't really the game, but the hype. There will be a lot of people EXPECTING them to top WoW's successes... Questions is, can they, and what will happen when they don't.

Being at the top, means there are only two ways to go, and one way is easer than the other.

[Morfiend]

Questions is, can they, and what will happen when they don't.

Well, how many people are there in South Korea? Cause you know pretty much every single one is going to subscribe if its Starcraft Universe.

I really hope it is SU. I cant see why they would do a Diablo MMO, it seems to close to Warcraft. I think they could get a lot more subs by doing some thing thats not fantasy. Gah, what I wouldnt give to play a good SciFi MMO right now. I mean, Im excited to play WAR, but seriously, we dont need any more fantasy MMOs for quite a while.

[Mrbloodworth]

Questions is, can they, and what will happen when they don't.

Well, how many people are there in South Korea? Cause you know pretty much every single one is going to subscribe if its Starcraft Universe.

I really hope it is SU. I cant see why they would do a Diablo MMO, it seems to close to Warcraft. I think they could get a lot more subs by doing some thing thats not fantasy. Gah, what I wouldnt give to play a good SciFi MMO right now. I mean, Im excited to play WAR, but seriously, we dont need any more fantasy MMOs for quite a while.

My comments were not really about what IP it would be, more about the total package. Accessibility, IP, Polish, Refinement ETC... I wonder if they can, or will pull off the implementation (what ever IP it is ) again...or perhaps, they may have gotten soft. We all ready know they have successful IP's.

[stray]

Starcraft isn't good sci-fi.

[Kirth]

Starcraft isn't good sci-fi.

And Warcraft is good fantasy?

[murdoc]

Whatever it is, the shoulder pads are gonna be HUGE.

[stray]

Starcraft isn't good sci-fi.

And Warcraft is good fantasy?

Relatively speaking, yeah.


Don't take that the wrong way though. I think fantasy is almost complete shit, and I don't like World of Warcraft.

[Draegan]

I wouldn't be surprised if this new game is going to be a combo console/PC launch.  I mean it is coming out in 5-7 years.  Imagine the technology then.  Flying cars and Robots that give you handjobs.

[schild]

I'm going to say something that not a damn person is going to argue with:

The next Blizzard MMOGs will look like high-end games do today. They're ALWAYS behind the curve. It's part of their mass appeal.

[MrHat]

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=11530.msg379848#msg379848

No one listens when I post, either way, I didn't think it warranted a new thread.  We already knew they were working on an unannounced MMO that isn't WoW related, didn't someone leak the code name or something and speculation ran wild like months ago?

Best bet? Quit fucking worrying, we're likely not to see it in our lifetime.

[Draegan]

I'm going to say something that not a damn person is going to argue with:

The next Blizzard MMOGs will look like high-end games do today. They're ALWAYS behind the curve. It's part of their mass appeal.

True.  But what the real question is what kind of art style will they be using.

[schild]

Who cares?

[Soukyan]

I'm going to say something that not a damn person is going to argue with:

The next Blizzard MMOGs will look like high-end games do today. They're ALWAYS behind the curve. It's part of their mass appeal.

Exactly. It will be the same art style that they use in Starcraft 2. It will be the same gameplay as WoW essentially, and people will flock to it. One exception? Three factions, so three way PvP. There's your game.

Oh, and probably 17-20 bucks per month. I figure MMOGs will get a monthly fee bump in late 2008, early 2009.

[Draegan]

Who cares?

It's an academic question.

[Soukyan]

Who cares?

It's an academic question.

Oh. You were looking for http://www.fu.edu. Har.

[Ratman_tf]

IF it's Starcraft the MMO (and I too think it will be) I hope it's gonna be more fps/rts hybrid than rpg.
That's what I was hoping WoW's pvp would be like, and we got...



instead.

[Teleku]

I'm going to say something that not a damn person is going to argue with:

The next Blizzard MMOGs will look like high-end games do today. They're ALWAYS behind the curve. It's part of their mass appeal.

Exactly. It will be the same art style that they use in Starcraft 2. It will be the same gameplay as WoW essentially, and people will flock to it. One exception? Three factions, so three way PvP. There's your game.

Oh, and probably 17-20 bucks per month. I figure MMOGs will get a monthly fee bump in late 2008, early 2009.

I disagree on the game play being the same as wow.  I truly believe they are going to try to shoot for something different with the space angle and the fact they have no need to make an MMO that directly competes with Wow (these words will probably bite me in the ass I'm sure).  It also doesn't matter about the graphics thing.  WoW still looks amazingly better than any MMO to me, and better than most games for that matter, due to the emphasis on art and style.  I wish way more people would jump to that approach.

[Lt.Dan]

C'mon of course the gameplay is gonig to be the same.  That's what Blizzard does, take a tired concept and polish it up.  Sci-fi MMO game play? Whaddav they got to start with?