A group at Blizzard had been engaged on a first-person shooter set on the earth of their StarCraft real-time technique games, the hearsay mill says, nevertheless it’s just lately been cancelled. One secret supply told Kotaku that the game was a bit “like Battlefield in the StarCraft universe” although we might by no means see or know far more about it. Cancelling unannounced games is pretty customary for Blizzard in the event that they don’t assume it’s understanding and, with out confirming something, the studio trace that’s the case right here. Kotaku’s rumours say the StarCraft FPS gang aren’t being laid off, fairly put to work on Diablo four or Overwatch 2 as a substitute.
The StarCraft FPS, supposedly codenamed Ares, is basically a thriller. Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, the person with spies up his sleeve, says that “The team had built prototypes in which the player, as a Terran marine, could gun down Zerg aliens, and there were plans to experiment with playable Zerg as well.” Note that he says “prototypes” and “experiments”. It was clearly not a game near completed. The group had been engaged on it for 2 years, Schreier says, and the cancellation got here as one thing of a shock.
One particular person instructed Schreier it was “looking quite good,” although that quote isn’t wholly helpful with out specifying which they used of the dozen intonations that fully change the which means of “quite.”
Blizzard cancel games extra usually than we all know, scrapping or restarting initiatives in the event that they don’t assume they’re understanding. That’s even occurred earlier than with a StarCraft spin-off, the third-person stealth shooter StarCraft: Ghost. The firm have grown cagey about games they’re undecided will work out since a variety of high-profile binnings, a tactic which lets them save face and keep away from disappointing followers. It can backfire, thoughts, like when Blizzard announced a mobile Diablo game without saying owt about a Diablo IV.
Without confirming or denying something, Blizzard responded to Kotaku’s report with a press release saying oh, now that you just point out it, why sure, they do generally they do cancel unannounced games.
“We pour our hearts and souls into this work, and as players ourselves, we know how exciting it can be to see and know with certainty that a new project is coming. Knowing that changes or disappointments can happen doesn’t make it any less painful when we have to shelve a project or when an announcement doesn’t go as planned. We always make decisions about these things, regardless of the ultimate outcome or how things might be interpreted, based on our values, what we believe makes sense for Blizzard, and what we hope our players will enjoy the most. The work that goes into these projects – whether they ship or not – is extraordinarily valuable. It often leads to great things and helps foster a culture of experimentation here.”
Blizzard are beginning to obliquely speak about D4, which rumours say has gone through its own restart. Some of the Ares of us will bolster that growth of that, Schreier says, whereas others will chip in on an Overwatch sequel.
That unnamed, unannounced FPS is much more of a thriller. Schreier says he’s heard “that it’ll have a large PvE element” which “a couple of Blizzard people have compared it to Left 4 Dead.” While Overwatch is primarily PvP, it does dabble in PvE with occasion modes so this isn’t a lot of a shock. I’m game.
