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Blizzard Cancels Next-Gen MMO Titan
- Thread starter Deadly Cyclone
- Start date
Anoregon
The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
I absolutely doubt that. They aren't going to cancel a major MMO game that has been in development for years and then decide "hey lets make an MMO"
that being said I would love to play as a hydralisk in an mmo.
Activation may actually be quite a bit worse off than they seemed just a few months ago. This news doesn't help. If the decline in CoD pre-orders matches up with reality and sales are trending seriously down there could be a pretty rough time for them in a couple of years. They bet a lot on Destiny being their next Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, or CoD and didn't diversify enough especially in light of the many delays in developing the game. They seem to have assumed that because they did it before they could command a new huge decade long franchise with enough cash and the right developer. But even a smart plan can end with a lacking result. While other pubs have many major and minor franchises to rely on Activision has few. And thank god for them they have Blizzard to provide fairly consistent subscriptions and the occasional pile of money from a Diablo or Starcraft.
But its also important to realize that WoW subs have been trending down for years with no end in sight unless they decide to take a look at charging for expansions or even subs themselves. Blizzard to their credit never let the success of WoW make them change their spending and so while WoW is a nice bonus, they still seem to be running as if they need to survive off of their games themselves.
Looking back Activision made a mistake focusing so much on Destiny at the expensie of CoD. Ironically they could have really built some enthusiasm this year because for the first time in a long time there is some positive word of mouth. In addition the delay of BF as well as it's shirty launch bugs also mean that players who want a FPS but have been tired of CoD might been willing to give it a chance again. But with all the games releasing it is even easier to forget about it. And pre-orders seem to confirm that it is no longer on the mind of more casual fans.
Now certainly Destiny will more than make up for any decline in sales this year and next, but the brand which was assumed to be surefire is now looking to either slowly turn around the backlash and rebuilt like last gen Assassins Creed. Or perhaps end up like so many sequels of disappointing games and end up selling just a fraction of the original.
They were no doubt relying on very strong DLC sales to carry them through the development of the next title, but that too seems unlikely unless they slash prices or increase value. The poor community aspects and non-memorable universe mean that even people who are enjoying it are less likely to be drawn back when the next big title hits.
At the
But its also important to realize that WoW subs have been trending down for years with no end in sight unless they decide to take a look at charging for expansions or even subs themselves. Blizzard to their credit never let the success of WoW make them change their spending and so while WoW is a nice bonus, they still seem to be running as if they need to survive off of their games themselves.
Looking back Activision made a mistake focusing so much on Destiny at the expensie of CoD. Ironically they could have really built some enthusiasm this year because for the first time in a long time there is some positive word of mouth. In addition the delay of BF as well as it's shirty launch bugs also mean that players who want a FPS but have been tired of CoD might been willing to give it a chance again. But with all the games releasing it is even easier to forget about it. And pre-orders seem to confirm that it is no longer on the mind of more casual fans.
Now certainly Destiny will more than make up for any decline in sales this year and next, but the brand which was assumed to be surefire is now looking to either slowly turn around the backlash and rebuilt like last gen Assassins Creed. Or perhaps end up like so many sequels of disappointing games and end up selling just a fraction of the original.
They were no doubt relying on very strong DLC sales to carry them through the development of the next title, but that too seems unlikely unless they slash prices or increase value. The poor community aspects and non-memorable universe mean that even people who are enjoying it are less likely to be drawn back when the next big title hits.
At the
Willy Wanka
my god this avatar owns
No. I know nothing about the game but Blizzard saying "We didn't find the fun," suggests it wouldn't have been very good. There is no contradiction there unless you personally enjoy games that aren't fun.
Highly doubtful imo. WC3 was already moving into RPG territory (In fact, the earlier versions of the game had you directly controlling the hero units and you would have to, for example, wander back to your base to issue orders for buildings and units, you were actually CONTROLLING your hero, they weren't just superior units available to you. SC may have gotten somewhat plot heavy but it hasn't ever deviated from the more classic RTS formula. Basically what I'm saying is Blizz had two RTS series, and they made Warcraft much more roleplaying-esque to spread the IPs apart, which I think directly led to them creating wow (And making WC3 slightly more traditional RTS than it initially had been, they still probably had that roleplaying itch which led to them making wow). This is supposition on my part.
Eh, there is a LOT they would do differently if they were making a sequel I think. Heck, they've basically said as much before. I don't think they're making it, but to say that they could just push any MMO ideas into wow is a little short sighted. They improve the game a ton all the time, but they do not alter the basic gameplay systems significantly. It would be easier (and probably a less divisive decision tbh) to make a new game from scratch than to go 'hey we know how to make a better MMO' and push wow into something else while people are still playing it. It's a given, for instance, that a new MMO from blizz would probably not be based on the standard wow hotkey mmo combat that we've been stuck with for 15 years (As much as they've pushed a ton of depth and breadth both into that system, computers and internet connections can handle different things now).
Sadly that's true, it's pretty much considered a failure, thus using the technology to make HOTS instead going forward.
They can't just put anything into WoW, no. The only MMO I can think of that dared to overhaul its combat is Runescape, and that caused a schism so severe that they put an alternate "old school" branch of the game into development. But I also don't think they could get away with making a sequel that deviates too heavily from the existing game without alienating a terrifying chunk of the audience.
There's definitely some technical stuff they'd like to unfuck (backpacks being so core to the engine that they can't untangle the dependencies to modify them comes to mind).
SC2 is an excellent game; it's highly rated, sold well and remains the most popular RTS game with an active competitive community four years after release. No way is it a failure. There's just been a market trend away from the RTS genre as a whole. And they aren't making HOTS instead, they're making it at the same time. Legacy of the Void development has been going on for a long time.
RoninChaos
Member
Part of me feels this is a direct result of what happened with Diablo III. I think Diablo III REALLY tarnished blizzard's repuation. I know personally I used to be one of the fans that would buy anything blizzard put it's name on. It meant quality to me. And Diablo III when it launched was polished but the fundamentals under the hood and the tuning of the game was sooooooo bad. They said they couldn't take the auction house out, now they've taken the auction house out. They've been on damage control for a while because games with these long tails are what sustain blizzard. If Titan wasn't coming together, and this was before D3's issues, it wouldn't suprise me if they kept it going, polished it up and put it out, only to patch it later. Now I don't think they'll do that because they've seen the good will from their fans really start to fade away because of the decisions they're making, and i think what Metzen said was true; they don't want to be only known as the WoW company.
RoninChaos
Member
The hyperbole in this forum is STUNNING sometimes.
haha while it's true that statement is extreme hyperbole there's no denying that the genres that Blizzard is known to do aren't as popular as they were in the late 90's/early 2000's
Very true, but they are adapting. Hearthstone is a new IP that's doing very well and they're working on an entry into the MOBA genre too. Remains to be seen how good/popular that will be by the time it releases though.
Diablo also continues to do extremely well.
QuantumZebra
Member
QuantumZebra
Member
Dude did you play SC2? That was more RPG-like than WC3. You had entire skill trees for your main character and could buff up the side chars, too.
LAUGHTREY
Modesty becomes a woman
I thought it was pretty clear in the interview that they're not going to look into making a new MMO any time soon.
It turns out the WoW killer wasn't another MMO, it was Mobas, and they really dropped the ball on that one by letting Dota slip right through their fingers. MMOs are costly and risky these days. Ignoring the fact they made WoW in a similar environment, it sounds like they tried to get lightning to strike twice and got a little shaken up by all the MMOs rising and falling around them, when WoW is technically good enough for now. I'd also be willing to bet Hearthstone made them tons of money and Heroes is set to do the same, while not taking a fraction of the time or effort of making an MMO.
Imagine if they did what Valve does and hired the guys who modded WC3 Dota. Sure they are 'just modders' and may not be as experienced as the rest of your crew, but CS and Portal were made by modders/first timers and look how they turned out. Blizzard is already probably up there when it comes to PC devs, but they'd be the undisputed kings without a doubt if they had Mobas under their belt too.
It turns out the WoW killer wasn't another MMO, it was Mobas, and they really dropped the ball on that one by letting Dota slip right through their fingers. MMOs are costly and risky these days. Ignoring the fact they made WoW in a similar environment, it sounds like they tried to get lightning to strike twice and got a little shaken up by all the MMOs rising and falling around them, when WoW is technically good enough for now. I'd also be willing to bet Hearthstone made them tons of money and Heroes is set to do the same, while not taking a fraction of the time or effort of making an MMO.
Imagine if they did what Valve does and hired the guys who modded WC3 Dota. Sure they are 'just modders' and may not be as experienced as the rest of your crew, but CS and Portal were made by modders/first timers and look how they turned out. Blizzard is already probably up there when it comes to PC devs, but they'd be the undisputed kings without a doubt if they had Mobas under their belt too.
SC2 campaign had VERY light RPG elements. SC2 as a whole (the core gameplay) does not. WC3 has shopping, items, levels, skill ups...
Eh, I still don't think that's it. Sure they're a business and they want money, but this is Blizz, they're not going to just cancel a game they believe in because they think they can make something else, they'd just make both of them at the same time. It's not some upstart company looking to recapture the only hit they had, this is a company that has hit on every game they've made except for debatably their two DC comic games on SNES (which they basically did to make ends meet of course at the time). I'm sure someone will say D3 but let's be real here, any company would be proud to have made Diablo 3 from any real perspective. They don't have to TRY to capture lightning in a bottle, they've done it tons of times, they can afford to simply be discerning about what they're making. It seems incredibly conspiracy theoryist to think there's anything more to it than the face value of what they said - the game wasn't shaping up so they scrapped it, and they weren't interested in focusing on a big MMO right now.
Netherscourge
Banned
So from what I just read on Kotaku:
http://kotaku.com/heres-what-blizzards-titan-actually-was-1638632121
This sounded like the GREATEST GAME EVER CONCEIVED, to be honest.
How could anyone not think this would have been a MEGA-AWESOME game?
Damn it, I wish Blizzard wouldn't have dropped this. Nobody tries anything innovative or challenging anymore. Everyone just sticks with the easy-money formulas.
http://kotaku.com/heres-what-blizzards-titan-actually-was-1638632121
This sounded like the GREATEST GAME EVER CONCEIVED, to be honest.
How could anyone not think this would have been a MEGA-AWESOME game?
Damn it, I wish Blizzard wouldn't have dropped this. Nobody tries anything innovative or challenging anymore. Everyone just sticks with the easy-money formulas.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
It showed how far their hubris had grown, and how tone-deaf they were to their players' moods, desires, tolerances, reactions, etc from their golden years. At that point, it was beyond hiding for everyone.
Scuttlebutt! YES! (And Blizz scuttlebutt is the best scuttlebutt).
Nothing about what I posted is scuttlebutt. So, dunno why you quoted me.
Edit: nvm, just saw you divided it. One min I'll edit this.
Edit2:
I agree with this. I think it can be highlighted best during the period of time that included the Diablo 3 vanilla release and Mists of Pandaria. Blizzard seemed to think they were above fault and released some truly shit content. Reaper of Souls, Hearthstone and Warlords of Draenor have me optimistic that they've found their way again, but we'll see if it continues.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Huh. It sounds like they MAY be dropping the name "Titan" and all the baggage it had but keeping the team and concepts from it alive, if this is true.
Remember the Titan: A Retrospective of Titan Artwork?
Laieon
Member
What was wrong with MoP? Pandaria was fantastic.
I legitimately enjoyed release D3 also, it was still a lot of fun. All I'm really looking for in a game.
Ravijn
Member
Come on man, anyone that actually plays wow has a hard time saying MoP wasn't the best expansion with a straight face. Any other answer objectively comes down to nostalgia, Warlords DOES look really really good though.
MoP just didn't appeal to me at all man, I dunno. Warlords is looking to be a lot more in line with what I love. I guess I might be wrong in this assertion given that people seem to love MoP.
Gentleman Jack
Member
MoP is highly regarded for two reasons. One is that it's a high quality addition to the WoW product. The other is that it's better than Cataclysm was and that is shaping people's memories. WoD doesn't seem to be messing all that much with the formula established in Mists, so if you love it you might be misremembering the reasons why Mists didn't click with you.
I didn't think MoP would appeal to me but when I fianly dived in it really worn me over. I'm sort of dreading the atmosphere in Dreadlords TBH. I really grew to love the upbeat music in the Pandren inns and everyone generally having a good time. I get the feeling Warlords NPCs aren't going to be commenting that my characters is too skinny and should eat more.
TheContact
Member
Starcraft in 3D would be awesome
They just have to create 3 new companion skins and 2 new mount skins and they'll get it all back and then some
They just have to create 3 new companion skins and 2 new mount skins and they'll get it all back and then some
LowParry
Member
A flesh wound.
LowParry
Member
Everyquest Next may give us that. They got some great ideas. I just hope they deliver at least 50% of their promises.
maniac-kun
Member
Maybe you have read a different article but they dont want to work on a new mmo at the moment.
Omnipunctual Godot
Member
Well, I hope Everquest Next will pick up the slack. I am not a huge MMO fan, but it seems to have some interesting ideas.