Blizzard: Our Next MMO Will Blow People's Minds
Blizzard compiled a "dream team" to create the new "Titan" MMO.
In an interview with VentureBeat, Blizzard COO Paul Sams talked about the upcoming MMO codenamed "Titan." The topic came up when the site asked Sams about the deciding factors of when it's time to stop working on the current MMO (like World of Warcraft) and to start focusing on a new MMO.
During the interview, Sams wouldn't refer to the MMO's "Titan" name, but rather labeled it simply as "The Project." At first he ultimately rehashed the tidbits of information we've received in prior reports: World of Warcraft will continue to receive support and additional content, and the new MMO will be complimentary rather than competitive. On the business end, that makes perfect sense: why move the herd from one farm to the other when you can earn twice the revenue with two farms and two herds?
"While people do have a limited amount of free time that they can devote to these types of games, we do think that people will want to check out the new and the old," he said. "We think the new one is very compelling and is going to capture a lot of hearts and minds and will be very successful for us. But we also believe that many people will continue playing World of Warcraft because they have such a huge collection of friends and community."
He then bragged about the team working on the new MMO, saying that Blizzard created a "dream team" by tossing together their most experienced developers -- those that made World of Warcraft such a huge financial success. That said, Sams said that their byproduct will simply "blow people's minds."
"We really try to learn from what we’ve done in the past," he said. "When you architect the game, you architect it with the vision that exists at that time. We’ve got some vision for what is coming and how gaming has evolved. Some of the new things that maybe we would want to do, we can’t do as elegantly because of the way we’ve architect-ed the old game. It’s easier if we are starting fresh. So that being said, we are doing that sort of thing and it’s also not the same game. It’s a different game, so we do feel it’s important to our developers as well as the players for us to deliver something else that can expand their gaming experiences."
Sams' words echos a similar statement made by Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime back in February who said that the team is trying to leverage all the lessons they're learned over the years, "some of which we were able to address in 'World of Warcraft' and others that maybe because of the design decisions we’ve made, you just can’t address."
"We’re kind of taking a step back with all that knowledge to make something that’s completely new and fresh," he added. "We’re not trying to make a 'WoW' sequel."
Morhaime also previously said that Blizzard's next MMO will be heavily focused on the social aspect of MMOs after expressing how much fun it was to play Words with Friends on the iPhone with people he already knew. So far, there's no indication that Titan will provide Twitter or Facebook-like features embedded within the game.
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From crack cocaine to straight up heroin...
One thing is for sure, its not only our minds to be blown, but our wallets too!
From crack cocaine to straight up heroin...
Cocaine's a hell of a drug.
"why move the herd from one farm to the other when you can earn twice the revenue with two farms and two herds?"
Aaah. I see what you did there. Well done.
Blizzard: Our Next MMO Will Blow People's Wallets
Title fixed.
i'm still waiting for a homeworld mmo, that would blow my mind, or if not that, at least homeworld 3
What are they going to do? Actually make the game look like their trailers?
MMO STARCRAFT!! I hope.
No one has managed to stay on top of the MMO genre with a second release, we'll see how this ends. The clear examples here are Ultima Online (they cancelled the second part) and Everquest (second game didn't do too good). Appart from that all this overhyping years before a release, bragging about all the money they spent and the fabulous team they have is probably not going to do them any good (see Daikatana, , Spore, Enter the matrix, etc).
How about they actually finish Diablo III? If it's not because it is not an MMO then I don't know what else it would be... if WOW had not come out when it did, we would probably be looking down the barrel of Diablo IV by now, or at least a high level patch for the expansion(s) to Diablo III.
How about they actually finish Diablo III? If it's not because it is not an MMO then I don't know what else it would be... if WOW had not come out when it did, we would probably be looking down the barrel of Diablo IV by now, or at least a high level patch for the expansion(s) to Diablo III.
I'm guessing they'd have just released Diablo III version 1.10 by now, meaning everyone would have their characters nerfed so badly that they'd need to start entirely over. (any Diablo II vets here that played version 1.09 or prior?)
How about they actually finish Diablo III? If it's not because it is not an MMO then I don't know what else it would be... if WOW had not come out when it did, we would probably be looking down the barrel of Diablo IV by now, or at least a high level patch for the expansion(s) to Diablo III.
Blizzard recently stated that diablo III is "technically completed". It is in the process of in house balancing and refinement/feedback atm. They are aiming for a 2011 release
MMO STARCRAFT!! I hope.
^+1 -- Blizzard already has several potential titles copyrighted for that too.
I already have a hard time finding time for both WoW and SC2. I don't know if I could add a third =(
yeah I was thinking wallet blown..
MMO? Playing with other people? Thanks, not interested.
If WoW had the graphics engine of Crysis that would be a nice upgrade. Too bad they'd have to go to 100K from 12mil subscribers with such a move.
Blow people's minds? Not a chance.
I still enjoy WoW PvP, but everything else about that game has become stupidly repetitive due to "formulatic" creativity. Also blizzard has done nothing against the armies of bots that ruin the economy.
I'll believe it when I see it. As I recall, they said the same about Catacysm. Some of Cat is awesome, some of it so-so, none of it is what I'd call mind-blowing. A couple of things I'd call just plain bad. They've totally ignored major things players have been asking for since day one, and I don't buy that they're locked in to limitations because of old game design. The fact is, they could replace the engine entirely if they chose to.
No one has managed to stay on top of the MMO genre with a second release, we'll see how this ends. The clear examples here are Ultima Online (they cancelled the second part) and Everquest (second game didn't do too good). Appart from that all this overhyping years before a release, bragging about all the money they spent and the fabulous team they have is probably not going to do them any good (see Daikatana, , Spore, Enter the matrix, etc).
Same with FFXI. While it was never really on "top" it was decently popular and then... FFXIV. It is complete garbage with estimates of 15,550 people playing still and it barely came out last Sept.
I'll believe it when I see it. As I recall, they said the same about Catacysm. Some of Cat is awesome, some of it so-so, none of it is what I'd call mind-blowing. A couple of things I'd call just plain bad. They've totally ignored major things players have been asking for since day one, and I don't buy that they're locked in to limitations because of old game design. The fact is, they could replace the engine entirely if they chose to.
They've been running 2 variations of the graphics engine since Cata was released... Can't very well deviate from the DX9 graphics engine without dropping support for WindowsXP...
Blow people's minds? Not a chance.I still enjoy WoW PvP, but everything else about that game has become stupidly repetitive due to "formulatic" creativity. Also blizzard has done nothing against the armies of bots that ruin the economy.
What bots? I just started 3 months ago and have not met any of those.... Met plenty of assholes though.
They just like to make me squirm. =(
How about they actually finish Diablo III? If it's not because it is not an MMO then I don't know what else it would be... if WOW had not come out when it did, we would probably be looking down the barrel of Diablo IV by now, or at least a high level patch for the expansion(s) to Diablo III.
As with Starcraft II, I believe Diablo III is in a drawer, completed few years ago. When the sales go down, boom - Diablo III is released. Lets just hope that Titan will at least support multi-gpu systems.
Blow peoples minds?
They already blew my mind with how bad they made WoW with the first expansion, and blowing my mind again will either give me a migraine or a seizure. No thank you.
Diablo III please.
Slay 10x ______ and loot 5x _______.
Don't play MMO's! It'll ruin your life. I've heard of people getting into divorces because of World of Warcraft. When i was playing Wow i use to go to work late because of staying up late from playing Wow. I got fired because of it. Basically i wasted 5 years on playing Wow and what did i get out it? Nothing! Stick to FPS games or anything that doesn't require grinding or weekly raids. Especially if your in High School or College i don't recommend any kind of MMO for you. It'll mess you up.
MMO's or anything massive online that requires grinding is like a drug. You'll get addicted to it and later on you'll realize how much time you wasted. Plus $15 a month is not worth it.
"Lets just hope that Titan will at least support multi-gpu systems. "
i got a nice fr boost installing the second 5770 - works for me
@Flameout I doubt you'll read this, but a very similar game to homeworld came and went. It was an MMORTS called time of defiance. The company that made the game has made another, extremely similar title but it doesn't seem to take place in space. I tried ToD, it wasn't bad.
Awesome, I can't wait for 2019...
Blizzard:
watch, people are still gonna complain about class balancing.