Blizzard: More "Broad Appeal" In Next MMOG
Blizzard's CEO said its mystery MMOG will have more broad appeal.
Blizzard fans know that the company loves a good mystery, especially when its fans are on the receiving end. That became crystal clear when Blizzard teased gamers before last year's BlizzCon, throwing up various images while embedding secret codes (apparently) influenced by ABC's Lost. Ever since Blizzard revealed that a new MMOG was in the works, the company has remained just as secretive, if not for the benefit of torturing fans and cranking up the hype machine tenfold.
GameSpot managed to squeeze a few more drops of gaming juice from Blizzard's well-kept secret project, although the result is more or less nothing more than hints of what could be rather than something juicy. "What we've announced at Blizzard is that we have Starcraft [II] coming, Diablo has been in production...and a new, unannounced MMOG that has a little more broad appeal," Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick told GameSpot today at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in San Francisco.
Blizzard already admitted that the new MMOG would not be a World of Warcraft clone, but will be a brand-new IP. Jeff Kaplan, who originally worked on World of Warcraft as the MMORPG's game director, began to work full-time on the mystery project back in February. If the game will have a broader appeal to gamers, is the company looking to expand into the casual market, or perhaps offer a free-to-play model like turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited?
Kotick also dropped hints of what Battle.net may eventually offer, and could also provide a glimpse into what the MMOG will eventually offer gamers in the process. "As we start to add cash play and prize play and better rewards and recognition systems that come through the Internet, you will start to see audiences expand even further," he said.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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visa When they talk about "broad appeal" are we sure they don't mean making it more appealing to women?Reply
Zing! -
visa When they talk about "broad appeal" are we sure they don't mean making it more appealing to women?Reply
Zing! -
visa Eh sorry about the double post. It really will be interesting to see where they go with this new game.Reply -
airborne11b Blizzard sucks at MMO's imo. They make them so basic and low-end so that they appeal to large groups of people (Anyone with a crappy PC and almost no PC gaming experience can jump right into WoW... which is good and bad) Good because it gets lots of subscribers, and lots of families - husband, wife, small children, teens, the whole family can jump right in and go questing together. Bad for PC gaming enthusiasts who want cutting edge games that require a top of the line PC and are hard to master. I guess weither or not blizzard MMOG's are for you depend on what side of the fence you sit on. Personally, I didn't spend 2000 bucks on an i7, SLI rig, 1920x1080 monitor rig with G19 keyboard so I can play low-end games like WoW and diablo.Reply -
Montezuma Airborne11bBlizzard sucks at MMO's imo. They make them so basic and low-end so that they appeal to large groups of people (Anyone with a crappy PC and almost no PC gaming experience can jump right into WoW... which is good and bad) Good because it gets lots of subscribers, and lots of families - husband, wife, small children, teens, the whole family can jump right in and go questing together. Bad for PC gaming enthusiasts who want cutting edge games that require a top of the line PC and are hard to master. I guess weither or not blizzard MMOG's are for you depend on what side of the fence you sit on. Personally, I didn't spend 2000 bucks on an i7, SLI rig, 1920x1080 monitor rig with G19 keyboard so I can play low-end games like WoW and diablo.Reply
Have you played WotLK? Yeah, it does not require the top most machines available today, but just "any machine" will not properly run the newest expansion. Blizzard made WoW to run as it does so that they are able to get as many customers as possible; this is only smart business, which I doubt you would know anything about.
As far as game difficultly, you are also showing your lack of knowledge. Yes, anyone can come in and play the game. This is exactly what most games should be. A game should be fun, not some ridiculous piece of shit that some MMOs have become. Even though World of Warcraft is easy to start, it is not the easiest to master. There are people, like myself, that have played since the game was in its initial beta, but we do not understand every aspect of the game.
Quit acting like some elitist, thinking you are the cream of the crop. If you tried to play with experienced WoW players, you would get your ass handed to you.
I do not understand the hate that is targeted at Blizzard. It seems that a lot of people around here hate successful companies. I guess some of you are big Nader fans. -
Ogdin They must be adding the fetus-4 year old,and 75-100 age brackets to the target audiences for the next one?Reply -
Leandri Airborne11bPersonally, I didn't spend 2000 bucks on an i7, SLI rig, 1920x1080 monitor rig with G19 keyboard so I can play low-end games like WoW and diablo.Reply
Considering most people don't own an SLI/Crossfire rig, or even a DX10 or higher graphics card, it's safe to say Blizzard was taking the safe route by making their game low spec. Blizzard also recently introduced a High spec graphics setting into the game for people who have fast rigs.
While some people argue a brain-dead monkey pounding on the keyboard could run the endgame content or pvp in WoW (me included sometimes), there is some difficulty in it. Or rather, it's as difficult as you want to make it. Yes, I'm also aware of the mindless grinding. -
IronRyan21 Like Starcraft II, this MMOG well take the next decade to come out, so dont get your hopes up.Reply