Kotick: Blizzard's Secret MMO Will Be New IP

By Kevin Parrish
published

So much for a StarCraft-based MMOG.

During a Q1 financial call Thursday night, CEO, president, and board member for Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick squashed any rumors about a StarCraft or Diablo-based MMO in the works. Apparently the game will be an all-new IP, and will be one of two projects to receive an "enormous investment" from the company.

"I think what we’ve been able to do is elevate the level of innovation in products beyond what we’ve been ever able to do before," Kotick said during the call. "We’ve talked a lot about the seven different pillars of success that we expect over the course of the next few years."

He also added that the other project receiving a huge financial injection will be Bungie's new IP. Kotick told investors that both the Blizzard and Bungie projects will take loads of time and money.

"But with the recognition that the way to build them is take long amounts of time, lots of capable talent, an enormous amount of capital and you have to have a real road-map for innovation and creativity," he said. "And I think that those are going to be two very good examples from the ground up original ideas."

Blizzard has been somewhat tight-lipped in regards to its mysterious MMO. The game is slated to have a broader appeal and will be easy to learn but "hard to master."

Kevin Parrish
52 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Lavacon
    World of Lost Vikings!!
    Reply
  • insider3
    I hope I can finish my MCSE certification before this game comes out...I sense another distraction. I figure a few years since there aren't any leaks though.
    Reply
  • LORD_ORION
    River Raid... the MMO!

    Seriously, why has Kotick not been removed yet? Everytime he opens his mouth I am reminded not to buy Activision games on principal.
    Reply
  • jefe323
    im very glad they arn't making a starcraft or diablo MMO. blizzard made the right move by sticking to the roots of these games
    Reply
  • dalethepcman
    Hard to master... Even with 1 million gamers wanting it harder, Blizzard will always play to the masses, and with 13 million whiners asking for easy loot and levels we have WoW, where you can get to max level in a month of hardcore playing
    Reply
  • hellwig
    New IP you say? Blizzard hasn't had new IP since 1998. Good luck with that. SC2 was how many years late? We probably won't see Diablo3 till 2012, and yet your going to create a whole brand new game from scratch? Hah, that'll be the day.
    Reply
  • rishwin
    dalethepcmanHard to master... Even with 1 million gamers wanting it harder, Blizzard will always play to the masses, and with 13 million whiners asking for easy loot and levels we have WoW, where you can get to max level in a month of hardcore playingYou can reach max level within 24 hours with the "recruit a friend" system. You can do it in 3 days without it.
    Reply
  • TheDuke
    about time
    I would like a new IP out of teh MMO space as well but working on Blizzard time makes it hard to project
    Reply
  • grieve
    dalethepcmanHard to master... Even with 1 million gamers wanting it harder, Blizzard will always play to the masses, and with 13 million whiners asking for easy loot and levels we have WoW, where you can get to max level in a month of hardcore playingyears ago in WoW i used to run a bot, max a toon in like 12-13 days. WoW is so 2004... Im like 20 games past it.
    WoW was second hand the day it came out.... everything had already been done, they just slapped a cartoon image on old games.
    ...This is just one man's opinion, 11 million people do like it.

    MMORPG is kinda old in general now, i have been searching for a game to replace my original mmorpg but everything comes short, everything. I find its almost like once you have done it once you have done it it all them and none stack up to your original XP. (
    Reply
  • ap3x
    jefe323im very glad they arn't making a starcraft or diablo MMO. blizzard made the right move by sticking to the roots of these games
    Although a Diablo MMO would be nothing short of Awesome!! Can't imagine the kinds of environments and minions.
    Reply