Is Blizzard Working on a New MMO

Posted by Stropp on January 24, 2007

IGN is reporting on an article in Empire Magazine where Blizzard’s Vice President of Development, Itzik Ben Bassat says:

When we announce our next MMORPG it’s not going to be another WoW – we’re not a company that tends to tread the same ground. It’ll be something innovative and new that really brings entertainment to another level.

Coupled with some other comments made recently regarding Starcraft and Diablo, the speculation is that one of these games may be the subject of this MMO. I’m not so sure about this. While I think both Diablo and Starcraft could work as a MMORPG, I’m not sure these would fit in with the innovative and new label that Mr Ben Bassat is talking about.

Diablo, undoubtedly, would work very well as a MMO. Most of the elements already exist, and the game has a strong online component. Quests, items, and the world would have to be beefed up considerably, but that wouldn’t be a problem for such a development. The lore of the world is very well developed, much as Warcraft’s lore was well developed prior to World of Warcraft.

The problem is that the gameplay in Diablo has a lot of similarities with the gameplay in World of Warcraft. A Diablo MMO, if it was to retain its Diabloness would be very similar to WoW. This would disqualify it as being new and innovative.

Starcraft could be developed much the same way as Warcraft was developed into WoW. (World of Starcraft anyone?) However, I’m not sure it would be. From what I’ve read, I think Starcraft 2 is on the way and it will be a traditional RTS style game. The original Starcraft is still pretty popular, and I think that some of the fan base would be disappointed if it wasn’t a RTS.

Of course that doesn’t mean that it can’t or won’t be made into a MMORPG. With Starcraft being set in a SciFi world, Blizzard could easily come up with gameplay that is different to WoW and Diablo. That would gel with the new and innovative tag mentioned in the quote. However, I wonder if the Starcraft universe is rich enough for a MMO. I’m not sure Starcraft would make a good MMORPG.

What I expect to see happen is that Blizzard will come up with a completely new IP for their next MMO. Warcraft was a great IP for them to use to get into the MMORPG genre since it was so well known. With the funds that will be available to Blizzard from the WoW income, it may be that they will branch out into something completely different. I hope so anyway.

Having said all that, I do wonder if we are jumping the gun a bit here. All of the language used has been somewhat fluffy, when we announce our next mmorpg, indicates they are thinking about another MMO but gives no idea if they are even in the planning stages. The comments about Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 are even more ambiguous.

Perhaps we are reading our own hopes and desires into these comments. I know that I’d love to see Starcraft 2 released, I spent many hours playing the original, and have always wondered why the sequel hasn’t been made. But, until an official announcement has been made, all we have to go on is rumour and speculation.

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