Speculation Swimming Around Upcoming Blizzard Announcement

May 07, 2007

A company like Blizzard with a track record for hit games makes waves like a battleship wherever it goes. Rumors are swirling in the company's wake, with word that Blizzard was going to make a 'big announcement' at the Korean World-Wide StarCraft Invitational Tournament.

Computer and Video Games Magazine is convinced that the new announcement will be a StarCraft massively multiplayer game. Speculation was fueled when Blizzard Posted several job openings for a Next-Gen MMO. Meanwhile, the crew over at Kotaku speculates that Blizzard will be announcing either a console MMO or some sort of mobile-gaming initiative. Everyone's got a story...

So what is Blizzard up to?

For one thing, I'm skeptical that the company would announce another MMO game, particularly since some of the key people haven't even been hired yet. Blizzard normally holds back on announcements until the product is ready to show the press in preparation for launch. Besides, there's no rush: World of Warcraft continues to gain steam here and abroad. That product will continue to be a solid performer for at least the next ten years and probably beyond. There's no hurry to introduce people to what's next. Is is possible that the next expansion may be announced, although this would be a strange venue for that.

It's far more likely that Blizzard will talk about some non-MMO titles in development. Word in the game development community is that Diablo III has been in the works for some time -- maybe the public will finally get a peek. It's likely that the next Diablo will have even more online elements, given the success of WoW and the legacy of the franchise. (If you consider the item trading economy on Battle.net to be part of the game, Diablo is in some respects Blizzard's first "massively multiplayer" game).

Of course, announcing a Diablo sequel at a StarCraft event is a little wild, especially in the middle of a country of rabid StarCraft fans. So maybe a StarCraft real-time-strategy sequel is set to be unveiled. The timing would work out, since Blizzard's last RTS was released in 2002 and I suspect they're still big fans of the genre over there.

The Korean Invitational event is May 19th-20th, so keep your ears open and you'll hear all the news then. I would also anticipate more big announcements from Blizzard at the BlizzCon Event scheduled for August.

      -Fargo

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