Blizzard apparently was working on a StarCraft FPS

Community General Discussion
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~https://kotaku.com/sources-blizzard-cancels-starcraft-first-person-shoote-1835285125~
Wonder how this will impact WoW, if it all.
Good news for Diablo fans, bad news for StarCraft fans(kinda).

Details for those who can’t/don’t want to visit Kotaku(from MMO-Champ):
The cancellation was made in order to focus on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
The canceled project was code-named Ares.
It was described as being similar to the Battlefield franchise, but in the StarCraft Universe.
According to sources, it was a massive shock that Blizzard canceled it as it was “looking quite good.”
Nobody has been laid off as a result of the cancellation, but moved to the upcoming Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 are expected to be announced at Blizzcon in the fall.
Overwatch 2 is rumored to have a large PvE element, and has been compared to Left 4 Dead.
Ares started as an experiment to do something with StarCraft on the Overwatch engine.
Blizzard has wanted to move as many games as possible to the same technology as the Overwatch engine to be more efficient.
Dustin Browder, who led Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft II, was supposed to be the director of the project.

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Never been interested in Overwatch, and if development of Overwatch 2 cost me a new StarCraft game then I DEFINITELY won’t be playing the sequel either no matter what they put in it.

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I’m surprised there was an FPS in the works with OW filling that genre.

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I’ve wanted playable Zerg for over 20 years. And reading that they were experimenting with playable Zerg but the project was cancelled makes me so sad.

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Kotaku is the National Enquirer of this industry.

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I wonder if someone passionate about that old Starcraft: Ghosts thing was involved in them working on an FPS in that universe. In any case, sad to see we won’t get anything like that. Blizzard could use a bit more seriousness that doesn’t come across as campy in their lineup.

That aside, I’m more interested in the fact that they’re working on Overwatch 2 and potentially announcing it this Blizzcon. They JUST NOW put out the Workshop for Overwatch, and have yet to add any kind of map editor, which is something they said they wanted to do like 2 years ago.

Also, what would a sequel even be? There is no story, so there’s no need to release a sequel for that reason. Any new characters, maps, game modes, etc can be added to the existing game. So what possible need do they have for a sequel beyond deciding they want everyone to pay $40 all at once again?

I could totally see a spinoff to please the PvE crowd, but if they’re working on an ACTUAL sequel, I’m willing to be it’s nothing but a cash grab. ‘Overwatch 2’ apparently isn’t the title and is just what it was referred to in the article because they don’t have an actual name so HOPEFULLY it’s a spinoff.

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Apparently the FPS genre wasn’t translating too well to mobile phones and had to be cut.

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They cancelled a mobile release as well, you can lay off it a bit.

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Kotaku article!
/thread

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Well, there it is. The big reveal at Blizzcon will be a Starcraft mobile game. :sob: You all have phones, right?

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It’s likely a factor of “what’s selling in the market now?”

Blizzard is getting to the point where they’re going to be stepping on their own toes with additional entries in the various IPs. They plan on extending those. And there are only so many genres that show a lot of promise in the market at the moment.

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I only found it through MMO-Champion. Kotaku isn’t a site I normally visit, but I figure MMO-C probably wouldn’t link it if it wasn’t legit.

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And a sequel to OW

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Again, they cancelled a mobile game as well if you check the article. I’m well aware Blizzard wants to take advantage of the huge Chinese mobile game market, but not everything is because of that.

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I wonder if this was the project David Gibson was working on, and what he referred to in his tweet this morning announcing that he was leaving Blizzard after they put a halt to a project he was working on for the past 2 yrs…

Hmmmmm.

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I added to my other post to reflect this, but they only call it ‘Overwatch 2’ in the article because they don’t have an actual title to give it. It apparently has large PvE L4D2-esque features so there’s a good chance it’s more of a spinoff to give the PvE Crowd something to chew on rather than an actual sequel to the multiplayer game.

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It sounds like it J Allan Bracks pet project. I half expect them to Turn it into a OW Battle Royale game tho

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Lol, only reason I can see them releasing Overwatch 2 is to money grub game cost + reset DLC so people have to buy it again. With this scumbag company I’m sure they’ll do it, too.

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Given the way 0 BR games haven taken off in the long-term in the way Fortnite has, I don’t think Blizzard is gonna dip their toes in that one. Their usual aesthetic isn’t even different enough from Fortnite to stand out as unique.

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This line and meme has been done to death. It’s been over 7 months since they did this. Not everything is going to be mobile, even if they have mobile projects. The article said a mobile game was cancelled along with the Starcraft shooter, so they’re still going through everything and figuring out what is and isn’t something they should release.

If they do another time deaf phone announcement this year, people can continue to mock them. Until then, this “joke” stopped being funny in 2019.

On topic again: I read that Overwatch 2 focuses on PvE elements and feels like Left 4 Dead. Name dropping the best zombie shooter of all time means they’re seeking to fill some pretty big shoes.