Gaming
A “StarCraft” FPS game gets cancelled. But there is an upside to that…
Diablo and Overwatch.
Blizzard reportedly has canned a planned StarCraft first-person shooter. In lieu of the previously unannounced game will see focussed efforts being doubled down in the Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 camp. That is right. Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 are in development.
Kotaku reports the internal shift in Blizzard, citing three sources who noted the cancellation of the StarCraft project, allegedly codenamed Ares. Kotaku notes, however, that despite the cancellation of Ares and an unannounced mobile game, there were no layoffs as a direct result.
Instead, those working on these now-defunct alleged projects will shift focus to Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2, two sequels to acclaimed Blizzard games that have not yet officially been confirmed.
Blizzard spoke at length on the news in a released statement:
We don’t generally comment on unannounced projects but we will say the following:
We always have people working on different ideas behind the scenes – including on multiple projects right now – but the reason we tend not to discuss them publicly is because anything can happen over the course of development. As has been the case at Blizzard numerous times in the past, there is always the possibility that we’ll make the decision to not move forward on a given project. Announcing something before we feel it’s ready stands the risk of creating a lot of frustration and disappointment, both for our players and us, not to mention distraction and added pressure for our development teams.
We pour our hearts and souls into this work, and as players ourselves, we know how exciting it can be to see and know with certainty that a new project is coming. Knowing that changes or disappointments can happen doesn’t make it any less painful when we have to shelve a project or when an announcement doesn’t go as planned. We always make decisions about these things, regardless of the ultimate outcome or how things might be interpreted, based on our values, what we believe makes sense for Blizzard, and what we hope our players will enjoy the most. The work that goes into these projects – whether they ship or not – is extraordinarily valuable. It often leads to great things and helps foster a culture of experimentation here.
With all that said, we’re very much looking forward to revealing other things we’re working on when the time is right.
Blizzard official statement
