May
13

Blizzard: Paralyzed by Perfection

11 Comments

There seems to be some indications that Blizzard’s next MMO will be an “original IP”:

Games take years to develop from concept to release. Diablo III was in the works for years before being announced. StarCraft II was announced two years ago and isn’t even in Beta yet.

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it’s a shell of a game thus far. We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

Just like he said, they’ve already stated that it will be a new IP, so I don’t know why this is news or why game “journalists” have such short memories.

Here’s my problem with this: Blizzard has never developed a new IP starting with an MMO…so this is new to them and by definition not something they excel at. What they excel at is evolving an IP from strategy games and easing that world into a great game that is an MMO. I fear that they may be drinking their own koolaid a bit. WoW did not come out of the gate from nowhere. As we all know, it came from years of RTS story and world evolution. This would be my concern for Blizzard…and for fans as well. Why for fans? Well, I think that Blizzard is so obsessed with quality and perfection that developing this new IP, without that RTS evolution “safety net”, will just take too long to do.

So..that is my fear and here’s what balances that and makes me excited. They now have about 5 years of MMO experience in which to draw on to make this game very good. They also have the “Blizzard touch” which allows them to make really, really, fun games…and they seem to never lose sight of that goal. I think this one is going to be fun to watch.

D out.

Posted in WoW
11 Comments Posted by Darren

11 Responses to "Blizzard: Paralyzed by Perfection"

  • Drew Shiel says:
    May 13, 2009 at 8:42 am

    Well… there’s very little of the RTS game carried across to the MMO, just the story. So really, all they need is another story, which contains two or more opposed groups and a bucketload of betrayal, and off they go. If they can slant the story from the start to suit an MMO rather than RTS, it might even go better – none of the issues they had about one side having paladins and the other shamans, for instance, because that came up from the RTS lore.

  • syncaine says:
    May 13, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Just to add to the above, both Warcraft and StarCraft are not exactly ‘new’ IPs. Warcraft is a minor retooling of the Warhammer IP that Blizzard lost right before releasing Warcraft 1, and StarCraft mirrors Warhammer40k down to the smallest details. Diablo, while not being a direct copy of anything that I am aware of, is not exactly that far out as an IP, it’s just very well executed standard Dark Fantasy stuff.

    Given what Blizzard has shown when going original (space goats, Outland, D3 looking like a rainbow before they ‘added lighting’ to make it dark again), I’m curious to see what they come up with for this IP in terms of style.

  • Vargen says:
    May 13, 2009 at 10:24 am

    Syncaine, you also have to remember that Andy Chambers was one of the early Games Workshop people, and he works for Blizzard now. Some of what looks like Blizzard ripping off GW is probably just Chambers reusing old ideas. Well the recent stuff is anyway.

    I’m still annoyed that the new game isn’t Rock and Roll Racing Online. :)

  • Rob says:
    May 13, 2009 at 11:38 am

    I will have faith in Blizzard. Why? Well, they have put out nothing but top quality products. Plus I think they have learned a great deal about MMO development and maintenance from WoW and I think they will put the knowledge to good use for the new project.

    I am also glad that this is going to be a new IP. Blizzard has a tremendously talented art team and I can’t wait to see what they create for this new world.

  • Clint says:
    May 13, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    I disagree with your premise. Blizzard dominated categories before they made their first MMO. What Blizzard excels at is the gameplay. Action/RPG, RTS, and MMO–the games they make are the ones that similar games are compared to. The story/IP stuff is incidental.

  • Anjin says:
    May 13, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    I understand the skepticism, but I also trust Blizzard to do what they do best: kill a bad game in its cradle. If they can’t get this new MMO to a Blizzard quality level, we probably won’t see it.

  • Julian says:
    May 14, 2009 at 12:13 am

    I don’t think Blizzard (Blizzard, of everyone who’s out there… Blizzard) would care much -within reason- about a game “taking too long”. They’ve always had that policy of getting things right and putting out a quality product, and to top things off this time around, theoretically they should have the biggest war chest in the west thanks to WoW. If anyone can afford to sit it out and wait until what comes out is good, it’s Blizzard. They’ve also shown they’re not squeamish about killing things when they aren’t right (Adventures, Ghost).

    I wouldn’t underestimate them so much, and I think for a house as big and old as they are, the jump from “RTS to MMO” to “Just MMO from the get go” is utterly minimal. They ahve the resources, they have the talent, they don’t mind waiting until things are right, so there’s no reason to think they can’t do it.

    Their biggest “jump” yet was, coincidentally, the “RTS to MMO”, since they had never made an MMO before. And WoW came out of that, so…

  • Brian says:
    May 14, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    Regardless of the the quality and polish that Blizzard is capable of, it takes them a very long to release anything. Given that there’s be no information released, I imagine the this new IP is in the infant stages. I can’t maintain any level of excitement about an MMO that’s not likely to see the light of day for five years or more.

  • Stabs says:
    May 17, 2009 at 10:32 am

    Blizzard have always been slow as molasses. Diablo 2 players will remember the 1.10 patch which took over a year longer than they thought it would – and that was just a patch!

    I’m sure it will be a very good game. If we break down the things he mentions: lore, art and gameplay we see that the only thing of those Blizzard do especially well is gameplay. The lore of WoW is just generic fantasy drivel and is pretty inconsistent anyway (cf the flop of the Arthas book). The art is a good rendering of a fantasy world for low res computers but nothing better than AoC or Vanguard or most of the others. What sets WoW apart is the gameplay.

    With Jeff Kaplan at the helm I imagine the new MMO will have a broadly similar questing and instancing and raiding experience to WoW. Possibly it will be a space game or steampunk or contemporary dark fantasy (eg mutants in the sewers of New York) but I doubt that what Richard Bartle calls the Dorothy nature of WoW will be altered.

    As Brian says though no point getting too excited about a game so far off.

  • Sierra says:
    May 18, 2009 at 7:51 am

    Gee, why does it not surprise me that Syncaine was one of those people who were crying about Diablo 3 being “too colorful” / kiddy / not dark enough / ooo hardcore boi tears?

  • mary says:
    March 16, 2010 at 1:28 am

    i barely cant wait to play starcraft2! =O

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