Sephirothe
03-04-2008, 02:31
There are several indications that blizzard is most likely currently developing a Starcraft based MMORPG. Last Fall Blizzard released a statement detailing the development of WoTLK, many players didn't notice that at the same time Blizzard announced that they had another mmorpg in the works. The reason for these announcements is two fold; the announcement of WoTLK was meant to keep the interest of WoW gamers before the pending launch of EA's Warhammer Online. Blizzard found it necissary to reassure it's gamers that there was a future for WoW and give them a reason to stay. The announcement of a future MMORPG was most likely included to reassure stockholders in Blizzard's parent company, the French conglomerate Vivendi Entertainment, that Blizzard could remain on top faced with stiff competition in the MMORPG field from both EA's Warhammer and the upcomming Conan release. Vivendi wanted to boost confidence because they intended to sell Blizzard to Activision, which they did. Yes, Blizzard is now owned by Activision and will shortly change it's name to Activision Blizzard, stupid sounding huh?
1. Vivendi felt obliged to announce the development of a new MMORPG last fall in order to get top dollar for it's sale of Blizzard. This is the fist hint that Activision Blizzard is developing a new MMORPG.
2. A second strong indication is the lack of new content for WoW. Where are all the devs? What are they doing? Why can we only get 1 new instance ever 8 months and a few new simple quests? The answer is that most of Blizzard's staff has been sent to other projects, and they cant all be possibly working on Starcraft 2. No company keeps its most talented coders and designers on a mmorpg for long, and certainly not the 4 yeats that WoW has been out. They would put their best people on new projects in order to maximize profits from a new and groundbreaking MMORPG.
3. Blizzard is developing Starcraft 2, and if you remember Warcraft 3 was released approximately 1 year before WoW was announced. This is a major product release model that Blizzard has found to be ultra profitable. They develop a sequal to an existing franchise, which surges interest in that franchise for devoted fans as well as introduces the characters and storyline to a new market of players. Then in approximately 1.5 years, just as the activity has ebbed for the franchise sequal, they introduce a mmorpg to maximize player interest and sales.
4. The mmorpg markets is at it's peak right now, and there will never be a better time for Blizzard to launch a new MMORPG. With many WoW players complaining of boredom, and Warhammer and Conan set to gut WoW's playerbase, Blizzard needs a hot new mmorpg to draw back the pvp community and players it will lose. The Fantasy mmorpg genre is bloated, but the Sci-fi mmorpg genre is sparse. Starwars Galaxies has lost most of it's market, and Tabula Rasa, Richard Garriot's new scifi based mmorpg, looks to be lackluster. WoS could capture many players.
So why World of Starcraft and not another theme, such as World of Diablo? Starcraft is the best choice. It's characters are highly developed and it has an intricate and detailed storyline such as with Warcraft. Starcraft was also hugely successfull, selling over 3 million copies in it's first year of release, and there is still an active Starcraft playerbase. Starcraft is also very popular with Asian players, there was even a Starcraft breakfast cereal with little marshmellow zerg. Starcraft has even lent phrases to the lexicon of gaming, such as the idea of being "zerged" or overrun by numerous but weak enemies. Starcraft will also be the perfect companion to WoW. One mmorpg for Fantasy buffs, and another for Sci-fi, there may even be crossovers between the two.
Look for World of Starcraft for Christmas 2009.
1. Vivendi felt obliged to announce the development of a new MMORPG last fall in order to get top dollar for it's sale of Blizzard. This is the fist hint that Activision Blizzard is developing a new MMORPG.
2. A second strong indication is the lack of new content for WoW. Where are all the devs? What are they doing? Why can we only get 1 new instance ever 8 months and a few new simple quests? The answer is that most of Blizzard's staff has been sent to other projects, and they cant all be possibly working on Starcraft 2. No company keeps its most talented coders and designers on a mmorpg for long, and certainly not the 4 yeats that WoW has been out. They would put their best people on new projects in order to maximize profits from a new and groundbreaking MMORPG.
3. Blizzard is developing Starcraft 2, and if you remember Warcraft 3 was released approximately 1 year before WoW was announced. This is a major product release model that Blizzard has found to be ultra profitable. They develop a sequal to an existing franchise, which surges interest in that franchise for devoted fans as well as introduces the characters and storyline to a new market of players. Then in approximately 1.5 years, just as the activity has ebbed for the franchise sequal, they introduce a mmorpg to maximize player interest and sales.
4. The mmorpg markets is at it's peak right now, and there will never be a better time for Blizzard to launch a new MMORPG. With many WoW players complaining of boredom, and Warhammer and Conan set to gut WoW's playerbase, Blizzard needs a hot new mmorpg to draw back the pvp community and players it will lose. The Fantasy mmorpg genre is bloated, but the Sci-fi mmorpg genre is sparse. Starwars Galaxies has lost most of it's market, and Tabula Rasa, Richard Garriot's new scifi based mmorpg, looks to be lackluster. WoS could capture many players.
So why World of Starcraft and not another theme, such as World of Diablo? Starcraft is the best choice. It's characters are highly developed and it has an intricate and detailed storyline such as with Warcraft. Starcraft was also hugely successfull, selling over 3 million copies in it's first year of release, and there is still an active Starcraft playerbase. Starcraft is also very popular with Asian players, there was even a Starcraft breakfast cereal with little marshmellow zerg. Starcraft has even lent phrases to the lexicon of gaming, such as the idea of being "zerged" or overrun by numerous but weak enemies. Starcraft will also be the perfect companion to WoW. One mmorpg for Fantasy buffs, and another for Sci-fi, there may even be crossovers between the two.
Look for World of Starcraft for Christmas 2009.