Blizzard's New Game Announcement on May 19th

[Xennor]

Blizzard has confirmed they will announce a new game at the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (http://www.blizzard.com/press/070307-wwi.shtml) which takes place in Seoul, South Korea on May 19 and 20.

Speculation has run rampant on what they will announce.

What do you think?

[govtcheeze]

Diablo 3 has been rumored to be announced in 2007 for awhile :)

[Vyze]

starcraft 2 b/c it would make my summer teh uber_awesome. and also, I heard rumors of them developing it.

[Adairen]

sf2 i predict. I don't think blizz would want to make another mmo due to numerous reasons.

[Xennor]

sf2 i predict. I don't think blizz would want to make another mmo due to numerous reasons.


Well Blizz is working on a new MMO. They have job postings up on their website for a Next-gen MMO. I don't think that is what they will be announcing though. I am hoping it will be Diablo 3 cause that would own. It will probably be SF2 though.

Here are the links to the Job opps at Blizzard for their Next-gen MMO.

http://blizzard.com/jobopp/art-lead-technical.shtml
http://blizzard.com/jobopp/programmer-lead-engine.shtml
http://blizzard.com/jobopp/programmer-lead-tools.shtml

[Cybsled]

The fact it's being announced in Korea all but guarantees its SC related. Diablo is bigger in Europe/North America, so it would make more sense to have an announcement in those regions. SC is -STILL- ultra popular in Korea almost 10years on. It's common sense that any major SC announcement would be made there. If I'm not mistaken, thats where they first announced Ghost as well.

[SoulShatter]

They have also said they can churn MMO's out now with a 10M budget as well. Was a year or so ago that I read that though.

[KJFett]

we are due for another round of announced MMOs, but I don't think this will be one of them. SC2 would be cheaper to produce and allow for a testing of the waters. It'll tell just how much insterest would be out there for an MMO and in the end, get a lot of PR work out there with the name so that when the MMO does hit, the young kids wont be left wodering what SC is.

[Ziros]

The issue with releasing Starcraft 2 is the profit vs a Starcraft MMO. Starcraft 2 would probably cost 50-60 dollars, and they would more then likely release 1-2 expansion packs also. So in total, around 180 per player. But the entire 180 doesn't go to Blizzard. There's publisher costs and other stuff that takes from the profit. Also, the online service they provide, Battle.net, is free so they are basically eating server costs.

Now an MMO on the other hand makes 60 per player for the game upfront, then ~15-20 a month for an account. Now keep in mind some players may have more then one account, so the cost can definitely raise. So if a player plays the Starcraft MMO for 1 year, with one account, they'd make roughly 240. 180 of which is basically raw profit. Now if that person has more then one account, obviously they look to make much more. And down the line, add another expansion which would more then likely cost another 50-60 dollars. There's just much more profit to be made with an MMO model vs the traditional RTS.

Sure, they might make SC2 but from a business standpoint they have much more to gain from an MMO form of Starcraft. At the end of the day Blizzard is still a business that's looking to turn a profit so you can bet they are going to pick the route that allows them to make the highest return. Although, who knows really? They could throw a curve ball and release SC2 as a service to their fanbase. I know I'd definitely love to play some SC2.

[KJFett]

Many of those customers they would get their profit off of are customers they currently have. Wow would lose out to a greater extent than any other MMO out there currently in the top10. Would an MMO make more profit than a production game? Sure, but at what cost? Any other company would profit greatly as you suggest, but Blizz? Nope. I disagree. It's not more money if its just going from one of your own pockets to another and hurting the profit margin of one of your other products. There has to be a threat to WOW that justifies canabalizing Wow to keep profit margins at blizz up before a SC MMO would be truely profitable...and I have not seen an MMO like that announced yet.

[Ziros]

I wouldn't say they'd only gain most of their profit from current customers. There's many players that are playing other MMOs currently that they have a chance to grab. Also, the biggest reason they have to release a Starcraft MMO is to compete with the new upcoming MMOs that are slated to release late in 07/08. Even if they do poach some of their own customers it's better to retain them with another game then to lose them completely. Vanguard, LOTRO, and other games are still out there and I'm sure there are many more that will be released (Warhammer especially) that could potentially take customers that would have otherwise gone to a Starcraft MMO. Not to mention, if they did in fact release SC2, that could potentially harm them by losing players that are currently playing WoW since they are looking to make much less profit on SC2 vs retaining a player with an MMO of theirs (WoW, SC MMO).

[KJFett]

I guess we will find out this weekend. :wink:

[Ziros]

Warcraft 4! Need some updated DOTA! :dance:

[Vynde]

Warcraft 4! Need some updated DOTA! :dance:


WOOO ya

[elanacurvacious]

It's not more money if its just going from one of your own pockets to another and hurting the profit margin of one of your other products. There has to be a threat to WOW that justifies canabalizing Wow to keep profit margins at blizz up before a SC MMO would be truely profitable...and I have not seen an MMO like that announced yet.
I agree. I think it would be dumb from a profits stand point. It would take too many customers away from WoW which I don't think they are willing to risk yet. Once there is a large drop off in subscriptions, I could see it happening.

My guess is Starcraft being announced because of its Korean location. I know Diablo 3 has been in the works for at least 2years. At what stage and what type of genre the game is I do not know, nor care. Didn't enjoy 1 & 2 ;) Of course Blizzard is known for starting games and trashing them. Just look at Starcraft Ghost for the Xbox. Was a cool game at Blizzcon but they shelved it :(

[Tippo]

Warcraft 4! Need some updated DOTA! :dance:


Come on now. We all know that would be the end of you. Well the end of your heart atleast. Than again, I guess that's what pace makers are for anyways.

I HOPE it's a sc mmorpg but I have zero clue what it really is. But, with that said, from reading the above post, it sounds like it will be a sc mmorpg.

MMOs take a while to properly make so by the time it was out WoW would be pretty old and crusty any ways.

[Valestia]

It's definately going to be starcraft related. They've also said previously that their next MMO would not be a carbon copy of WoW. So if it is in fact a SC MMO, I think they might actually keep it an RTS, or at least have some kind of RTS element to it. Don't ask me how that would work, because I have no clue ;) I imagine it would go a little something like Shattered Galaxy (http://www.shatteredgalaxy.com) which mainly involves levelling up with a persitent group of units. Whatever it ends up being I'm sure it will be interesting.