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[Column] General: Blizzard & Titan
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In this week's Touchy Subjects, Adam Tingle takes a look at the recent news that Blizzard would be 'restarting' Project Titan from the ground up. See why this is a touchy subject before adding your thoughts to the comments.
Going back just a few years ago, it seemed as though developers were falling over themselves to produce sequels and introduce new IPs. In the space of a decade, Funcom released Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, The Secret World, and a bounty of expansions to boot. In the same period, we have seen over 30 EverQuest related products, including two original games and a console crossover. And yet in a similar period, Blizzard have been particularly quiet.
Read more Tingle's Touchy Subjects: Blizzard & Titan.
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Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.
Edgar Allan Poe
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
I think that Titan sucked, so they're basically restarting. That's what I think because that's basically what it sounds like has happened between all the developers that left blizzard from project Titan's team, how long it has taken for them to even say ANYTHING about it. I mean, it's been years and years since we first heard about it. They will probably use some pieces of what they developed in the 'new' project, but overall I think we will be getting something different than they had originally intended with the game.
Personally, I'm not waiting with baited breath over this title, I sort of stopped caring after a couple years of no news...Years ago..lol..I do not believe Blizzard is the company it once was, in fact I know it's not because a huge chunk of their core lead development team broke off from the company before TBC in WoW, and formed Carbine studios or joined other studios. I don't have that much faith that Blizzard can make the next "big one" and I think a WoW sequel is probably their best bet at trying to accomplish that one day...But for now, we will probably be seeing other games & studios take the reigns for years to come.
yah-- theres life on mars.
discuss....
i think that if we take a different look maybe we can see better.
we all see the decline of wow subs as a half empty glass of water. maybe we must see it on the opposite. half full.
its obvious that there is a sub decline. but have you ever think that maybe is smaller than even they predicted? that after 10 years and especially after so many games released, with many of them as ''wow killers'' or at least huge IP's (gw2, aion, warhammer, rift, aoc, swtor etc), even blizz would think that the decline would be MUCH bigger? tbh i my self believed that the decline would already be much bigger.
so, once again, why they have the need to release Titan? they still have the milking cow. maybe with less than 12m subs, but with as many subscribers as the sum of many other mmo's together and for sure a number that still brings them millions of dollars.
imho they dont feel the need to release a new mmo at the current time. they still dont feel the kind of pressure or money loss, to put in danger the money maker wow. and tbh i dont think that they will do it in the near future too...
Well, the business suits who run Blizzard started from their best selling McDonalds Hamburger and then built and developed it into the Big Mac. However, during that time many people stopped eating the core business Hamburger and start eating at Panera Bread. Now this spooks Blizz so they start developing a healthy option for insertion into their gaming menu.
Danger with this is that as a developer that this all can be outdated when it will be released. But I bet they wouldn't go this far and redistributing devs elsewhere without a good reason though.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
www.daneslaw.com
@GamerKurisu
Awaiting Darkfall Unholy Wars
SERIOUSLY? Years after Titan's announcement, years after Starcraft came out and everyone still debates or acts all timid about what Titan is?
Listen...dollars to donuts...Titan = World of Starcraft (ok, Universe of Starcraft, or whatever).
Don't bother arguing. Why create a new IP? Diablo is too limited. It makes the most sense. And yet most of you out there are like "No!" - why, simply because you don't want to believe it? Simply because it would blow your mind?!?
You know, as an aside, I posted over a year and a half ago on another site about Titan = Universe of Starcraft. The author of the article was discussing what was going on with Titan at the time. He disagreed with my comment (which he is entitled to do), but his lame argument was that there was too much of a Korean fanbase for the "sport" aspect of Starcraft (a/k/a all those leagues). What a lame excuse - ahem, like those leaguesters won't make time for some Universe of Starcraft. Insane! Your dead mother is going to rise from the grave to play her some Universe of Starcraft - WITH GOOGLE GLASSES!!! I digress.
The Author is probably dead on - why release a competitor to WoW? Let me take it a bit further: Why not a) create all this mass confusion; b) make people think it's not an MMORPG Starcraft; c) announce that it is on hold and being restarted (more than once makes it sweeter); d) make people think Blizzard may be getting the "jitters" or is being plagued by that "sophmore second album" syndrome; in order to e) make insane amounts of money. This is classic!
The Author is probably dead on about another thing: it would make sense that Titan (a/k/a Universe of Starcraft) be more of a sandbox than a themepark.
Universe of Starcraft is not the greatest name, but you get the point.
Please bookmark this comment. Whenever it comes out I will have been right. And I will take $1.00 from each of you that disagrees.
I CANNOT WAIT!!!
Sandbox appears to be the in thing this year. Problem, how can Blizzard satisfy the demands on their corp profit needs with a sandbox - a dilema that is probably throwing their developments into analysis paralysis. Ding Titan.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
With mmo's being in a sort of transitory stage from the more classic WoW style, and new and different mechanics being thrown around with varying degrees of success and failure, I wouldn't be too surprised if Blizzard just held out on titan until they get a better idea of what the future of popular mmo's will look like. I mean, that's what they did last time right, took a hugely popular (for the time) formula and mostly just polished it. (from what I've heard at least I didn't know about mmo's back then)
As has been said Blizzard already has a huge cash cow mmo, not to mention their other popular franchises. They don't NEED another, especially if it might directly compete with WoW's numbers. I wouldn't expect titan to come out for a long while.
Also about the World/ Universe of Starcraft comment; didn't info on titan come out that said it involved time travel and mythology?
"finger on the pulse" - no, not since Cata. For six years I played WOW daily. Then came the talent changes and the "make it easier so that the hardcore pve and pvp players can get to max level quicker". I have been back a couple of times from nostalgia but the talent changes make me quit soon.
The Blizzard developers who built the games that gamers loved are almost all gone. The Diablo crew gone, most of the original WOW developers left. One of the reasons that Blizzard can't make Titan is because they don't have a finger on the pulse of gamers because the developers that did are gone.
There is good news - some of the developers ended up in Carbine and Wildstar is looking REALLY good.
When I look at the direction they have gone with WoW since release, I really don't think Titan will have anything to offer me. By the time it will be ready for release they will have to market towards a completely new generation to whom Facebook and social networking will be old school.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Not sure if "sandbox" is the thing this year. Look at Star Wars Galaxies. Look at Eve. The former got screwed up with an upgraded combat system, the latter is still going. Sandbox and themepark are not mutually exclusive. Sandbox means an open world where you can explore and do many things without being on rails. BUT you can still have rails for people - for example, the overall game story and the individual character's story have to progress . . . on rails (somewhat).
The problem, and you are right in pointing this out, is figuring out how to monetize it. If they can come up with some innovative game mechanics, they should be good. Heck, 8 years ago there were no "events" (aka Rifts), so they can expound upon that.
Why are you even considering "sandbox" and "titan" in the same context? Blizzard made the most successful MMO of all time
based on a "themepark" design. You dont think for a second that Titan wont also be.