Blizzard Entertainment has become famous for its RPGs and RTS. But if Diablo is still alive, then new Warcraft and StarCraft are not even on the horizon. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier explained why this happened.
Image source: BLIZZARD ENTERTINMENT
Answering questions from Reddit users about his new book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment (out October 8), Schreier talked about Blizzard’s efforts to return to the strategy genre.
According to Schreier, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty performed well (although it did not live up to the company’s high expectations), but each subsequent part of the trilogy sold worse than the previous one.
After switching to a free-to-play model, StarCraft 2’s multiplayer couldn’t reach the levels of Overwatch or Hearthstone
Following this, StarCraft 2 production director Tim Morten and his team allegedly tried for years to convince Blizzard management to give the new RTS a chance, offering a variety of ideas supported by prototypes.
Among the potential projects of Morten’s team were both the mythical Warcraft 4 and a strategy based on the military shooters Call of Duty from Activision, but the authorities were not interested in returning to strategies.
Warcraft 3: Reforged, a promising updated version of Blizzard’s cult strategy, had to convince management. Upon release in 2020, the remaster, however, failed on all counts.
Morten and part of the team left to make his strategy (see Stormgate from Frost Giant Studios), and the players continue to sit without new Warcraft and StarCraft. However, Schreyer believes that with new leadership in the person of Microsoft, the situation may change.