Do you remember in the summer of 2010 how PC gamers got excited about the leaked Blizzard release schedule? Well the rumour mill is again starting to churn.
Blizzard may be one of the finest game developers around, with their mega popular franchises that have built a dedicated following over the years, but they’re not the speediest of developers. They’re the guys that like to take their time, only releasing a game when they feel that its finally done.
Activision-Blizzard (Blizzard’s parent company) recently released a statement at the Citi 2011 Technology Conference, with company COO Thomas Tippl stating that over the next three years, the publisher is expecting six “proven property” releases from Blizzard. These releases include two expansion packs each from World of Warcraft and Starcraft II.
Now, given the leaked release schedule from 2010, not many milestones were in place for us to confirm the validity of the schedule, except the release of World of Warcraft in Brazil, which is currently underway as far as I know. Taking all things into consideration, the six games that would be released if Blizzard would be so inclined are: Starcraft: Heart Of the Swarm, Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void, Diablo 3, World of Warcraft Expansion number 4 & 5 and the mysterious next MMO from Blizzard codenamed ‘Titan’. Blizzard has been super-secret over their supposed new MMORPG property that they’re busy developing. According to leaked documents, the studio is looking to release the game in 2013, which would certainly help them meet production quotas.
Since the Activision statement, Blizzard has come forward saying, “We haven’t made any announcements in regard to plans beyond our current slate, currently, we are focused on the next content update for Cataclysm, the upcoming release of Diablo III, and continued development on Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm.”
…So it’s the normal Blizzard spiel of “It’s out, when its ready”, but my obvious prediction still stands for the short term; Diablo 3 for December, and Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, at around the start of their financial year – with more on the way in Q1 of 2012.
I’m not too keen on the idea of Blizzard having to step up production times on games, as the chances of one of their titles being released without that trademark polish doesn’t sit well with me. Still, Activision has proven that a property can be released on a more regular basis and can still be fun, so we’ll just have to see how the next three years pan out for Blizzard
[Editor’s note: How about taking a risk and giving us a new “Lost Vikings†as a downloadable game for PC, PSN and XBLA, eh?]Source: Gamespot
Last Updated: September 9, 2011
