Blizzard Entertainment presents a new game – and it will continue the survival trend. For this, a whole new universe is created.
Blizzard Entertainment is working on a new game. The inventor of Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft is creating the first fresh brand since Overwatch in 2016. first for Blizzard.
Update of January 26, 2022 : We supplemented this news with information and tweets from Blizzard collaborators. Also, those who think Blizzard didn’t choose the right genre for their new announcement may find themselves in this article, especially after the Warcraft 3: Reforged debacle.
Blizzard’s New Survival Game: All Images and Info
(On his website), the traditional developer shows two first images of the survival game as part of a job advertisement and reveals that you will have to discover an unknown world there. None of the series already known serves as a backdrop for this “Unannounced Survival Game”, but an entirely new universe is being born in the Californian studio.
The published images show both signs of a modern environment (a bicycle and skyscrapers) and fantasy elements (a flying castle). Two youthful-looking figures stand on the threshold between gray reality and the colorful fantasy world; a portal in the forest provides access to this still unexplored universe.
In the second concept drawing, a woman in elaborately decorated armour, inspired by the skeleton of an animal, bends over magically shimmering footprints in a forest; its look is reminiscent of medieval-fantasy games.
AAA-Survival already playable
Shortly after the job posting, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra spoke on Twitter. He points out that he’s already played “many hours” of the new Blizzard game with the team. The project could therefore already be at an advanced stage:
I have spent many hours on this project with the team and am very excited about the vision of the team and the whole new world it presents for players to immerse themselves in together. Join us to help make it a reality! https://t.co/pLhijX2Li9
– Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) January 25, 2022
Blizzard’s survival game Unnanounced would be the first true AAA game from a major developer in the genre – so far, with the exception of Obsidian Entertainment (Grounded), only indie teams have tried to monetize the trend started by Minecraft.
The development of the survival game is led by Craig Amai, who has worked for Blizzard Entertainment since 2004 and worked for World of Warcraft for years, first as a senior game master, then as a senior game designer and lead quest designer. The mysterious survival game is Amais’ first personal project at Blizzard, for which he has the title of Project Lead.
Once upon a time this dream project was humble pitch deck on my desktop. Today, it’s a team full of passionate people who share a vision that I couldn’t be more proud of.https://t.co/dCumH9yoEm
– Craig Amai ? (@craig_amai) January 25, 2022
The output and game modes are still a mystery
In the meantime, it’s not yet known if Blizzard’s survival game will be an online-only game or if a single-player campaign is also in the works. The artwork, Mike Ybarra’s tweet, and experience suggest, however, that you’ll at least be playing co-op with other people.
There’s no release date yet, but Blizzard’s next game is expected to see the light of day for PC and consoles. Currently, we are still looking for collaborators for the project, so we find advertisements for the following positions:
TYPE
- Environment Artist (Associate to Senior)
- Senior Character Artist
- Technical Artist (FX Pipeline)
- VFX Artist (Associate to Senior)
- Senior character concept artist
DESIGN
ENGINEERING
- Lead Software Engineer, Engine
- Senior Software Engineer, Audio
- Senior Software Engineer, Server
- Senior Software Engineer, Tools
This announcement comes as scandalous working conditions at Activision Blizzard and reports of sexism at Blizzard Entertainment are on everyone’s lips.
If Blizzard Entertainment’s seemingly distant survival game ever releases, it will likely do so under publisher Microsoft’s banner and in the PC Game Pass. Indeed, after the recent announcement of the takeover of Activision Blizzard, the Diablo studio will also belong to the Microsoft group.
What do you think?
Do Blizzard and Survival go together? Give us your opinion and let us know what you think the new project from Blizzard Entertainment has to offer to establish itself in the genre.