Blizzard Prepares for its Next Big RTS Title

Undeniably World of Warcraft has a strong grip on today’s PC gaming market. While the headcount reached six millions and it’s still growing, many gamers are wondering if Blizzard is planning future efforts to revitalize the genre that made it a household name: real-time strategy. The franchise started with Warcraft: Orcs and Humans in 1994 and the developers have been at it ever since. However, since Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released in 2003, Blizzard has steered clear of RTS games, focusing on the successful WoW and the indefinitely postponed Starcraft: Ghost for console.

A recent announcement on Blizzard’s official site revealed the company is currently accepting resumes for the position of Level Designer with "experience building levels using any popular 3D Real-Time Strategy game toolset." Candidates are required to have "experience creating levels in 3D RTS game toolset" such as those used in Rise of Legends, Command & Conquer, or Warcraft III.

At the same time Blizzard Entertainment has revealed "plans to strengthen its current development efforts by refocusing key members of its console team on other projects within the company", suggesting a major change for the firm's Blizzard Console dev team. Put two and two together and what do you get?

While the job posting appears to be positive proof that the studio is working on a new RTS game, Blizzard didn’t confirm anything yet. "We have some unannounced projects in development, and we'll be revealing more information about those at a later date," a rep told GameSpot. As some speculate, the obvious choice would be Starcraft II for PC although a new incursion in the Warcraft universe is not to be dismissed, given the huge success WoW has become.

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