14 DAY TRIAL // Ever since a leak coming from the China offices of Blizzard talked about a new MMO project at the company, called Titan, fans have speculated on whether the game might threaten the dominant position of World of Warcraft.
But at least one Blizzard executive believes that its leading subscription-based MMO faces a much closer threat from Diablo III.
Speaking to Gamasutra Frank Pearce, who is the executive vice president of product development at Blizzard, has said, “I think even a shorter-term concern is whether or not we might see cannibalization of WoW players from Diablo III when we launch it, because it's a similar type of experience. Not exactly similar, but it's that RPG feel.”
He added, “So it's better we cannibalize them ourselves than let someone else do that, because if we cannibalize them ourselves, they're still a Blizzard customer.”
Pearce has also confirmed that a shift is happening at Blizzard, with some of the most experienced developer from World of Warcraft leaving the game behind and moving to work on Titan.
The staff rotation means that fresh eyes are brought to each MMO project, making sure that one vision does not dominate any of them.
Not much information has been offered on Titan, but Blizzard says that its two MMOs would be in direct competition but will complement each other, with gamers able to enjoy both as long as they have the time.
Titan does not currently have a launch window.
Blizzard has also said that it is working on more content updates for World of Warcraft, although it’s not clear whether the new content will be delivered via patches or will be linked to a whole new expansion.
Diablo III is apparently pretty close to being completed, but Blizzard has not said when the hack and slash game might be launched or whether rumors that it will also arrive on consoles are true or not.