14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard has cautiously let on that it is working on a new MMO, which could one day even lead to World of Warcraft, the most successful subscription based title in the world of video games, becoming free to play.
But the company has not talked about what universe it will set its new game in, leading to fans thinking about the possibilities that could come from a Diablo MMO or a World of Starcraft. Blizzard has suggested that it is working on something new and now the most important executive of Activision Blizzard added his voice to the originality chorus.
Talking to investors after Activision announced its latest financial results Bobby Kotick, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, stated, “I think what we’ve been able to do is elevate the level of innovation in products beyond what we’ve been ever able to do before. We’ve talked a lot about the seven different pillars of success that we expect over the course of the next few years.”
He then added, "Remember, we have two enormous investments: one in Bungie and the other in another project at Blizzard that we haven’t given a lot of visibility to. Those are going to be entirely new intellectual properties.”
In September 2009 Kotick also said that the new project from Blizzard would be designed to have “a little more broad appeal”. A lead designer working on World of Warcraft also mentioned that the company was aiming for a gaming experience that is easy to pick up and play but hard to master.
At the moment Blizzard is working on Diablo III, which has been showed a couple of times until now and could arrive in 2011, and on Heart of the Swarm, another campaign set in the Starcraft 2 universe. The studio is also working on World of Warcraft, which is getting a new expansion later this year.