14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Blizzard maintains that it is working on the much-awaited Blizzard All-Stars, but the company is not ready to offer any sort of information on the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena title and is considering a number of business models for it.
Chris Sigaty, a production director working on Starcraft 2, talks to Eurogamer about the game, saying, “We’re actively working on it. That I can confirm. A lot of the stuff that’s remaining right now that we need to focus on are the systems necessary to pull off a game with a different business model than StarCraft 2.”
He adds, “We intend to do something different with the business model in Blizzard All-Stars, something more closely resembling the other types of games in that genre, the MOBA-style games that are out there today, and being able to sell smaller amounts of things to players, the things they want.”
This probably means that the bulk of Blizzard All-Stars will be offered using a free-to-play model, with players able to see what the title has to offer in terms of content without paying.
A number of items might be hidden behind a paywall and there’s also the possibility that individual heroes are rotated in and out of a line-up in order to generate revenue.
Blizzard All-Stars was first announced in 2010 and was initially set to be launched as an official modification for Starcraft 2 via Battle.net.
The development team has since been silent and it seems that Blizzard is aiming for a standalone launch.
At the moment, the biggest player in the MOBA market is League of Legends, from Riot Games, which will face tough competition from the Valve-created DOTA 2, which will have a full launch later during 2013.
Blizzard All-Stars will have to rely on the popularity of its characters and innovative mechanics in order to find its own niche.