Blizzard: Our next MMO won't be WoW2

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 17th October 2008
Comments (33) Stumble
Blizzard: Our next MMO won't be WoW2

Blizzard has confirmed that the next MMO it works on will not be a sequel to World of Warcraft, but something entirely new.

Despite speculation that Blizzard is currently looking to create a sequel to World of Warcraft, the company has claimed otherwise in interviews recently.

Speaking to Wired recently, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime was quite clear on the matter and was adamant that the next MMO the company looks to create will be a wholly different game to World of Warcraft and definitely not a sequel.

"We’re not trying to replace World of Warcraft with this new MMO. We’re trying to create a different massively multiplayer experience, and hopefully World of Warcraft will still be going strong when that one is released," said Mike.

"So let’s just say it’s going to be different and it’s not going to be a sequel to World of Warcraft. It will be different," he added.

The burning crusade question is then; What will the next MMO be? The fact that it's trying to move away from World of Warcraft to avoid competing with it means that a Diablo MMO is pretty unlikely. World of Starcraft perhaps? We'd say it could be a new IP, but the chances of Blizzard making a new IP at this point are pretty slim if you ask us.

Personally, I've got my fingers crossed for a Battle Chess MMO, but maybe that's just me.

What would you like to see Blizzard do next? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Quote LeMaltor 17th October 2008, 11:57
Pah, just talking down WoW2 ahead of WOLK release :p
Quote Dreaming 17th October 2008, 12:04
World of Starcraft MMORTS?
Quote AClark 17th October 2008, 12:10
I'd like a to see a good MMOFPS developed, could be fun!
Quote BioSniper 17th October 2008, 12:15
Why is there a screenshot of Battlechess there? It was made by Interplay not Blizz :P

Starcraft MMO FPS is personally what I'd love to see as Planetside is now feeling a little old (heck it did when it came out) but it's still unbeaten.
Quote StephenK 17th October 2008, 12:31
Battlechess MMO would be awesome. I love you Joe!
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 17th October 2008, 12:35
Battlechess! That brings back memories :D

No MMO at all, imho they suck up your money, social life and 'life source' time!
Lucky for me I think MMO is a new word for "the plague" in the making. So I avoid it in all posible ways. I even try to NOT read about it, but BT insisted on placing it as a news item.

Besides that, Blizzard is so damn money loaded with WOW they don't have to make anything cause they all are loaded for life...
Quote TomH 17th October 2008, 12:35
Quote:
Originally Posted by BioSniper
Why is there a screenshot of Battlechess there? It was made by Interplay not Blizz :P

Starcraft MMO FPS is personally what I'd love to see as Planetside is now feeling a little old (heck it did when it came out) but it's still unbeaten.
True and true'r. I'd love to see a Starcraft MMO as much as the next guy.. Though Battlechess brings back memories of toasty, winter nights in front of my Amstrad 1640. :D

(Loom anyone?)
Quote Arkanrais 17th October 2008, 12:43
Rock 'n Roll Racing MMO!
Quote Faulk_Wulf 17th October 2008, 12:54
Perhaps finishing Starcraft: Ghost ? >.>
Quote StephenK 17th October 2008, 13:01
Looooooooooooooom! Oh yes!
Quote UncertainGod 17th October 2008, 13:09
From what has been said I can confirm by my head-majiks that Blizzards next MMO will be.....

World Of Lost Vikings In Space: Wrath Of The Zerg.
Quote UrbanMarine 17th October 2008, 13:15
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkanrais
Rock 'n Roll Racing MMO!

HELL YEAH. That game was awesome. Auto Assault was the Twisted Metal meets RnRR.

I would like to see a good sci fi mmo but so far they've all failed. Even the over hyped Star Wars games died. It might be to close to WoW (fantasy) but a Diablo MMO would be ****in sweet.
Quote Veles 17th October 2008, 13:49
I don't really see why it can't be Diablo or even Warcraft based. All they said is they're not making WoW 2. Doesn't mean they can't still make a Warcraft MMO but with completely different mechanics. Even with the same setting it would be a very different game.

But yeah, my bet would be Starcraft MMO.
Quote TGImages 17th October 2008, 14:07
How about something in the semi-modern day period with a post apocalyptic theme, etc. Mad Max style?
Quote DriftCarl 17th October 2008, 14:08
I think warcraft in the distant future would make a good mmo. Kinda along the same lines as warhammer40 k
Quote Jik 17th October 2008, 14:20
Blizzard stated at Blizzcon last weekend that the new MMO was a new IP not based on their existing games. You never know though.
Quote UrbanMarine 17th October 2008, 14:26
@TGI The Fallout mmo is currenly under-development. Give it 5 or so years. If they work it so that every feature of Fallout is in the mmo minus the turnbase it will be one of the best MMOs ever. The fact that if you piss off people at level 10 it can affect you later at level 50 would be awesome.

@Drift Warhammer 40k mmo is also in the works but not sure how far it's gone. Since Warhammer Online is out Games Workshop in working with Mythic a lot.
Quote Redbeaver 17th October 2008, 14:49
Diablo MMO.

why isn't it possible? it'll be wicked.
Quote Ninja_182 17th October 2008, 14:56
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redbeaver
Diablo MMO.

why isn't it possible? it'll be wicked.

Would be quite similar in style probably to Warcraft (both are based on similar fantasies, one alot darker than the other), Starcraft MMO would be interesting, sort of futuristic space thingy, nothing to do with the RTS games, more like Mass Effect would be as an MMO but with a slight adjustment in races and story.
Quote naokaji 17th October 2008, 15:07
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jik
Blizzard stated at Blizzcon last weekend that the new MMO was a new IP not based on their existing games. You never know though.

With the profits of wow they can easily develop more than mmorpg at the same time and next mmorpg might just refer to next one scheduled for release and does not necesseraly mean wow2 isnt in development allready.

A Starcraft MMO would rock though.
Quote CardJoe 17th October 2008, 15:07
Quote:
Originally Posted by BioSniper
Why is there a screenshot of Battlechess there? It was made by Interplay not Blizz

The Windows and C64 port of the game was one of the first projects Blizzard ever worked on, actually :p
Quote MrMonroe 17th October 2008, 15:31
/petition to remove bishop nerf?
Quote leviathan18 17th October 2008, 16:18
i have my cd of battlechess somewhere very nice game the queen witch is funny
Quote StephenK 17th October 2008, 16:34
Think I remember the port of the second battlechess game. They were called Synapse & Sillicon at the time or somthing like that.
Quote s3v3n 17th October 2008, 17:35
KoP (Kitchen of Piecraft):
Pie making at it's furiest. Can your kitchen's pies beat the others?
Featuring the Warring Chef: Pie Series instance.
Quote BlackMage23 17th October 2008, 18:18
OMG Battle chess rules!!!!
Quote TomH 18th October 2008, 02:35
Quote:
Originally Posted by leviathan18
i have my cd of battlechess somewhere very nice game the queen witch is funny
She had an outstanding 'wobble' :p
Quote Cthippo 18th October 2008, 05:54
Stalker MMO for the cheesecake!
Quote willyolio 18th October 2008, 08:32
i want a diablo prequel. sin war!
Quote Sathy 18th October 2008, 15:10
Honestly, why are people being so dense about this? It's good to see a few that are able to reason. But why is it still so obscure to so many? It has been said several times on several different interviews, including the latest Blizzcon that they are developing a NEW MMO based on NEW IP. Not Star, War or Diablocraft of any sort. It makes no sense at all to even consider those if you think about it in terms of what they are developing now and how they are a company that aims to make profit.

News that isn't news is always interesting as the reasons for making it news are worth pondering.
Quote Solidus 18th October 2008, 18:02
It will be probably something totally different to current mmporgs. They have a way of coming up with unique ways of doing things and I highly doubt they would want anything to draw people away from its cash cow that is WoW.
A starcraft mmporg would draw people away and I doubt they would risk that until they feel WoW is not producing the results anymore.

Last time i did the maths, WoW must have generated a billion pounds easily by now.

9 million players worldwide = 9'000'000 x £8 (monthly fee roughly) = £72'000'000 per month...£72 million pounds income per month! oh man...
Then theres sales from the game itself and merchandising...Of course R & D soaked up allot near the beginning because the game was in developement for about 3+ years but that must have been made back a long time ago...

Man, thats some scary income....
Quote dylAndroid 19th October 2008, 02:15
I remember when Tribes was first described to me. What I expected was a cross between RedAlert for strategic orders, and a MMO FPS for each soldier's actions.

In practice, Tribes handled the FPS side fairly well -- if I remember correctly, there were games with over one hundred people in them. It fell short on the coordination and organization of efforts - the RTS command side. Ironically, integrating a better RTS system would have been technically easier than much of the rest of the work they did for the game.

I'm completely stunned that I still haven't heard of a game that really does this well. While yes, it is like developing multiple games in one, if done well, it would easily become a major hit.
Quote Bladestorm 19th October 2008, 11:19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solidus
It will be probably something totally different to current mmporgs. They have a way of coming up with unique ways of doing things and I highly doubt they would want anything to draw people away from its cash cow that is WoW.
A starcraft mmporg would draw people away and I doubt they would risk that until they feel WoW is not producing the results anymore.

Last time i did the maths, WoW must have generated a billion pounds easily by now.

9 million players worldwide = 9'000'000 x £8 (monthly fee roughly) = £72'000'000 per month...£72 million pounds income per month! oh man...
Then theres sales from the game itself and merchandising...Of course R & D soaked up allot near the beginning because the game was in developement for about 3+ years but that must have been made back a long time ago...

Man, thats some scary income....

Quite a few of the subscribers they include are in china and other places where they pay a massively reduced fee (since the original fee could be a week's salary in some of them)

It's a cash cow no doubt but a lot of people like to over-estimate how much so.
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