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Next Blizzard MMO to have more broad appeal

Published on 15th September 2009 by Joe Martin

Activision's Bobby Kotick has promised that Blizzard's next MMO will have a much broader appeal than WoW.

Activision Blizzard's bossman Bobby Kotick has promised that Blizzard's next MMO project after World of Warcraft, which is already in development, will have a much broader appeal than WoW.

It's hard to imagine how anything could have a broader appeal than WoW, which has in excess of 11 million players, but we're sure that's a problem Activision is working on.

"What we've announced at Blizzard is that we have StarCraft coming, Diablo has been in production... and a new, unannounced MMO that has a little more broad appeal," said Kotick in a technology conference reported on by GameSpot.

It's also been confirmed previously that Blizzard's MMO will be based on a brand new franchise and isn't intended to compete directly with World of Warcraft, driving rumours of a more casual based MMO or even an MMO racing game.

During the conference Kotick also mentioned some new features for Starcraft II's Battle.net tournament system, including "cash play and prize play options".

"As we start to add cash play and prize play and better rewards and recognition systems that come through the Internet, you will start to see audiences expand even further," he said.

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

27 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Jamie 15th September 2009, 12:25

Broad appeal, that means something everyone can relate to... It'll either be modern war based or Sims like.

Flibblebot 15th September 2009, 12:41

+1 for a Sims-a-like MMO

RichCreedy 15th September 2009, 12:42

sims is pant ;)

yakyb 15th September 2009, 12:50

i immediately thought sims / second life

interesting this cash play thing tho does that mean you win money for getting specific achievements

Cousteau 15th September 2009, 12:54

Sims-a-like MMO with free downloadable WOW skins for your characters ;) lol

500mph 15th September 2009, 12:55

Maybe Sci-fi Or Retro would be nice.

Nikumba 15th September 2009, 12:58

I used to play WoW, play Eve instead as i get to blow things up. I like games with guns and explosions and stuff like that, which you just dont get in a fantasy world like wow

UrbanMarine 15th September 2009, 13:06

Diablo would have made a nice mmo, so much for that....

Grinch123456 15th September 2009, 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flibblebot
+1 for a Sims-a-like MMO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_Online

That sure worked out well!

TomH 15th September 2009, 13:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by 500mph
Maybe Sci-fi (snip) would be nice.

Now more than ever, it doesn't sound like like Universe of Starcraft will be coming. :(

ChaosDefinesOrder 15th September 2009, 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanMarine
Diablo would HAVE made a nice mmo, so much for that....

corrected!

grrrrrrr!!!!

FIBRE+ 15th September 2009, 14:09

An MMO FPS would be nice, I quite enjoyed playing Planetside back in the day. Maybe a BF2/COD/Planetside hybrid type o' ting?, actually it would be nice if the next installment of GTA was a gang based MMO FPS actually :)

Flibblebot 15th September 2009, 14:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grinch123456
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_Online

That sure worked out well!

Perhaps because it was done by EA? :p

If it's going to have any kind of "broad appeal" (which, of course, means that it'll appeal to broads :D), they'll have to steer clear of any genres that are seen as "geeky" - which rules out sci fi, fantasy and any kind of war setting. Which means that it'll be as bland as hell and appeal to nobody apart from those people who are already playing Second Life or the Sims.

Which reminds me - how is Sony's PS3 Home thingy going? It's all gone very quiet since it launched...

p3n 15th September 2009, 15:20

They diluted WoW down to everyone wins already, the new game will play for you? :) (Yes I am one of many to realise MMO's are all flawed.... and ridiculous time sinks!)

rollo 15th September 2009, 15:40

wow hasnt really been diluted down people just got better. still see very few people with 310% drakes on most servers is proof of that. Whatever they do next is a sure fire seller

Otto69 15th September 2009, 16:55

If they want more appeal they'll have to do better Community in game. That's the big zilch of WoW.

[PUNK] crompers 15th September 2009, 17:49

to me this just screams console

HourBeforeDawn 15th September 2009, 18:57

so what it will be actually be entertaining and not boring as hell with the same old repetitive crap that you do every single day, oh and will Blizzard continue to be greedy asses to their loyal customers and make they have to pay for every aspect of the game.

thehippoz 15th September 2009, 19:26

it will be a farming game.. you will level up and buy new crops- oh the joy

AshT 15th September 2009, 20:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by crompers
to me this just screams console

The more players the merrier.

LordPyrinc 15th September 2009, 23:35

Perhaps more of a shooter type MMO? Something that would lend well to squad based tactics with some of the group firing rocket launchers, some long range sniper types, and then automatic weapon members. Have the ability to use various types of grenades and maybe even the ability to call in airstrikes if above ground. Yet still have an RPG type feel with quests, item drops, and the ability to craft new weapons and armor. Rather than mounts, you would have various vehicles and such. Some level of money management when it comes to buying various ammunition and grenades. Like a lot of multiplayer FPS games, but more MMO rather than map based.

Does an MMO already exist like that? Not really sure as I don't play a whole lot of FPS, but I do like playing the Marksman character in Hellgate London... though I've never played multiplayer and the single player gameplay can be a bit repetitive.

xprodancer 16th September 2009, 02:19

COD4-5 thats it from me!

SazBard 16th September 2009, 10:16

You will have to work for hours at mind-numbing repetitive tasks to earn coin to buy things... Oh wait, I do that already, its called real life =/

dyzophoria 16th September 2009, 21:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by SazBard
You will have to work for hours at mind-numbing repetitive tasks to earn coin to buy things... Oh wait, I do that already, its called real life =/

that is really a good point. lol

I was hoping for a diablo or starcraft based mmo, oh well, i wonder what blizzard will have instored then

Empathy 19th January 2010, 00:46

Well, some said that blizzard was excited when they saw Global agenda, an mmofps. Maybe that helped them go after mmofps, since they will have time to fix all the mistakes global agenda will do.

Anyway, i found a great site about blizzard's next gen mmo, it's a wiki and has quite a lot of info even about rumors.

woodss 19th January 2010, 09:58

Did you guys see they went from 7 million to 7 billion $ revenue in 10 years? these guys could release 5 different MMO's and still have cashflow.

I am guessing they will aim for markets they dont already own with wow, but stick to the principles.

Empathy 1st February 2010, 01:27

They said on a financial report that they aim for developing markets like Russia and India and they intent to expand the subscriber base. They probably going for another guinness record :P

Btw, join us in Blizzards new MMO unofficial community site.