Blizzard's Upcoming Unannounced Projects (Analysis)

[Kathranis]

In the last few months Blizzard has been adding more and more job listings to their careers site for unannounced projects, and in light of the announcement that they are working on new Diablo projects, I thought I'd just run through their job listings and analyze what kind of projects are currently in the works at Blizzard based on what can be gleaned from what they're looking for in their new hires.

There appear to be two major projects in full development right now, a AAA Diablo game for PC and a AAA mobile game. The mobile title in particular seems to be quite far along, based on the fact that they are either currently in the process of outsourcing and implementing art assets in a game ready state, or soon will be. The Diablo project may be further out, as they are still hiring a Creative Director and Executive Producer, which are major franchise-level positions, however the number of new positions available seems to keep increasing, so the team is growing.

Additionally, the incubation teams seem to be conceptualizing and prototyping multiple titles, including what seems to be a possible AAA first person action game for PC and next-gen consoles. Given the nature of incubation, it's entirely possible that many of these projects may never come to fruition. For those unaware, Allen Adham, co-founder of Blizzard, returned to the company in 2016, and is now the executive producer in charge of incubation teams that are working on developing new titles for various platforms, including completely new IPs.

Anyway, onto the analysis. Source: https://careers.blizzard.com/en-us/openings


New Unannounced Diablo Project

• Large Scale AAA PC Game (DirectX 11, OpenGL)
• "The minions of Hell are growing stronger..."
• Interesting developer attitude phrases: "dark gothic world of Diablo," "killing millions of monsters and getting loot," "hack and slash through hordes of demons," "together we will build something extraordinary."
• Atmospheric dungeons with 3D environments and both 2D and 3D assets.
• 3D assets created using physically based rendering (physical 3D lighting and shading).
• Characters will have facial animation rigs, which suggests that faces are more visible, meaning it may not be purely top-down isometric, or it may have animated talking heads or in-engine cutscenes.
• 3D VFX using particle systems, physics, ribbons, shaders, etc.
• Engineers are designing and building new tools and systems for audio, rendering, animation, etc.
• Creative Director position mentions world design, cinematics, and narrative design.

New Unannounced Mobile Project

• AAA 3D Mobile Game for iPhone and Android (Unity 3D)
• Interesting developer attitude phrases include: "gameplay first," "epic entertainment experience," "players' journey," "delightful user experiences."
• Development seems to be fairly far along, with art assets being outsourced and implemented in a game ready state.
• It will have regular content updates and player progression.
• It will have both 2D and 3D character assets, with a "diverse visual range of characters and creatures".
• It will have 3D environments with designed levels, as well as creatures and NPCs that spawn and use abilities.
• It will have quests, with "individual quests" that act as "building blocks to tell a greater story."
• Their goal is to have "high-quality storylines with interesting characters, text, and dialogue."

Unannounced Incubator Project(s)

• They are hiring artists and engineers for one or more unannounced projects / prototypes.
• Senior/lead positions for general concept art and 3D environment art to help conceptualize new game projects.
• Senior/lead engineers are being hired for animation, gameplay, graphics, AI, graphics engines, etc.
• Listings suggest a desire to develop a large scale AAA title for PC and next-gen consoles.
• Project(s) that require developing a new, robust 1st person game engine.
• Project(s) that require 1st/3rd person animations, action-oriented gameplay.

[Piglord]

According to a new video, there are multiple Diablo projects.

[Zeta333]

According to a new video, there are multiple Diablo projects.

SO they can tarnish the legacy d2 had with not only d3 but multiple terrible versions of diablo at the same time.

[Hoatzin]

I couldn't stop watching her eyebrows. She uses them a lot.

I hope whatever they come up with for mobile is good. I've never played mobile games, but I think I would be ready to jump in if blizzard came up with something decent.

And diablo controls on xbox (moving around, not necessarily action controls) feel so much better for the wrist. Everyone I know that plays D3 is always complaining about wrist fatigue. If they had it, in future stuffs, where that could be changed.. it'd be swell

[PACOX]

I couldn't stop watching her eyebrows. She uses them a lot.

Its like she is a real life animation demo.


Mobile D3 is definitely possible with modern phones/tablets. Actually surprised a lot more games aren't ported, devs can get their games on more devices without waiting for dedicated handheld devices anymore.

[Zeta333]

Its like she is a real life animation demo.


Mobile D3 is definitely possible with modern phones/tablets. Actually surprised a lot more games aren't ported, devs can get their games on more devices without waiting for dedicated handheld devices anymore.

Why would anyone want this. Spending dev resources on mobile d3 has to be the biggest waste i could see.

[Kudos]

SO they can tarnish the legacy d2 had with not only d3 but multiple terrible versions of diablo at the same time.

I don't get the nostalgia boner people have for D2. There's only so many times you could do Mephisto or Baal runs before you got bored. I mean, I loved the game. I played a tonne of the game. Then I got bored and moved on. I probably wouldn't buy a remaster if one eventuated.

[Zeta333]

I don't get the nostalgia boner people have for D2. There's only so many times you could do Mephisto or Baal runs before you got bored. I mean, I loved the game. I played a tonne of the game. Then I got bored and moved on. I probably wouldn't buy a remaster if one eventuated.

IM sorry did i miss d3 being any less repetitive? Its still infinitely better than d3. It doesnt hold your hand through the entire story like d3 does, and actually lets you create a build instead of limiting skill selection like blizzard does " because people couldnt figure out how to make a skill tree" They had one job with d3 and that was to take d2 make it better with more graphics, and they fucked that up so hard.

[Blayze]

I wonder if the Starcraft team are making a Diablo RTS for that Heaven vs Hell war we've never played.

[unholytestament]

I wonder if the Starcraft team are making a Diablo RTS for that Heaven vs Hell war we've never played.

Reskin Starcraft with Diablo? I can dig it.

[Blayze]

Reskin Starcraft with Diablo? I can dig it.

It answers the question of what the Starcraft team are working on now, gives people more Diablo, and hopefully appeases the people wanting a new Warcraft RTS game for a while.

[Deleted]

It answers the question of what the Starcraft team are working on now, gives people more Diablo, and hopefully appeases the people wanting a new Warcraft RTS game for a while.

I'd much rather have a Warcraft RTS but sure, Diablo RTS might also be interesting!

[stellvia]

First project sounds like it's some sort of cross between God of War and Destiny Warrior series. Mobile games are always shit to me bc they always go for the same touch-mashing auto-battle stuff as every other mobile title. Waiting for real analog controls to be allowed.

From what I've heard about things that happen in SC2, they don't even need to come up with a new MMO to have Starcraft included. The Legion is defeated and the infighting should be over with on Azeroth with BFA. Expansion after that could be world-hopping to other Titan planets to mop up Legion remnants similar to the invasion point system while also laying out more Old God stuff and have some teasers where we come across old Protoss ruins or early zerg experiments. Then expansion after that be a full-blown Warcraft/Starcraft crossover.

[anaxie]

Diablo 0 The Dark Exile

play at the founding days of the Horadrim as they hunted the three Prime Evils Mephisto , Baal, and Diablo across sanctuary. To entrap them within the soulstones

Ally with powerful characters
Jered Cain, Tal'Rash, and Zoltun Kule

Build the ancient artifact that started it all The Horadric Cube!

[RobertoCarlos]

Diablo 0 The Dark Exile

play at the founding days of the Horadrim as they hunted the three Prime Evils Mephisto , Baal, and Diablo across sanctuary. To entrap them within the soulstones

Ally with powerful characters
Jered Cain, Tal'Rash, and Zoltun Kule

Build the ancient artifact that started it all The Horadric Cube!

That does sound pretty cool.

Instead of going forward with the story that they butchered in D3 just star wars it and do a prequel

[anaxie]

That does sound pretty cool.

Instead of going forward with the story that they butchered in D3 just star wars it and do a prequel

be more logical than DIABLO LIVES AGAIN 4.0
plus no Cain in D4 = why bother

[RobertoCarlos]

be more logical than DIABLO LIVES AGAIN 4.0
plus no Cain in D4 = why bother

Yeah exactly. And the way they killed him off too was gross.

Plus could have Wirt be alive and have a young Butcher. Fun times all round

[anaxie]

Yeah exactly. And the way they killed him off too was gross.

Plus could have Wirt be alive and have a young Butcher. Fun times all round

Tristram was build long after Diablo was imprisoned.

[RobertoCarlos]

Tristram was build long after Diablo was imprisoned.

Wirts great great great grandfather then

[anaxie]

Wirts great great great grandfather then

Wirt has no ancestors.

he was a test tube baby created by Adria