With so many rumors about Titan, what do we know and what can we conclude?
Blizzard’s Titan, has been the subject of a lot of speculation lately. Is it an MMORPG? Is it an MMOFPS? Is it something completely new? GAMEBREAKER posted recently about the new rumors from poster alphaNoid, where a website dedicated to Titan info had done their fair share of detective work on the usefulness and content of his posts.
AlphaNoid had asserted, amongst other things, that Titan was not a brand new IP, but a mish-mash of other titles, which led Josh Allen to conclude in Legendary Episode 109 that Titan was the long-abandoned Starcraft Ghost. Josh has since been informed by his own Blizzard insider that, in fact, Titan is a brand new IP, and this is backed up by a post from Blizzard Senior World of Warcraft Community Rep Jonathan “Zarhym” Brown, way back in 2009. As the forums have since been redesigned, it’s necessary to view that post from a third-party site, but it says the following:
We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it’s a shell of a game thus far. We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.
What else do we know?
Back in 2007, Blizzard advertised for “an individual to lead an engine-programming team focused on next-generation massively multiplayer online games. The ideal candidate will possess outstanding communication and coordination skills and be capable of…[helping in the] design and creation of a next-generation engine.”Later that year, at the Burning Crusade launch, Itzik Ben Bassat said: “When we announce our next MMORPG it’s not going to be another WOW–we’re not a company that tends to tread the same ground,” he told British film magazine Empire. “It’ll be something innovative and new that really brings entertainment to another level.”
This was followed in 2009 by an announcement from Bobby Kotick, in which he is quoted as saying ”What we’ve announced at Blizzard is that we have Starcraft coming, Diablo has been in production…and a new, unannounced MMOG that has a little more broad appeal.” In 2010, this product slate was leaked, revealing Blizzard’s timeline going forward, and Senior VP Frank Pearce confirmed the project Titan name in a video interview a few months later. Shortly after the slate was leaked, the General Manager of Blizzard China was replaced, but this could well have been coincidental.
Rob Pardo commented in an interview that Titan was still underway, had been in core development for over four years, and that there was a team of over 100 people working on it, but gave away precious little detail on the game itself. There have been various rumors, not least the recent ones, that Titan would be an MMOFPS, but the recent Q1 investor call with Activision Blizzard included a slide which said that “work continues on the unannounced MMORPG”. This could have been a typo, but it ties in well with Bassat’s aforementioned quote.
Lastly, of course, there was the recent registration of the Project Blackstone domain, which could have been completely unrelated to Titan, or completely key! Other interesting rumors include a 2011 forum post that took this developer list, and looked into the online galleries of several of the art team, concluding that Titan would have a steampunk direction. There was also an AMA with an alleged former GM, where he said that it would appeal to fans of The Sims. A French site also published rumors that characters would have a dual life, with one social half and one combat-related half, but no source is stated.
From what Blizzard has said on Titan, there’s little firm information.
- We are relatively sure it’s a new IP, rather than a rehash of an existing title.
- We can gather that it’s something a little outside the existing genres covered by Starcraft, World of Warcraft and Diablo.
- There may be a release in late 2014-early 2015.
- It is likely an MMORPG, but, given the sources for this, other MMOG genres shouldn’t be wholly ruled out.
- Over 100 people are working on it.
- It’s currently codenamed Titan!
The following can be categorized as interesting rumors, not completely ruled out:
- It’s an MMOFPS.
- It’s futuristic or steampunk in design.
- While a new IP, it draws heavily from existing titles.
- It could be cross-platform
- It may have a social or player housing component
What do you think? Is there truth in the rumors? Will Project Titan be an MMORPG or an MMOFPS or something else entirely? What will the style be?
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