Blizzard Entertainment is developing a video game IP which will see the creation of a new survival game franchise.
In a news post yesterday, Blizzard explained how it was “going on a journey to a whole new universe, home to a brand-new survival game for PC and console.” Very little is known about the project beyond Blizzard attempting to make a “vast realm” it intends to fill with heroes and adventures.
The announcement was used to put out a call for new people to come and join the development team. Blizzard needs to fill a range of art, design, and engineering roles on the project, and there’s sure to be a lot of interest. It’s not often a person gets to know ahead of time that the job they applied for could see them help shape a new gaming IP. And when that role is at Blizzard, it’s guaranteed to be big.
Blizzard’s last new video game IP was Overwatch, which first appeared in 2016. Before that, Blizzard gave us Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, as well as Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. Based on track record alone, it would be a brave person who bet against this new survival game franchise turning into another success for the company.
The person who will likely be most happy about news of an new IP being developed is Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Having just negotiated a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, whatever Blizzard is working on will end up being a Microsoft-owned IP and therefore probably off-limits to PlayStation owners while helping to sell more Game Pass subscriptions.
