Blizzard: Next MMO won't be WoW 2
by Kyle Horner 
Oct 17th 2008 at 4:30PM
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, News items
Go ahead a strike the possibility of a World of Warcraft 2 off your list of possible next-gen Blizzard MMOs because it's officially not happening. In an interview with Wired, Blizzard's recently talkative Mike Morhaime flat out said that their next MMO project isn't a sequel to their first. Of course, he wouldn't divulge exactly what it was either or this would be an entirely different sort of news post.With this news, the odds for a StarCraft or Diablo MMO go up, but so do the odds for an entirely new IP as well. We're sure the guessing game will continue for quite some time before Blizzard tips their hand to everyone. At least the mystery will offer all of us something to do for the next few years while we wait for other unannounced super-secret games to be revealed in the meantime.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Leshrac said on 4:40PM 10-17-2008
My prediction is it will be something Ghost related. They will never make an MMO that is medieval based to only compete with WoW. They've already stated that they would never cannibalize WoWs sub base. So, my bet is on something with a futuristic, and/or sci-fi setting. Starcraft would be difficult since a lot of those units would be limited in what they offered. But I have seen an early build for Ghost, which was halted indefinitely, and there is definitely a game in there somewhere. It was a 3rd person sci-fi shooter.
Reply
BreakingPoint0 said on 5:12PM 10-17-2008
While that's possible I don't think it's probable. Why? Because Ghost is a single person game while there new project is an MMO.
It would be possible to make a Starcraft MMO if they went the route of Guild Wars and did instanced content. That might actually be interesting to see if they decided to go that route.
Leshrac said on 5:21PM 10-17-2008
"Ghost related" is what I said, not a single player game, but an MMO.
Jusk said on 5:12PM 10-17-2008
So was I the only one who saw that they said it was a brand new IP at BlizzCon?
Reply
Leshrac said on 5:34PM 10-17-2008
New IP or not related to any of their current franchises?
Either way; Blizzard could shit on a DVD and it would be more fun to play then 90% of the games out there.
Throughout the development of WoW they stated that they were continuously told to ask themselves "am I having fun?". Now this was 4 years ago, and the game has grown stale but still; Blizzard is about games for gamers by gamers.
Reply
possum said on 5:56PM 10-17-2008
.........Looks at the brown DVD O.o
Angel said on 6:52PM 10-17-2008
Why do you people keep referring to what ever blizzard is up to in the MMO arena as a “next-gen MMO”? This is not something that can be determined by the fact that it is not out now. We were all hoping either AoC or WAR were “next-gen”. Some people were even referring to them as “next-gen”. but, when they were launched both were piles of beans like every other “current-gen” pile of beans, though there were different beans composing the new pile of beans. That is not to say they are bad games. They are pretty good, for what they are... a pile of beans.
All I am saying, is you really should stop using the term “next-gen” because you are inadvertently hyping a game that will probably not live up to the heightened expectations as AoC and WAR have been unable to... That is, unless you are getting that kick-back from Acti-Blizz i have asked about in the past. In that case, hype away!
...Your being paid for it, aren’t ya? Is this a contractual agreement or is this deal with Acti-Blizz under the table/based on the honor system?
P.S. are you guys blocking my original email address? i think you might be! that is so mature...
Reply
Mr Angry said on 6:59PM 10-17-2008
The longer virtual worlds exist, the more that developers will see that it is better to evolve than re-engineer. I would be very surprised by a sequel to WoW, there doesn't seem to be any point. Everquest II showed that it was probably unwise. Sony would have been better off devoting that time to a EQ overhaul or just work on a new IP.
So over time this gen, will become next gen. When people were talking about the next 'third gen MMO', what they didn't realize is that they were probably already playing it, it just hadn't evolved by then.
The last change in MMO generations was the introduction of virtual environments and social areas ( a la Facebook, Second Life etc), just hanging out in an environment is enough, without playing a game. This is getting fed back into the mainstream game releases, with the addition of offline content, social linking of avatars etc.
The next 'gen' will be greater sensory immersion, the game beyond just a monitor. If Blizzard are not already working on this, I'd be very surprised.
Blizzard don't have to make follow ups as the market leader, they are in a position they have to innovate to protect their market share, otherwise it will be slowly eroded over time by all the other releases.
Reader said on 9:17PM 10-17-2008
Well they wouldn't be taking kickbacks from both Blizzard and EA. Warhammer was hyped here to hell, and nothing negative was ever really said about it.
Angel said on 12:52AM 10-18-2008
Actual, yes, they could be. think about how magazines do advertising. This site is basically a magazine of sorts.
Tateru Nino said on 5:50AM 10-18-2008
No, we don't do the whole cash-for-comment thing. What we *do* write are our honest opinions - which you're free not to agree with.
Criminey, if you agreed with everything we said you wouldn't be thinking for yourselves, and that would be excessively tedious. I know I'd be sad.
Heck, not all of us here at Massively necessarily agree with each-other, even.
Plenty of folks say we're too anti-Warhammer. About the same number who say we're too pro-Warhammer, actually, when you count it all up - quite frequently about the same posts. That seems to suggest that we're somewhere in the middle. :)
But, yes, if someone offered us even a single dollar to say something nice about their game, we'd tell the world about that dollar before you could blink.
When it comes to our opinions, they're *ours*, and they're not for sale, rent, or hire. Actually, that's a really good part about this job. Nobody wants us to write something we don't believe in, and that's pretty special.
All that said, if you don't agree with us or you think we're off-base, SAY SO! We make mistakes, we get disappointed by some games, we get a little too excited sometimes. We're human (Well, except for the Turpster, maybe. Not so sure about him)
If you think we're wrong. Say something. We're all grown up, and a bit of nudging isn't going to hurt us terribly. We *are* listening, and we pay attention -- but we're not on the take :)
Angel said on 2:44PM 10-18-2008
Thanks for the comment and response, Tateru. and I am saying so :D
Henry said on 9:56PM 10-17-2008
It's obviously Lost Vikings Online. Everyone will play as Eric, the redhead, for his ability to jump.
Reply
drypulse said on 6:16PM 10-18-2008
glad i'm not the only one that noticed this site totally kissing WAR's ass every post. even after it came out and people found out how bad it is, not a single truthful post about any of its problems.
odd one that
Reply
Vandell said on 2:00PM 10-18-2008
It's going to be Nomad.
Reply
Jenny said on 5:09PM 10-21-2008
World of Warcraft 2 was a possibility? They're already up to version 3 if you're counting.
Reply
Jenny said on 3:41PM 10-21-2008
WoW 2 was a possibility? They've already released version 3 if you're counting.
Reply
Jenny said on 5:39PM 10-21-2008
Sorry about the multiple postings but I just realized how silly the phrase "next-gen MMO" sounds. What exactly is an MMO generation? Never heard of it before. What leaps and bounds await in the next generation?
I guess we can say the current generation introduced graphics, and if we're lucky this "next-gen" MMO will have revolutionary elements on the scale of character names containing more than twelve letters.
Reply
Lemons said on 2:58PM 10-22-2008
Blizzard hasn't developed a new IP in 10 years (at least) why would they start now? They've got fantasy games, and sci-fi games, where else could they go?
I doubt they use a new IP to launch thier next gen mmo, It'll have to be starcraft or diablo, something that has a lot of lore and that people already like.
Reply