Starcraft II on WoW's homepage
by Mike Schramm 
May 21st 2007 at 12:56PM
The image above is what you saw if you visited the official WoW homepage this weekend, and a few players wondered why Blizzard was talking about a real-time strategy game on a site meant to discuss a MMORPG. Yeah, how dare they do that!
But it's a good question-- Starcraft II will be (assuming it does get released) the first game Blizzard has published since WoW, and so there's a lot of questions about how this will all be handled. How much do the audiences actually intersect? (personally I love MMORPGs, but not so much RTS, if only because I'm so bad at them) And how is Blizzard going to connect the two games, if at all-- are we going to see ads for Starcraft on the loading screen for WoW, or even in-game? Blizzard fans will probably buy and enjoy both games, but there is likely a larger percentage of the WoW population who just don't care about an RTS, even if it is another Blizzard game.
Of course, Blizzard has faith in both games serving their audiences well-- not only is the Starcraft team well-equipped to build their game, but WoW, they say, won't suffer one bit. I tend to believe them on that one, as Blizzard undoubtedly hired a lot of people to make sure WoW is running as smoothly as possible, and while Metzen is apparently working on Starcraft as well as directing WoW's lore, I'd doubt the two teams have that many people in common. Of course, rumors persist that Blizzard will be announcing yet another game at Blizzcon. Along with the new expansion, multiple sources are still reporting that we'll hear about Diablo 3 in August. Can it be possible that Blizzard might be split three ways at the same time? And can that possibly be a good thing for WoW's development?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Expansions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Baluki May 21st 2007 1:17PM
The new game they announce at Blizzcon will probably be the next WoW expansion. They've been saying they want to do one every year or so, after all. They announced BC at last year's Blizzcon, so the timing is about right.
prottank May 21st 2007 1:21PM
I think it will be great to see Blizzard expanding once again into games not WoW. I don't think it could hurt but should help them expand their horizons and maybe gain a new perspective that is not a MMORPG and not Warcraft. I am not a big RTS fan and not a Starcraft fan and I just don't see Blizzard dropping the ball on their bread and butter (WoW).
Kirkburn May 21st 2007 1:24PM
The development of the other games has been going on for a while, even whilst TBC was being developed.
If it was to have an effect on WoW, it would have already occured.
ben1778 May 21st 2007 1:48PM
I believe they hired an RTS guru a while back, but never made any public statement as to what things he would be developing. I think this took place somewhere around 2004-2005. I can't remember his name, but I do remember thinking he had great RTS credentials.
I'm a fan of both RTS and MMO games. Assuming it does actually get released, I will be able to balance both of the games. I love SC, but there are only so many times I can re-play a board before I get frustrated and have to put it down for a bit. Same with WoW - there are only so many bad raids or bad PUGs I can handle before logging off in frustration for a while. When SC2 comes out I can just switch between them.
Eldiablohijo Jan 16th 2008 1:35PM
I would not be suprised to see Blizzard working on three games at once. The ammount of revune Blizzard has brought in so far on World of Warcraft is staggering. Granted the ammount of resources they've had to put into it is also staggering.
But still WoW has likely produced more income in it's first 2 years than all of Blizzard's other games conbined.
So i'm sure they have probably doubled, tripled or even quadrupled their production staff.
And even with doing that i'm sure they still have plently of revenue left to substain long after WoW's downfall and through the possibility of other unsuccessfull games. (Although I don't feel that Blizzard is a company that would ever manage to produce a game that would completly bomb)
Blizzard main goal with an RTS SC2 isn't to pull anyone away from WoW, it mostly to give the hard core RTS fans a new game to sink their teeth into and become really crazy with in tournament play. If you hadn't noticed that's one thing that Blizzard has been getting deeper and deeper into as the years go on is big tournament play. That's the main reason you won't see much loss in a WoW subscription base over SC2. SC2 will be competitive focused where WoW focuses more on enjoyment.
Sylvina May 21st 2007 2:27PM
Bread & Butter of Blizzard? Sorry, but that's been RTS games long before WoW. Also, Blizzard MAY announce Diablo 3, but I doubt it. The only MAJOR failure Blizzard has ever had is Starcraft: Ghost, simply because they kept redesigning it and screwing around, etc. and then the new consoles were announced/planned.
RaydenUni May 21st 2007 2:40PM
There was that Warcraft RPG that was cancelled. Story of Thrall or something like that. And then there was also the Starcraft expansion made by some other company that was pretty terrible.
dongsdongs May 21st 2007 3:02PM
Blizzard obviously have different developments teams for different development projects. No resources are going to be taken away from World of Warcraft just because Starcraft II and perhaps Diablo III are being developed.
Just what would the MMO developing experts be doing mingling with RTS developing experts, if Blizzard chose to divert resources to other projects?
Argent May 21st 2007 3:02PM
brood wars was a pretty good expansion, imo. the first diablo had an out-of-company made expansion that was kinda so-so, but that's about it.
i still think that SC2 as a whole could benefit a game like WoW in the long run. WoW was built on a hot-rodded WC3 engine. looks like SC2 will get a whole new game engine -- so, take new game engine + hiring for 'next gen mmo' and you got...
well, either way, it has some potential in that area. :)
Keysdawg May 21st 2007 3:12PM
Blizz has seen these types of thoughts before. When they launched into the MMO genre after being a RTS giant for so long.
As any investor will tell you, a diversified portfolio is always better than having all your eggs in one basket. By Blizz getting back to what they are known for (RTS games) they are just appealing to a wider audience. I don't believe they will be drawing anyone away from WoW. At least noone that wasn't already leaving. RTS has a very appealing aspect in that you can play the campaigns solo, and then go to battle.net and play others.
I've not played SC. But I've played all the Warcraft RTS and Diablo is a great title too. We will see if they can keep the stellar work that we have come to expect.
amasen May 21st 2007 3:11PM
Just from my perspective.
I started playing WoW because of the entire Warcraft series. I loved those games. However WoW has been failing me recently by limiting the content I'm able to do to a non-important story line. I don't play games to be some peon gathering poop, I want to be a hero! (something that non of the warcraft games failed to provide for me)
With Starcraft 2 and the amount I play, I expect it to take me at least two months to beat it on both normal and hard mode. By then my motivation to return to wow will be dependant on yet another xPac.
I for one can't wait for Starcraft 2
Todd May 21st 2007 3:17PM
Calling RTS Blizzard's 'Bread-and-Butter' in a post-WOW environment is like calling boardgames WOTC's bread-and-butter in a post-Magic:the gathering environment.
It is a ludicrous statement.
Blizzards hit-to-miss ratio is amazingly high for a computer game company. I have faith in SC2, but I think they are filling a different niche that only interacts with the wow niche in a very limited way.
Todd May 21st 2007 3:25PM
Calling RTS Blizzard's 'Bread-and-Butter' in a post-WOW environment is like calling boardgames WOTC's bread-and-butter in a post-Magic:the gathering environment.
It is a ludicrous statement.
Blizzards hit-to-miss ratio is amazingly high for a computer game company. I have faith in SC2, but I think they are filling a different niche that only interacts with the wow niche in a very limited way.
Also - if people *are* getting mad about it being on the WOW front page - they're idiots. Self-centered, self-aggrandizing malcontents who really need to learn to live-and-let-live.
foodle May 21st 2007 3:37PM
Blizzard may also be thinking long term. Right now, WoW is in the middle of its run. Popularity and population is propbably near the peak. In the next few years its popularity will probably wane due to boredom and competition. So Blizzard releases a pretty new StarCraft RTS now, gets people excited about the StarCraft universe, then once WoW starts to seem old and boring ... World of StarCraft!
They might as well just be allowed to print money ...
rufwork May 22nd 2007 8:58AM
I'm a little tired of the shameless crosspromotion now; it smacks of ESPN and their month-long pimp of the boring as get-out NFL draft.
Now when you go to worldofwarcraft.com, you get a full-page advert of SC2 with timeline like they think they're Apple or something. Fun times. I didn't really mind when WoW Insider announced you'd be Starcraft Insider for a day, but with all the crosspromotion now I feel like the Larry Spannel character in the movie adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross (that date me sufficiently?).