Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBlizzard's third project: Hydra
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 11th 2007 at 11:29AM
We already know Blizzard has three games in development right now. One of them is Wrath of the Lich King, the next WoW expansion. The second is Starcraft II. And the third is an as-of-yet-unannounced title... called Hydra.That's what the Inquirer overheard at the Austin GDC. One Blizzard employee asked another what they were working on, and the overheard reply was "I'm working on Hydra."
So now we have an internal name for Blizzard's third project. Let the speculation begin. I'll start: the Hydra is a creature from Greek mythology, so maybe we're looking at a Diabloesque game set in Greece? Like Titan Quest (which is really Diablo anyway) or God of War, but made by Blizzard? And Hydras also appear in World of Warcraft (notably in BFD, where a Hydra is the final boss), so could it be possible that this is actually another WoW expansion, maybe the Maelstrom expansion we've been waiting for?
Thanks, James!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
oshin Sep 11th 2007 1:29PM
I hope its something completely new, unlike all you unoriginal people who say diablo 3 or wow on xbox, blizzard make kick ass universes, bout time we had a new one
Mecandes Sep 11th 2007 1:46PM
Is Blizzard known in the past for using secret internal codenames for its games? If not, then Hydra may well be the actual name, eh? If so, what were the previous codenames, in case they shed light on this one?
Paul Sep 11th 2007 2:00PM
@6, you have to remember that blizzard doesn't want to cannibalize there own games by releasing anything even remotely similar to wow. If it cost them millions to make world of diablocraft, and they only get warcraft players to to jump over, they aren't making any more money.
WoW is basically just Warcraft III + Diablo 2 anyways, so i can't see them doing a diablo anything anytime soon, unless it was so drastically different that it somehow found a whole new audience of gamers that aren't into wow, and i really can't even imagine what that would be.
In all likelyhood, I am guessing it is a starcraft MMO that, as another poster said, will have the backstory laid down by starcraft 2.
I imagine it to be EVE online meets HALO, where you can zoom across the universe (hopefully without the oh-so annoying jumpgates), but then can land on a planet and frag some zerg.
Baluki Sep 11th 2007 2:09PM
If the codename for SC2 was Medusa, that sort of makes sense. Look at Kerrigan. She kinda looks like a medusa.
Like everyone else said, Hydra could refer to anything. Personally, I think it refers to this:
http://www.retrogameroom.com/hydra.htm
(no, not really)
Chris Sep 11th 2007 2:58PM
Most of you have forgotten about the special "Team 3" released prior to Blizcon. A Hydra is a beast with more than 1 head. So, we have:
Team Three
Three Prime Evils (during the Sin Wars maybe?)
And a Hydra who could have three heads (which it did in Diablo 1 & 2).
Something is still luring me to think it's Diablo 3. Really, when I heard hydra, the first thing that came to mind was the D1 and D2 spell.
warthog2k Sep 11th 2007 3:28PM
Hydra is mutli headed (probably 9) - Cerberus was 3-headed.
Dave Sep 11th 2007 4:11PM
Blizzard as a company is controlled by a profit-seeking conglomerate. To think that there's any love for past employees is pretty dim, and basically I think that if someone decided that it'd make the company money, they'll do it. Diablo, Starcraft, whatever.
Cannibalizing assumes (very very incorrectly) that World of Warcraft commands the entire market of people who would play an MMO game both currently and potentially. There are millions of people NOT playing WoW right now. There's plenty playing other games, there's plenty who will never play a cartoony elves and dwarves RPG. The idea that only WoW players would migrate to a totally different MMO game by Blizzard is laughable.
There's a game in development. There are people out there who don't play WoW, but will play perhaps a space-based game. Money exists, and it's not going to Blizzard right now, so Vivendi is most likely trying to figure out how to draw them in. WoW becomes more intimidating to new subscribers the longer it goes on (probably the 3rd expansion pack will be the point where new subs start to decline) just based on the amount of work it takes to play with your friends at the end. Sooner or later they have to have something new for totally new people to play. It's not cannibalizing when the market is constantly expanding and still has plenty of room left to grow.
aden_nak Sep 11th 2007 4:18PM
This is almost a cliche at this point, but odds are it is a multi-faceted project that all has one basic element. So, not to editorialize, but suppose Blizzard were making a Starcraft Strategy game (SC2), a Starcraft RPG (ala Fallout or KOTOR) and a Starcraft Action game (Ghost or something like it), all referencing the same lore, design, modeling and sound teams. I've worked under countless middle managers who would have thought that calling it "Project Hydra" would be extremely witty. Multiple heads on the single beast, you see.
Paul Sep 11th 2007 4:30PM
Dave, i think you misunderstood what i was saying, of course there are lots of people out there who haven't played wow, and might play a different mmo, and therefore blizzard could make a game that wouldn't cannibalize too many sales dollars from wow, like, as i said, a starcraft MMO- i would absolutely be interested in a sci-fi mmo done right.
A Diablo based mmo on the other hand, absolutely WOULD cannibalize sales from warcraft- how could it not? the Worlds are too similar, and wow stole so many idea from diablo 2 that there isn't much left to use from diablo that would not just now look like diablo was copying warcraft, instead of the other way around.
Necromancer Sep 11th 2007 11:24PM
Hydra could be a new internal HR program or a ticketing system for keeping track of problems, changes and projects they have in progress. Hydra could be anything. It could be add campaign. Too little information, too much speculation.
ColonelChris Sep 12th 2007 7:28AM
Code names for unfinished projects are completely common and don't need to have anything in common with the project itself. In some companies, the first letter symbolizes the number of the project (H = 8) for which someone in the company has found a nice word in the dictionary. We shouldn't read too much into it.
By the way: If you count all "*craft" games, (WC1,2,3, WoW, SC1,2, SCG) the next game from this series would be number 8...
Kaylek Sep 12th 2007 8:41AM
It's the Starcraft MMO.
jamphat Sep 12th 2007 8:46AM
new raid boss...?
ron Sep 12th 2007 10:42AM
its diablo 3. diablo 3 has been in dev for a while, but most of the work done by the original team was scrapped and it has been resurrected, but they are still calling it hydra internally. its my impression that its sort of an open secret within the company that it is diablo 3.
Mike Sep 17th 2007 8:10AM
I doubt its a fully fledged MMO, that would be just plain stupid. Why would blizzard support two MMOs at once? Very few people can afford to pay monthly subscriptions to more than one recurring fee game, and by making a second MMO, blizzard would steal customers away from themselves... it doesnt make good business sense. Fair enough do it down the line, but not while WoW is still in its prime.
I suspect its either Diablo 3 (more likely), or Warcraft 4 (RTS Version) that ties in a bit with WoW
A whole new franchise would be like spitting in the faces of everyone that hopes its diablo 3, which i'm sure is a lot of people, myself included
diablo?? u crazy Sep 17th 2007 11:57PM
im sure id be more towards (not world, UNIVERSE) of starcraft than diablo if its another expansion of those two becuase think of it
which ones closer to MMO diablo or star??? diablo u are 1 guy and u go around killing things MMO style (as far as i know only played like twice at my friends..i dont own diablo)
so yea WoS would make more sense
just my two cents :D
chri Sep 19th 2007 10:04AM
it has to be diablo 3....
Blizzard isnt stupid and they know they cant compete with their own self... they make another mmo (like WOS) it would just downsize WOW so why make a mmo
Its Diablo3 Most of the team left for hellgate... But if you remeber.... the game was 80% done before they left....
Diablo 3 it is!
its their top franchise.... Why get off the steed that feld u?
DigitalSyntax Sep 25th 2007 6:19AM
I hope it's something new. The Diablo games were pretty cool, but other than that Blizzard hasn't come up with much content of their own, but instead lightly modified Games Workshop IP. (Not that I found the result unpleasant, GW seems to have issues with getting good games made...)
THQ has already announced that they will be making a Warhammer 40k MMO, so that might make a World of Starcraft game less attractive. On that subject, I really hope Relic is in charge of that project...
So, here's hoping it's something that they have something completely new and unexpected for us, rather than a rehash of their old stuff.
drakomar Oct 23rd 2007 9:39PM
honestly i don't mind if its either a diablo3 or a fresh game.. but they definatly have to bring out a pvp based game.. wow's pvp is really really poor and boring.. and you can't do anything by urself ... they need a game kinda like diablo 2 that casual gamers will be enjoying easier.. in the wow burning crusade they tried to have some 5 man instances going so that you could be casual and still enjoy the game.. but its nothing like the end game content.. i left wow cause it would take up too much time in my schedule to be good at it.. and i got back on diablo2 .. cause in there i could level my char on my own if needed or with help .. i could get gear on my own or with friends.. and thats what's missing in world of warcraft....
they need to get a pvp game which doesnt make it hard to play alone in.. a bit like world of warcraft where you could solo instances and arenas.
thats my opinion ^^
defmincex13 Dec 3rd 2007 11:35AM
id put money on diablo 3. a while back there was a huge article about diablo 3 as a MMO. how it was scrapped because it wasnt fun enough. Basically it was said that it was a hell vs heaven type game where you fought in hell or heaven and as you leveled you got to choose your side. the things you did dictated your fraction. Was a MA game and was alot darker and less cartoonish than WOW. I just remember reading about it like 2 years ago. Have a World of Diablo based in that universe would be awesome.... long as it is alot darker. If i wanted to research this for like a hour id find the article if it still exists. i dont really want to thou