Blizzard is known for letting its games cook in the oven a little longer than most other game developers. Well over a decade went by between the releases ofDiablo IIandDiablo III, but not every game the studio works on sees the light of day. In fact, about half of them are canceled outright.
Speaking toGame Informerat BlizzCon, Blizzard executive producer Allen Adham shared that the studio has “roughly a 50-percent success rate” when it comes to its projects.
However, just because a game gets canceled doesn’t mean its development was a complete waste of time. Adham pointed to the MMOTitan, which eventually had some of its elements inserted intoOverwatch. Several characters had their origins in the game, including Hanzo, Genji, Reinhardt, Symmetra, Torbjörn, Soldier 76, Bastion, and Reaper. It would have likely been a very different game, with director Jeff Kaplan saying that before weapons were implemented, for instance,Tracer shot lasers from her eyes.
Hopefully, none of the projects Blizzard is working on at the moment get canceled. We know the studio will releaseDiablo: Immortal, a mobile spinoff of the action-RPG series, and it has beenall but confirmedthat a full-fledged fourth Diablo game is also in the works. We’ve heard reports that an announcement could have even possibly been planned for BlizzCon earlier this month, though Blizzard denied that any such plans were ever in the works.
Blizzard’s latest full release wasDiablo III: The Eternal Collectionfor Nintendo Switch, which bundles the base game with theReaper of Soulsexpansion and all other previously released DLC. It’s the first Blizzard game to come to a Nintendo platform in a decade, with the studio primarily sticking to PC, mobile, and other consoles during that time.
ForOverwatchfans using the public test region on PC, you can also try out new hero Ashe right now. A rival to McCree, the outlaw makes use of a lever-action rifle, dynamite, and a robotic companion called B.O.B. who can cause devastation to the other team and hasnever said that the Earth was flat — at least we don’t think he has.
