Overwatch appears to be a resounding success. Fandom for the game is expanding throughout Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and other social media platforms.

But what does Overwatch (and its likely success) mean for Blizzard going forward into the future? What does it mean for current and future projects alike? Should we expect a gradual deemphasis and gradual fading of (World of) Warcraft? Should we expect more games that are cheaper to produce and generate greater profit (e.g. Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch)? What shifts in gaming does Overwatch precipitate?

This is naturally all speculation, but I am curious as to how Overwatch impacts the future of Blizzard and their games.

They've been gradually drifting away from WoW as the focus since Heroes of the Storm was released. With how half assed WoD was, it almost felt like they didn't care about it anymore. Then there's the fact that Overwatch started out as an MMO. It seems like they no longer want to put all their eggs into one basket.

I think with the successes of their recent games especially Overwatch, it'll encourage Blizzard to explore even more different video game genres and different stories they could tell.

I wouldn't mind single player rpgs like the elder scrolls from them.

I don't know, don't follow Blizz's moves as much as I used to.

But I am betting they are making a new Starcraft game, their RTS team is idle and the new book implies a new conflict might be coming.

Also isn't D3 getting a new expansion?

WoW has Legion which seems to be going all out at least in terms of the story. I am pretty sure there will be another expansion after it, Blizz might have already confirmed that it won't be the last. Again I don't follow up on things anymore.

So yeah, Blizz is hardly dropping their old stuff. They also aren't a company that makes stand alone games since their obscure "arcade games" era, so I don't see them making one shot games while the major franchises cool off (and even less when the franchises are going).


What I would like to see though would be a FPS set in the SC universe (Ghost: Nova never dies, anyone? ). Joking aside, could be kinda like AvP. Three playable races (hardy melee zerg (mostly), tough and versatile protoss, major firepower terrans), possibly three campaigns and ofc a killer multiplayer.
It's probably the only thing that could get me interested in a Blizz product again. They've disappointed me storywise with Warcraft and in terms of gameplay design with Hearthstone. They really need to work hard to win me back.

It's a good question that, to be honest, I really have no answer to. I get the feeling Blizzard would prefer to do more things like HearthStone, Heroes, and Overwatch than their "Classic" things like WarCraft RTS or StarCraft.

But at this point, it really is anyone's guess. I think while WoW -is- being wound down, that doesn't mean it's anywhere close to dying and I think we can safely expect at the bare minimum, including Legion, another 3-4 expansions.

Diablo 3 is recent enough that we can safely rule out a major Diablo sequel for the near future, though a new expansion for 3 is possible, and nay, likely at some point.

StarCraft 2 will likely see more things like the Nova Missions, and expanding on it's Co-Op mode, but I doubt much else.

HearthStone and Heroes will continue to get the level of support they currently do, and I have a faint hope we may see more features/gamemodes in Heroes one day in addition to the stand 5v5 MOBA maps.

Overwatch is still new and we'll have to see, though I get the feeling that, if Blizzard balance it right (and that's a big "if") it could be one of their flagship games for years to come given the E-Sports scene Blizzard are still keen on getting their piece of.

As for new IPs or new games with existing IPs? I'm.....sceptical, sadly. I think the revenue generated from the recent Hearthstone and Heroes style games means Blizzard aren't likely to want to do anything grand or risky anytime soon. And that's a shame, because I honestly believe Blizzard could do some good work with Diablo and/or StarCraft's universes outside of their "classic" versions. I mean, just imagine a Diablo style RPG taking influences from things like Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Or a FPS/RPG hybrid with StarCraft? Alas, pipe dreams, I fear.

With Overwatch and Hearthstone, Blizzard is at their best when they want to enjoy the games they make. A Diablo RPG is more likely than a StarCraft FPS. Unless it's a RPG FPS.

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I'm pretty sure Metzen or somebody else outright said around the announcement of HotS that after the success of Hearthstone they were putting much more focus into smaller projects and less juggernaughts. This makes sense from a business perspective. Pretty much everything Blizzard pushes out they turn an instant profit in the hundreds of millions. Why spend a decade in development and literally tens of thousands of man hours when you can pull in millions via something like Hearthstone that was made by a guy and a couple of his best mates over lunch?

I get the feeling we're going to be seeing Blizzard move into making a lot more one-shot games, by which I mean they move away from the family that is Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft and more projects like The Lost Vikings that aren't really bound by an IP sandbox (as Hearthstone is a WoW spin-off). I would guess Overwatch fits into this category as well.

We'll probably start seeing genres that have had some okay-ish niche success (Blood Bowl-esq sports strategy, Rocket League, Splatoon, etc) and bring them to the mainstream in the same way Hearthstone did with virtual TCGs.

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It means they will take on ill managed and thought out project, work on in for ages, funneling time, money and resources into it while other games stagnate and then cancel the title making a smaller game out of it's scraps charging an unreasonable price for the product and succeeding in spite of all this. All this while delaying things over and over and cutting features left and right.

Tis the Blizzard way.

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To be fair, Son raises a good point, there IS a very real danger of Blizzard trying new things and them not working out, we've seen it more than once.

I would be interested to see them do their own take on Blood Bowl or things of that nature.

I'd play a rpg where you are a Dominion ghost/spectre and have to travel the Koprulunsectre, hunting down a rogue Protoss that has been attacking dominion colonies and causing all kinds of shit. At the end of the game it turns out he was working for some ancient evil all along, thus leading into the next two games, where you temporarily work for the UED, and then join back up with the Dominion at the end and fight off the ancient evil invasion.

Sounds like a potential good time, if you ask me.

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Yes.

They aren't in for the long term anymore. Expect more low-budget casual games, with lot of monetization schemes.

Note, too, that both SC2 and D3 were resounding failures for the mark they were supposed to leave in the long term. I don't think we'll ever see SC3, and D4, if it happens, will be even more casualized than D3. We could get another D3 expansion, but don't get you hopes too high.

I think W4 will eventually happen, but it will be an abomination for W3 fans.

Some FPS based on StarCraft could be possible, but I don't know. It would overlap far too much with Overwatch and the Activision titles. If it happens, it will be some cruel Call of Duty crossover.

Alternatively, I could see StarCraft and Overwatch sort of merging into a single franchise, with proto-terran technology becoming part of the Overwatch universe. It could be pretty cool if done right, and would save the SC franchise, which is now pretty much dead.

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Metzen: They are one of the ancient races of Northrend that we haven't spoken of before... because we hadn't made them up before. (laughter)

~Main: Expansion theorycrafting, Expansions list, The Age of Nightmare, Empire of the Tides (coming soon)~
~Fan ficton: Anachronos Journey: The Timeless Heir~ ~Geography of continents series: Old Kalimdor (original), Pandaria~
~Locations as zones series: Azjol-Nerub, Barrow Deeps, Zul'Aman, Demon Hunter zone, Caverns of Time~

Eh, too risky and too hard to fit together timeline-wise, also pretty bleak for OW given that it's a redemption story.

Crossovers are where it's at. Gimme HotS RPGs and FPS's and whatnot.

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My Worldbuilding:
http://bloodinkworlds.tumblr.com/

They don't have to give a damn about the timeline. Both settings are based on real Earth, just give some hints that they're in the same universe, and that's it.

It's mostly about recycling StarCraft terran themes in Overwatch, to be fair. Though I wouldn't say no to seeing something like the UED coming to life in the Overwatch story.

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Metzen: They are one of the ancient races of Northrend that we haven't spoken of before... because we hadn't made them up before. (laughter)

~Main: Expansion theorycrafting, Expansions list, The Age of Nightmare, Empire of the Tides (coming soon)~
~Fan ficton: Anachronos Journey: The Timeless Heir~ ~Geography of continents series: Old Kalimdor (original), Pandaria~
~Locations as zones series: Azjol-Nerub, Barrow Deeps, Zul'Aman, Demon Hunter zone, Caverns of Time~

I guess I just don't see the themes as all that compatible. Overwatch is more about redemption and hope while Starcraft's lore paints the time periods to come as periods of intense conflict, dictatorship, etc...

Eh, a united earth government might be cool but doesn't seem related to anything going on in OW atm and would take decades realistically from where they are now.

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My Worldbuilding:
http://bloodinkworlds.tumblr.com/

I would actually play the shit of a cyberpunk, dystopian prequel to Starcraft set on Earth before or during the purges. Maybe the game ends with you being loaded onto one of the generation ships- maybe you're the "aberrant" ancestor of a prominent character of the Koprulu sector like Mengsk or Kerrigan.

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