A Sad Day for StarCraft And FPS Fans
Blizzard has canceled an unannounced StarCraft inspired FPS that has been under wraps for the past two years. The cancellation was made to focus its resources on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
The news comes from Kotaku reporter, Jason Schreier. His sources claim that Blizzard’s unannounced project, codenamed Ares, was “like Battlefield in the StarCraft universe.” They also said that the development prototypes were “looking quite good,” with players role playing a Terran marine in a battle against Zerg forces.
So Near, Yet So Far
Codename Ares is said to have started production way back in 2017, with Heroes of the Storm director and StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder taking the reins.
With additional question from Kotaku regarding Ares, Blizzard answered by saying that it “always [has] people working on different ideas behind the scenes – including on multiple projects right now.” It also added that “as has been the case…numerous times in the past, there is always the possibility that we’ll make the decision to not move forward on a given project.”.
Now with recent developments, it seems that it has come to pass. Kotaku’s sources are alleging that the resolution to halt work on Ares (and an unannounced mobile game) was made a few weeks ago so that staff could focus to Blizzard’s higher-priority projects – specifically Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. These games are expected to be announced at this year’s BlizzCon.
Schreier also reported that Overwatch 2 would feature a ‘large PvE’ element, with Blizzard sources presumably relating it to Valve’s well-loved co-op zombie shooter Left4Dead.
Blizzard’s Statement
Here’s Blizzard’s full statement, courtesy of Kotaku:
“We don’t generally comment on unannounced projects, but we will say the following:
We always have people working on different ideas behind the scenes – including on multiple projects right now – but the reason we tend not to discuss them publicly is that anything can happen over the course of development. As has been the case at Blizzard numerous times in the past, there is always the possibility that we’ll make the decision to not move forward on a given project. Announcing something before we feel it’s ready stands the risk of creating a lot of frustration and disappointment, both for our players and us, not to mention distraction and added pressure for our development teams.
We pour our hearts and souls into this work, and as players ourselves, we know how exciting it can be to see and know with certainty that a new project is coming. Knowing that changes or disappointments can happen doesn’t make it any less painful when we have to shelve a project or when an announcement doesn’t go as planned. We always make decisions about these things, regardless of the ultimate outcome or how things might be interpreted, based on our values, what we believe makes sense for Blizzard, and what we hope our players will enjoy the most. The work that goes into these projects – whether they ship or not – is extraordinarily valuable. It often leads to great things and helps foster a culture of experimentation here.”
