Titan (Blizzard Entertainment project)

Last updated

Titan was the project name for a cancelled Blizzard Entertainment massively multiplayer online game. With speculation regarding the game beginning in 2007, Blizzard revealed little information besides that it would be completely new and not be based on the company's then-current three main franchises.

Contents

The game was internally canceled by Blizzard in May 2013, though publicly they announced that the project would be delayed as they took the title in a different direction. [1] [2] Its official cancellation was made in September 2014. [3] Internally, about forty members of the Titan project used the developed assets to craft a new game which became Overwatch . [4]

Gameplay

The exact details of how Titan would have played are not known, but Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan, who served on the Titan development team and later became the director for Overwatch, identified that the game "was a class-based MMO." Players would have selected a character from several classes, which granted them initial abilities. As they progressed in the game, they would gain points to use to spend on a skill tree for that character. Kaplan said that, near the point of Titan's cancellation, the variety of skills they had in the game led to overpowered combinations, and described the result as "very cluttered and confused." [5] [6]

Shortly after the cancellation announcement, Kotaku ran an article in which they described the game as "a massive multiplayer PC game in which players could both maintain non-combat professions and shoot their way through death-matches on a sci-fi version of Earth." [7] According to the article, which was sourced by anonymous employees who worked on the project, the game would take place on a near-future Earth where the player would take on a "mundane job" during the day while fighting enemies at night. [7]

Development

In 2007, users on a Blizzard Internet forum speculated that the game was in development after the company published job listings for character and environment artists to work on a "Next-Gen MMO" that was "Top Secret." A Blizzard community representative confirmed that the postings were for an unannounced game that was not an expansion for World of Warcraft . [8] Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, Blizzard COO Paul Sams, and Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime all verified that it was a new game in 2008. [9] [10] [11] [12] A confidential project schedule was released without the company's consent in November 2010. It showed a project titled "Titan" with a release date in the fourth quarter of 2013. Blizzard China's general manager either resigned or was terminated after the leak. [13]

At the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards , Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce told gaming blog Destructoid that the studio had begun talking about the title as a recruitment tool. [14] Morhaime spoke of the game in broad terms during a panel discussion at the 2011 D.I.C.E. Summit. He said that the company had its most experienced MMO developers working on the project. He explained that they were using lessons from the years of working on World of Warcraft, and he also emphasized the significance of players gaming with people they know as opposed to strangers. Morhaime believed that World of Warcraft and Titan, upon its release, would be able to co-exist on the market. [15] He had made a similar statement in 2008 when he told Wired magazine that the game would be so different that it would not compete. [16]

In an interview with Gamasutra in March 2011, Sams revealed that the game was playable and laid out a vision for the project to "still be growing strong" in ten, fifteen or twenty years, having "set a new mark in the industry." [17] By September 2012, development had grown from small teams focusing on concepts to a team of over 100 people and Blizzard vice president of game design Rob Pardo said that the game was "in the middle of development", noting that it would be a "very big project that's got a long ways to go". [18] [19]

On May 28, 2013, it was reported that development on the project had been rebooted, with seventy percent of the team moving to other Blizzard projects and the release date delayed. Blizzard spokesperson Shon Damron confirmed the development status, stating that the remaining core developers would be working to accommodate new technology into the game. [1] Blizzard president Mike Morhaime stated that the company was in the process of selecting a new direction for the project and re-envisioning what they want the game to be. He said that the game was "unlikely to be a subscription-based MMORPG", and that there were no official announced or projected release dates. Morhaime noted that Blizzard has gone through this sort of iterative development process with previous games. [2]

On September 23, 2014, Morhaime revealed in an interview with Polygon that production of Titan had been cancelled. [3] The cancellation of Titan was estimated by external industry analysts to have cost Blizzard at least US$50 million, though this amount of money for Blizzard was not overly burdensome, given that the company at the time was valued over US$15 billion. These analysts believed that Blizzard recognized that unless Titan offered something significantly compelling over currently-active competing MMOs, it would not have succeeded in the market, and the decision to cancel the project, despite the cost, was a benefit to the company in the long run. [20]

In a 2019 interview, following his departure from Blizzard, Morhaime had stated that Titan was cancelled because the company failed to control the scope of the game. He described Titan as essentially being two games developed in parallel, which created development pipeline problems. Part of the team was working to make the game engine support the ambitions for the title, but this left the content developers idle with no tools to create the gameplay. He and the other Blizzard executives decided that it would be better to cancel the title rather than wrangle it down. [21]

Transition to Overwatch

While Blizzard publicly stated that Titan had been delayed in May 2013 as they refocused its development, [1] the game had already been canceled internally. Of the 140 members on the Titan team, only 40 were kept in a group to develop a new intellectual property, while the others were transitioned into other departments within Blizzard. [22] [6]

The remaining Titan group of 40, which included Kaplan and Chris Metzen, were told they needed to come up with a new idea in about six weeks, or otherwise they too would be transferred to other departments. [22] [6] Taking inspiration from team-based shooters like Team Fortress 2 and the popularity of multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs), the team used some of the existing Titan assets to develop a prototype game, where players would select pre-defined hero characters with different types of abilities and skills, and face off in team-based matches. [23] Metzen also said that due to the recent failure of Titan, the group suffered from poor morale, but the idea of a team-based shooter invigorated them, and helped to establish an optimistic narrative taking place in the near-future of Earth, encompassing a range of diverse heroes and characters. [24] The prototype game proved successful, and the team set off to develop what would become Blizzard's fourth major IP, Overwatch . [22] Some Overwatch assets can be traced to their Titan roots, such as the character Tracer, who originally was one of the skins available for the Jumper class in Titan, and the map "Temple of Anubis" that had been developed for Titan. [4] Overwatch was formally announced on November 7, 2014, and released May 24, 2016.

Morhaime stated in 2019 that the decision to take what they had done for Titan but limit its scope with tighter control as to produce Overwatch was one of the best decisions that Blizzard had made. [21]

Later, Blizzard created Overwatch 2 , first released in October 2022. While Overwatch 2 carried the PVP elements of Overwatch at launch, the development team said that they were working on a larger PvE mode with hero skill trees and cooperative missions. However, in May 2023, Blizzard announced that they had discontinued the scale of this PvE mode, which initially was an attempt to bring in some of Titan's gameplay back into Overwatch, but which led to unfocused development. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blizzard Entertainment</span> American video game publisher and developer

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles: Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce and Allen Adham. The company originally concentrated on the creation of game ports for other studios' games before beginning development of their own software in 1993, with games like Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. In 1993, the company became Chaos Studios, Inc., and then Blizzard Entertainment soon after being acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates early in the following year. Shortly after, Blizzard released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.

<i>StarCraft: Ghost</i> Cancelled video game

StarCraft: Ghost was a military science fiction stealth-action video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It was intended to be part of Blizzard's StarCraft series and was announced in September 20, 2002. It was to be developed by Nihilistic Software for the GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. Several delays in development caused Blizzard to move back the release date and the game has not materialized. Nihilistic Software ceded development to Swingin' Ape Studios in 2004 before Blizzard bought the company, and plans for the GameCube version were canceled in 2005.

<i>World of Warcraft</i> 2004 video game

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the Warcraft fantasy universe, World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events of the previous game in the series, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004. Since launch, World of Warcraft has had nine major expansion packs: The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), Mists of Pandaria (2012), Warlords of Draenor (2014), Legion (2016), Battle for Azeroth (2018), Shadowlands (2020), and Dragonflight (2022).

<i>Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans</i> Unreleased video game

Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans is a cancelled graphic adventure game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Animation Magic from 1996 until 1998. Set in the Warcraft universe after the events of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, it followed the orc character Thrall in his quest to reunite his race, then living on reservations and in slavery following its defeat by the human Alliance. Assuming the role of Thrall, the player would have used a point-and-click interface to explore the world, solve puzzles and interact with characters from the wider Warcraft series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Morhaime</span>

Michael "Mike" Morhaime is an American video game developer and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Dreamhaven, located in Irvine, California. Morhaime is best known as the co-founder and the former president of Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc., that was founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse. He served on the Vivendi Games executive committee since January 1999, when Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. became a subsidiary of Vivendi Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BlizzCon</span> Annual gaming convention by Blizzard Entertainment

BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Metzen</span> American game designer (born 1973)

Christopher Vincent Metzen is an American game designer, artist, voice actor, and author known for his work creating the fictional universes and scripts for Blizzard Entertainment's three major award-winning media franchises: Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft. Metzen was hired by Blizzard Entertainment as an animator and an artist; his first work for the company was with the video game Justice League Task Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Kaplan</span> American video game designer (born 1972)

Jeffrey Kaplan is an American video game designer and former vice president of Blizzard Entertainment, a position he held until he left the company in 2021. He designed elements of World of Warcraft and is the former lead director of Overwatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Activision Blizzard</span> American video game holding company

Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. and Vivendi Games. It is traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol ATVI, and since 2015 has been a member of the S&P 500 Index. Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units: Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King, Major League Gaming, and Activision Blizzard Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle.net</span> Online gaming platform by Blizzard Entertainment

Battle.net is an Internet-based online game, social networking service, digital distribution, and digital rights management platform developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The service was launched on December 31, 1996, followed a few days later with the release of Blizzard's action-role-playing video game Diablo on January 3, 1997. Battle.net was officially renamed to "Blizzard Battle.net" in August 2017, with the change being reverted in January 2021.

<i>World of Warcraft: Cataclysm</i> 2010 expansion set for World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Wrath of the Lich King. It was officially announced at BlizzCon on August 21, 2009, although dataminers and researchers discovered details before it was officially announced by Blizzard. The expansion was officially released on December 7, 2010.

<i>World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria</i> 2012 expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, following Cataclysm. It was announced on October 21, 2011, by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2011, and was released on September 25, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbine Studios</span>

Carbine Studios was a video game developer and subsidiary of NCSOFT, founded in 2005 by former members of Blizzard Entertainment. They were the developers of the online role-playing game WildStar.

<i>Overwatch</i> (video game) 2016 video game

Overwatch was a 2016 team-based multiplayer first-person shooter game by Blizzard Entertainment. The game was first released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in May 2016 and Nintendo Switch in October 2019. Cross-platform play was supported across all platforms.

Nostalrius was a private World of Warcraft server, which opened on February 28, 2015. The server ran Patch 1.12, catering to aficionados of the early version of the game, nicknamed "Vanilla". Stating breach of copyright, Blizzard Entertainment issued the administrators of the server a cease and desist letter, and so the Nostalrius server was shut down on April 10, 2016, leading to outcry on Facebook and Twitter and large-scale coverage in mainstream computing journalism.

Tracer (<i>Overwatch</i>) Fictional character in 2016 video game Overwatch

Tracer is the alias of Lena Oxton, a character who appears in Overwatch, a franchise centered around first-person hero shooter video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Tracer was first seen in the 2014 Overwatch Cinematic Trailer short. She was introduced as a playable character in an April 2016 update for the crossover multiplayer online battle arena game Heroes of the Storm, nearly a month prior to the release of the first Overwatch game. She appeared again in Overwatch 2, a 2022 sequel to the original game.

Overwatch is a team-based first-person shooter developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in May 2016. The game, while having several different play modes, generally features two teams of six players each, selecting pre-made heroes from the game's roster, to either attack or defend various objective points on the game's maps. The game supports casual game modes as well as ranked competitive play. Since release, Overwatch has been both critically and financially successful, with a player base of 35 million players as of October 2017.

<i>Overwatch 2</i> 2022 video game

Overwatch 2 is a 2022 first-person shooter game by Blizzard Entertainment. As a sequel and replacement to the 2016 hero shooter Overwatch, the game intends a shared environment for player-versus-player (PvP) modes while initially having plans for introducing persistent cooperative modes, though the plans were later scrapped in 2023, focusing the game on its PvP elements. A major change in PvP modes was to reduce team sizes from six to five. Several major characters were also reworked. Overwatch 2 is free-to-play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in early access on October 4 and features full cross-platform play.

<i>California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard</i> Ongoing anti-discrimination lawsuit

California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard is a current lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), now the Civil Rights Department (CRD) against video game developer Activision Blizzard in July 2021. The lawsuit asserts that management of Activision Blizzard allowed and at times encouraged sexual misconduct towards female employees, that the company maintained a "frat boy" culture, and that the company's hiring and employment practices were discriminatory against women.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Takahashi, Dean (May 28, 2013). "Blizzard delays unannounced MMO until 2016, resets whole project". VentureBeat . Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Bramblet, Matthew (August 1, 2013). "Diablo III Announcement Coming at Gamescon - Activision Blizzard Q2 2013 earnings report details the Blizzard All-Star progress and 'Project Titan' revamp". Diablo Somepage. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Kollar, Philip (September 23, 2014). "Blizzard cancels its next-gen MMO Titan after seven years". Polygon.
  4. 1 2 "Overwatch includes pieces of Blizzard's canceled MMO Titan". Polygon. November 7, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  5. ↑ "He was a failed poet who became the director of one of the most popular games in the world". Glixel. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 14, 2017). "Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan traces line from Project Titan to Overwatch". Eurogamer . Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Schreier, Jason. "Here's What Blizzard's Titan MMO Actually Was". Kotaku. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  8. ↑ Kollar, Philip (December 12, 2007). "Blizzard Confirms New MMO In Development". 1UP.com . Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  9. ↑ Thorsen, Tor (September 4, 2009). "Blizzard's next MMOG to have 'more broad appeal'". GameSpot . Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  10. ↑ Bailey, Kat (November 13, 2008). "Blizzard Says New MMO Will Be "Cool, New, And Different"". 1UP.com. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  11. ↑ Pereira, Chris (February 10, 2011). "After WoW: Blizzard's Next MMO". 1UP.com. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  12. ↑ Cavallii, Earnest (October 26, 2008). "Q&A: Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime on DRM, WoW and the Next MMO". Wired. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  13. ↑ Terdiman, Daniel (December 8, 2010). "Rumor: Blizzard leak reveals 5-year product plan". ZDNet . Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  14. ↑ Magrino, Tom (December 7, 2010). "Following purportedly leaked release schedule, cofounder Frank Pearce says studio has begun talking about title as a recruitment tool". GameSpot. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  15. ↑ Kuchera, Ben (February 10, 2011). "Blizzard CEO talks new, unannounced title". Ars Technica . Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  16. ↑ Peters, Mathew (May 4, 2009). "Blizzard: Next MMORPG 'brand new' IP". GameSpot. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Interview: Blizzard COO Sams Says 'Many Years In Front' of WoW". Gamasutra. March 8, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  18. ↑ Petitte, Omri (September 28, 2012). "Titan's team is over 100 people". PC Gamer . Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Mists of Pandaria Interview with Rob Pardo". YouTube video.
  20. ↑ Brightman, James (September 23, 2014). "Titan cancellation cost Blizzard $50m or more, say analysts". GamesIndustry.biz . Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  21. 1 2 Phillips, Tom (June 26, 2019). "Ex-Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime on why the studio bins 50% of its projects". Eurogamer . Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  22. 1 2 3 Graft, Kris (February 22, 2017). "How Overwatch's bleak beginnings turned into positivity and inclusiveness". Gamasutra . Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  23. ↑ O'Dwyer, Danny; Haywald, Justin (April 26, 2016). "The Story of Overwatch: The Complete Jeff Kaplan Interview". GameSpot . Retrieved June 1, 2016.
  24. ↑ O'Dwyer, Danny; Haywald, Justin (April 25, 2016). "The Story of Overwatch: The Complete Chris Metzen Interview". GameSpot . Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  25. ↑ Shanklin, Will (May 19, 2023). "'Overwatch 2' director explains why hero missions were canceled". Engadget . Retrieved May 21, 2023.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.