Blizzard postpones Ghost to evaluate next-gen consoles

by Conrad Quilty-Harper on Mar 25th 2006 6:00AM

In a press release which you can view after the jump, Blizzard has stated that it has indefinitely postponed production on StarCraft: Ghost while it evaluates "opportunities for utilizing the additional power of the new and upcoming console systems." In other words Blizzard wasn't happy with Ghost being released for current-gen consoles just as they were about to be replaced by bigger and better next-generation machines.

Recently Ghost made number 5 on Wired's list of top ten vaporware products (alongside such vaporware legends as Duke Nukem' Forever and the Phantom game console) so it's good to hear any news about Ghost, even if the news is that it'll be delayed even further.

Blizzard Entertainment(R) Focuses Console-Development Plans on Next-Gen Platforms IRVINE, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE) March 24, 2006

Blizzard Entertainment Inc. today announced plans to focus the company's console-development efforts on the next generation of console platforms. As part of this shift in focus, Blizzard(R) will indefinitely postpone production on StarCraft: Ghost(TM) while evaluating opportunities for utilizing the additional power of the new and upcoming console systems.

"Like many in the industry, we've been impressed with the potential of the new consoles, and we're looking forward to exploring that potential further," stated Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "In addition to allowing us to determine the best course for StarCraft: Ghost, this review period will help us lay the groundwork for our future console games."

In the months ahead, Blizzard will further evaluate the next-gen console technology and determine the best plan of action for offering a StarCraft(R) console-gaming experience that meets the company's expectations and those of its players. Further specifics on plans for StarCraft: Ghost and Blizzard's future console games, as well as platform and release information, will be revealed at a later date.

Source

Reader Comments (31)

duke nukem for ever?

No, it's just Blizzard's modus operandi. The reason why all their games are so well polished is because they spend three times as long as normal making them, and uh oh spaghettios consoles don't usually live that long.

Warcraft 3 took a day and forever to make and it wasn't mindnblowing. I'll have grandkids by the time Starcraft 2 is made, or even announced for that matter. I've been drooling over Ghost screenshots since 2003. For all their talent and ability, I've accepted that Blizzard just aren't productive. 10 years to make the perfect game is cool and all, but there is such a thing as striking while the iron's hot, especially as console life cycles get shorter and shorter.

If I'm the only guy on this blog who wants to make a pun about Ghost being "ghosted", I'm never logging back onto this thing.

I agree. Rare was the same way with the N64, i remember very early in the console life cycle when Conkers Bad Fur Day was revealed. It had a different name and looked nothing like the real deal. But the differance was, in the N64 life cycle, Rare released like a dozen games, where as since then, Blizzard has only released diablo 2, warcraft 3, expansions for both, and WOW with expansions...with a few GBA titles thrown in. Then Rare was going to release Kameo on gamecube early on, and delayed it to the 360. My point is perfection takes time (if only rare was still under nintendo's banner and had the same support as the they did when the N64 was out....maybe the quality would jump back to where it was)

Good for Blizzard. Seriously. I was, at one point, excited about this game but as time went on each new screen shot looked worse than the last. Maybe it's a rose-colored memory but I swear the character designs had changed from something uniquely Blizzard to something rather generic.

The latest build of the game shown to the public was not only unimpressive but also pretty boring, in my opinion. Can it, rebuild it, make it something worth getting excited over again or just move on to a new project. What other companies have used this philosophy? What other companies should?

all i have to say is http://wheresg.ytmnd.com/
(let the sound load)

And I was upset because Spore is being delayed until next year. Wow.

This is stupid, there ar over 100 million xbox and ps2 out there. By the time this comes out there may be 10 million 360s and ps3.

To that guy above,
...

warcraft 3 tft is hawt

nuf said...

Blizzard is definitely not a console developer - they take longer to make their games than a console generation lasts. And that's a good thing. The only downside is, that the graphics aren't up-to-date, but they are often beautiful either way.

Weird, about a month ago they said they wanted to release it on current gen because of the user installed base is huge. Anyway, Blizzard does take a long time on their games, they're also not that big. I guess their philosophy is quality over quantity (unlike EA and Ubisoft).

Am I the only one who smells another Warcraft Adventures here?

Hopefully they are considering it to be released on the Revolution, since it will be with multiplayer support.

People should have seen this coming. I saw the DMEO at E3 last year and I liked it a lot. IMO, Blizzard is still wasting money by scraping the game for current consoles and going for Next-Gen. Blizzard can keep people waiting and they will lose interest.

To the above:

People won't lose interest if it's a good game. They might forget about it for a while, and that will help the time go by, but they will still be happy (and maybe excited) when the game IS released and is up to Blizzard's standards (hopefully).

Translation: We discovered Microsoft's XNA tools, and we can port our existing code to the 360, and concentrate on improving the graphics. The final product can also be released for the PC.

Warcraft 3 wasn't mind-blowing?
Well it has an avrage rating of 93% (gamerankings.com) and won multiple game of the year awards. Not sure what else you could ask for. It wasn't my favorite game ever (Starcraft is), but it was very good.

This announcement by Blizzard makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I am one of those guys that doesn't look back. I have a next gen system, so I no longer play my last gen systems.

Oh, and the guy that posted above that played the demo at E3 last year...
I know exactly what you are saying. When I played that demo last year at E3, it looked like it was almost ready to ship. It was already showing a lot of polish (hell, they had it playing on about 20 different systems; which for you guys that haven't been to E3 before, most BIG games only get like 3 systems). So obviously Blizzard was pushing the game hard. Not sure why it never came out.

Scott:

"if only rare was still under nintendo's banner and had the same support as the they did when the N64 was out....maybe the quality would jump back to where it was"

When is the last time you played Goldeneye or any other N64 Rare game? I played Goldeneye last night and had a hard time enjoying it. My point is that their quality is just as good if not better, but at the time they were ahead of the pack. Now there is WAY more compition and it takes leaps and bounds to impress anyone nowadays. I wouldnt want to be a programmer in todays world where you got all these snivelers and whiners picking all the games apart.

to bad Ghost was delayed, I was looking foward to getting it.

A company that legally owns millions of koreans doesn't need to rush. I'd be happy for them to take this long again if the final product departs in some way from the usual mainstream crap.

I think they are waiting for the Phantom console to release Ghost.

There, David Lane... that was the best I could do on short notice.

;)

This is insane...they've been swearing up and down this was going to be a current gen affair when it was seeming more and more ridiculous, the closer the next-gen approached. Anyone could have seen this coming.

What's funny is that when I played this game, it was pretty polished, most definitely playable and pretty cool. I can't imagine them scrapping it entirely - I'm sure we'll see a Kameo-ish upgrade at some point.

Starcraft wasn't acually all that good. Well it sucked compared to Total Annihilation! Now that game is still one of my favorite games of all time. I can't wait for the next one. Supreme Commander!

They should just throw out Starcraft Ghost and get to work on an online Starcraft for the DS. Blizzard made Starcraft on the N64 and now they're not doing a DS version?! Makes no sense to me.

BLIZZARD! MAKE STARCRAFT ON THE DS!