Blizzard job listing hints at 'Next-Gen MMO'
by Ross Miller 
{ Apr 30th 2007 at 6:55PM }
Blizzard is well known for its secrecy and therefore its ability to spawn crazy speculation based on minimal information. The World of Warcraft developer recently published a job listing for a Lead Engine Programmer for -- and this is the rumor catalyst, here -- a "Next-Gen MMO."Does this mean Blizzard is developing a Starcraft MMO? Possibly, but any engine this lead programmer is working on will likely not be seen publicly for many years -- just look at intervals between the Unreal engines or Crytek's engines. A requirement for the job is a "high comfort level working within (and adding to) an established code framework." We're sure Blizzard is congnizant that the technology used in WoW can't last forever, and that an upgrade to antiquated code in inevitable.
Of course, there may in fact be a successor to Diablo or Starcraft forthcoming, as the rumors have long persisted, but we're betting this job listing is unrelated to any impending announcement.
[Via WoW Insider]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Al2x @ Apr 30th 2007 7:01PM
First!
Wonder if it would be as good as WoW.
s256 @ Apr 30th 2007 7:10PM
Name a bad Blizzard game. :p
LordMinogue @ Apr 30th 2007 7:13PM
I'm a level 70 SCV in that game!
Brandon @ Apr 30th 2007 7:41PM
Seriously, does it matter?
You buy a Blizzard product first, then you check to see what it is.
There stuff is always that good.
Among my gamer friends this is a truth as much Nintendo has great first party IP's, Xbox(TM) has better online, and Sony's PS3 is expensive.
:)
Rubang B @ Apr 30th 2007 7:42PM
There have been no bad Blizzard games. They almost made 2. WarCraft Adventures got cancelled the day before they debuted it at E3, because it wasn't good enough. So with one day's notice they changed all the booths to StarCraft booths, and scrapped a year of development. The other was StarCraft: Ghost. Blizzard will just destroy anything that is less than perfect. It's too bad their games are so few an far between though. They're the Stanley Kubrick of the gaming world.
If they do make a StarCraft MMO, I'm dropping out of school. I hope it doesn't happen.
Bigfoot @ Apr 30th 2007 7:43PM
Blizzard could make Warcraft Pong and it'd sell.
CJC @ Apr 30th 2007 7:44PM
Bah, forget the MMORPGs, even if they are extremely lucrative. Give me a shiny new Lost Vikings!
Rubang B @ Apr 30th 2007 7:44PM
P.S. Battle.Net is better than XBox Live! After 9 years I can still play StarCraft for free and it STILL gets updates that are eternally bringing the balance closer to perfection.
Rubang B @ Apr 30th 2007 7:45PM
I want a new Blackthorne!
Trash Collector @ Apr 30th 2007 8:17PM
I hate to be the one to shock you all but it is not going to be starcraft nor will it be next diablo but the long awaited sequel to Rock N Roll Racing (hopefully its an MMO)!!
Digital Fox @ Apr 30th 2007 8:21PM
I really would like something along the lines of a third-person shooter Starcraft MMO.
Though, I have no idea how that would even play out.
foxwind @ Apr 30th 2007 8:46PM
I want a sexy sexy hydralisk. ;_;
Jonah Falcon @ Apr 30th 2007 8:57PM
Next-gen MMO sounds like World of Warcraft (Xbox 360).
Travioli @ Apr 30th 2007 9:23PM
Enough with the MMORPG's!
I still play D2, and now WoW takes up the rest of my time.
Give me WC4 or SC2!
jojo29 @ Apr 30th 2007 10:03PM
"Next-gen MMO sounds like World of Warcraft (Xbox 360)."
If that happened, id have to sell my wii/ps3 as MS would have won this gen with that game alone.....
JJ @ Apr 30th 2007 10:16PM
Why Jojo? You can buy a PC cheaper than a 360 that can run WoW =)
WoWs main selling point is that it can run on ANYTHING!
Granted if they do do another MMO I beg them...please dont have it as basic as WoW...some of us crave something a little deeper sometimes. Which is why we all dont still play Mario Bros. all the time
Zsavior @ Apr 30th 2007 11:18PM
People all say don't make the MMO as easy as WOW. I always think to myself be careful what you ask for. WOW's appeal is that it is easy to learn hard to master, that being said, blizzard could open the flood gates and make something EverQuest like.
Seventy man raids, death penalties out the waazhoo,that doesn't seem like a good time to me.
Kyu @ Apr 30th 2007 11:32PM
I predict this "next-gen mmo" is going to be something like Second Life.
dsub @ Apr 30th 2007 11:55PM
I read something in OXM last month talking about how there is supposedly a new WoW game in the works for 360 that is based on the WoW universe but is entirely separate from the PC version.
daustin @ May 1st 2007 12:08AM
How to push away a rumor about Starcraft 2: Create a job opening about a new MMO and then - suddenly - everyone is confused! Bravo!
JJ @ May 1st 2007 12:22AM
Well Zsavior i'm not talking about making things annoyingly repeatitive and i like the fact that wow was easy to learn for a lot of people(Dont know about the hard to master part though...most who played had it mastered in a matter of hours if not days)
I just mean i'm hoping in an MMO for something more than just the hack and slash aspect of WoW, I would like something a little more ya know? Rather than just a level grind to max level.
and while wow boasts 8+ million have played, how many are 2nd accounts or trial accounts, heck i know my family alone probably attributed to maybe 5 or 6 of those and each of us only played a max of 10 days before we got bored with it as there wasnt much else to do except kill things.
All i ask is for more than just a level grind, thats all. And also dont forget while death penalties and raiding may not seem fun, there has to be something there for risk vs. reward or why else play? For a god button? There's plenty of single player games that can fill that slot if need be.
Korova @ May 1st 2007 1:05AM
You gotta follow the Apple analogy:
WoW = iPod
nextgen MMO = iPhone?
WoW Wireless or WoWi!!!
Q.E.D.
Moe @ May 3rd 2007 12:36AM
I forsee a stand-alone DotA client, development has as such ensued over the last few years.
Quite honestly, I am more than certain if Blizzard took on development of DotA alongside Icefrog would be quite a lucrative move on their part. I am more than certain a further developed form of DotA would soon after turn into a classic taken down the ages as a smash hit. The desire to play this map alraedy has brought a large ammount of revenue I imagine to blizzard, and quite honestly the map is taking the world in full as the next CS standard used at lan parties and lan cafes.
I as reading a article about it the other day, it really is quite ridiculous watching the numbers move about as sporadically as they have been of recent. One can conclude that more players find themselves playing out a leaver-ridden public DotA game on all edges of the earth over upping their micro skills in the normal melee/ladder form of WC:III.
I' mean this obviously was a joke post, but I really would support full development of the map into a solid and real game to be bought and sold to consumers on the PC platform.
Think about it, what does DotA offer the common player? Its a ballanced team-based game, which features character customization and in a sense IMO is purely skill based in both a reaction/strategic/analytic sense. Its the perfect game to spend your days in wait for future titles: Age of Conan, WAR, etc (for most hardcore pvp addicts that is).