Published , by Josh Hawkins
Published , by Josh Hawkins
It’s been a big day for gaming news today. On top of some interesting reveals and confirmations, we’ve also seen more information about Google’s streaming platform. Now, though, we have even more intriguing news to report, this time from Blizzard’s base camp. According to Jason Schreier at Kotaku, Blizzard has canned an unannounced StarCraft FPS to renew the studio’s focus on Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4.
In a report made on Kotaku, Schreier advised that several sources within Blizzard have confirmed that a StarCraft FPS code-named Ares has been scrapped. According to Schreier, the FPS was described as a mix of Battlefield in the StarCraft universe. The project never left the prototype phase, though, and now Blizzard has completely canned it to instead focus on sequels for two of their most popular franchises, Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
To verify the reports, Schreier reached out to Blizzard, who responded in typical Blizzard fashion with fairly vague statements. The statement begins, “We don’t generally comment on unannounced projects…” It then continues on to talk about how the studio approaches game development as a whole, stating, “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 a shelve a project or when an announcement doesn’t go as planned.”
This statement, of course, definitely seems to back up the claims that the StarCraft FPS has been completely cancelled, and as Schreier points out in his original report, it’s not the first time we’ve seen that happen with a shooter based in the StarCraft universe. No matter how things play out at Blizzard, it doesn’t appear that any employees were laid off as a result of the cancelation, which means they’ve probably moved over to the other big projects on Blizzard’s plate right now. Most notably these projects could be Diablo 4, which has been rumored for a while now, as well as a sequel to Overwatch.
We’ll continue to keep our ear to the ground concerning this matter, but for now it appears that Blizzard has some things in the works, and it could be a very exciting year for Blizzard fans.