Blizzard has responded to a seeming major leak, explaining Diablo 3’s current status and stating that they have no current secret projects planned for Starcraft.
The information comes from Yahoo Finances writer Tae Kim, who was himself tipped off by an anonymous Activision Blizzard insider. Said insider shared a lot of details about upcoming games in Blizzard’s pipeline, as well as support for current projects.
The rumor goes that the Diablo 3 has been ‘completely gutted’ to work on a new game in the Starcraft universe. This unnamed Starcraft project is a MOBA, similar to Warframe and borrowing from Left4Dead, DayZ, Smite, and others.
This was Blizzard’s response:
When asked for comment Activision Blizzard said the focus right now of the Diablo III team “is on continuing to support the game with patch content. We generally don’t comment on rumors or speculation, but I do want to make sure it’s clear that they’re not working on a secret project in the StarCraft universe.Notably, Blizzard did not comment on other leaks, which go through pretty much all their other projects. If you would like to go on and find out what those leaks are, you can read on below. Of course, these are potential spoilers.
· Hearthstone has done very well, going past 75 million players already. There will be a PvE expansion in April, and they are working on a 2v2 version.
· Overwatch’s business model has not been fully fleshed out. You should be able to play a base game for free, but it may either be free to play, or paid for per expansion. Paying for heroes is also undecided. The game is likely to release 2016.
· Starcraft 2’s next game is done, with a release coming sometime April to June. This rumor seems to be referring to Legacy of the Void.
· World of Warcraft has quadrupled outsourcing for development to finish faster. The next expansion is already almost complete feature wise.
· Finally, and the sole sore spot, Blizzard has low expectations for Heroes of the Storm. They are already looking at ramping down the team.
Tae is, of course, a reputable source, and he vouches for his insider. What do you think about these rumors? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.