- As part of major layoffs announced at Microsoft, work on Blizzard’s “survival game” has been halted and all employees on the project have been either reassigned or laid off.
- The reasons for the game’s cancellation are quite unclear. However, a Bloomberg report claimed that some issues with the game may have played a role in the decision to shut down the project.
- Some news sources speaking to Bloomberg claim that this engine change has caused serious problems for the “survival project” in the game and that many game developers want to return to Unreal.
In early 2022, Blizzard announced an interesting new project. He pitched this project as an original survival game set in a brand new fantasy universe “full of heroes we’ve yet to meet, stories yet untold, and adventures yet to be lived.” However, although there is a lot of excitement about the game whose release date is approaching, it seems that this game will not be released, considering the current situation. As part of major layoffs announced at Microsoft, work on the unnamed Blizzard survival game has been halted and all employees on the project have been either reassigned or laid off. This game had reportedly been in development for six years at the time of its cancellation and had received positive feedback from internal testers.
The Verge“Today’s actions impact many teams within Blizzard, including development teams, shared services organizations, and corporate functions,” Microsoft Head of Game Content and Studios Matt Booty said in a speech to staff following the layoff announcement. As part of this focus, Blizzard is ending development of the game. Some of the people working on this project will be shifted to one of several promising new projects that Blizzard has in the early stages of development.” said.
So far, the reasons for the game’s cancellation are fairly unclear. But a Bloomberg reportclaimed that some issues with the game may have played a role in the decision to close the project. According to this news, Blizzard’s unnamed survival game was made using the Unreal Engine before the decision to switch to Synapse, an in-house engine that will reportedly allow more players to join gaming sessions and explore larger maps.
Some news sources speaking to Bloomberg claim that this engine change has caused serious problems for the survival project in the game and that many game developers want to return to Unreal. With Blizzard being acquired by Microsoft in late 2023, it was thought that the project could finally receive the desired engine change and the team could be expanded to complete the work more efficiently with continuity, but the game was completely canceled.
“As difficult as making these decisions is, experimenting and taking risks are part of Blizzard’s history and creative process,” Blizzard spokesman Andrew Reynolds told Bloomberg. These ideas are added to other games or, in some cases, turned into their own games. “Starting something completely new is one of the hardest things to do in gaming, and we’re incredibly grateful to all the talented people who supported this project.” he said. Although Blizzard’s canceled game seemed like a promising new project with its strange fantasy world and focus on exploration, it now seems to be doomed. Employees who previously worked on this game have now dispersed to various new game projects, and some have become unemployed.
Compiled by: Burçin Bağatur
