Blizzard Entertainment is now part of the larger Xbox family following Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, but what does that mean for the future? This past weekend saw the first in-person BlizzCon in years, but the show was still oriented around a direction put in place by previous Acti-Blizz boss Bobby Kotick – one very much focused on exploiting dependable moneymakers like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo. While those franchises will likely remain Blizzard’s bread and butter in the near term, some changes may be on the way.
In a new interview with The Verge, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra says the studio is entering a new era, one that will be marked by a new empowerment and freedom.
“I think the way [Phil Spencer] approaches building teams and focusing on culture and enabling creative freedom is going to give Blizzard a lot more of that sense of being an independent studio than ever before. That’s what I really mean when I talk about a new era of possibilities, of empowerment, of serving players even better than we ever have.”
Interestingly, that new freedom may even include making non-live-service standalone games…
“We’re not afraid to create new IPs. We’re not afraid to turn models upside down […] that can be someone that has an idea for a four-hour experience or a 400-hour experience.”
In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Ybarra even concedes a new StarCraft title might be a possibility, although it may not be a real-time strategy game.
“It’s not me saying, ‘Go make a StarCraft game. I need to have someone who has the vision and passion that comes with the idea, and I’ll bet on that team.”
With a constant flow of new, novel content for Xbox Game Pass being of utmost importance for Microsoft, hopefully, Blizzard isn’t just free to experiment but encouraged to do so. If you’d like to hear more about the future of Blizzard with Microsoft, and a lot of nitty-gritty details about the road ahead for Diablo IV, do check out Wccftech’s recent interview as well.
What do you think? What would you like to see from a more creatively free Blizzard?
