Diablo 4 season 4's upcoming loot overhaul probably won't be the action-RPG's final major system rework.
24.04.2024 - 18:55 / videogameschronicle.com / Mike Ybarra / Matt Booty / Holly Longdale / Tom Ivan / Allen Adham
Blizzard is currently recruiting a dozen members of staff to work on an unannounced game.
The open positions include six director roles, including creative director and narrative director.
It’s hard to glean much information about the project from the job descriptions, but it sounds like it’s in the very early stages.
There have been some significant changes at the Irvine, California-based studio behind World of Warcraft and Diablo since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard last October for $69 billion.
In January, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 1,900 staff across Xbox, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard.
Alongside the news, it was confirmed that Blizzard’s then president Mike Ybarra and its chief design officer Allen Adham were leaving the studio, and that an untitled survival game announced in January 2022 had been cancelled.
Inspired by games like Minecraft and Rust, the project was codenamed Odyssey, was set in a new universe, and had been in development for six years, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
It’s claimed that many of the 100-plus people who had been working on it were told they were being let go.
In a leaked internal email, Microsoft’s game content and studios president, Matt Booty, said the company would be “shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development”.
Despite these changes, Microsoft has “let Blizzard be Blizzard”, according to Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president of World of Warcraft.
Discussing what life under Microsoft has been like for the developer during a recent interview with VGC, she said: “If anything, it’s just been helpful. We got time with Helen Chang from Mojang, and we were sharing information, so it’s almost as if we have access to what worked for them.
“We got to speak to the Elder Scrolls Online team and share what we’re up to and what’s been working, it’s almost like we get a benefit.
“There’s no one asking us to do anything,” she continued. “World of Warcraft is doing very well and they’re very proud of what it’s been able to accomplish, so it’s almost like just let it be, and let it keep being awesome. They’ve been tremendously supportive and it’s like ‘let Blizzard be Blizzard’.”
The studio is currently gearing up to launch The War Within, the first of three upcoming World of Warcraft expansions, later this year.
VGC recently had a chance to play The War Within and chat to Blizzard about the expansion.
Diablo 4 season 4's upcoming loot overhaul probably won't be the action-RPG's final major system rework.
Sony has announced May 2024’s PlayStation Plus Essential games.
Microsoft has announced an Xbox Games Showcase and a “Redacted” Direct for June.
Target launch months for Xbox’s first-party games coming in 2024 have seemingly been revealed.
Microsoft has revealed the time and date for its upcoming in June. As with last year, Xbox will follow the show with a Direct presentation focusing on a specific title. However, the company is being secretive about which game it will be.
Rusty’s Retirement is an idle farming simulator that does the work for you — while you work. The game, which was released on April 26 by Mister Morris Games, sits at the bottom of your computer screen and basically runs itself; simply plant some seeds and Rusty and a team of cute robot pals will get to work turning the crops into biofuel, which can be reinvested in your ever-expanding farm.
Bethesda Games Studios are thinking about how they can release games more frequently while still ensuring that they have a healthy audience for years, the Elder Scrolls company's king wizard Todd Howard has remarked in an interview with Kinda Funny, from which Alice B has already scientifically extracted some titbits about forthcoming Starfield expansion Shattered Space.
Escape from Tarkov director Nikita Buyanov apologized to fans displeased by the release of the controversial The Unheard edition, an expensive bundle that included exclusive access to a highly anticipated PvE mode. Developer Battlestate Games' popular extraction shooter was hit with widespread player outrage when it was revealed the long-awaited PvE mode was locked behind a $250 paywall. The studio and Buyanov have since attempted to placate its community, though large groups of fans remain distrustful of Escape from Tarkov's monetization system.
The horror veterans at Bloober Team have partnered with a Take-Two Interactive subsidiary on a new game based on an original IP. Bloober Team itself recently confirmed the existence of this mysterious project, in addition to providing a status update on one other yet-to-be-revealed game that it currently has in the works.
Blizzard has outlined the goals of the Fire Mage Rework, now live on the War Within Alpha! They want to address maintenance buffs, and allow for more choices in AoE!
Steven Ogg, the actor who famously voiced Grand Theft Auto 5 protagonist Trevor Philips, recently stated that he recorded dialogue for a DLC campaign that was ultimately canceled. Grand Theft Auto 5 is considered to be one of the biggest and best video games ever made, and a large part of its success lies in its memorable cast of characters. This includes Trevor, the trigger-happy partner of fellow GTA 5 playable character Michael De Santa who makes his way to the crime-ridden city of Los Santos after discovering that his old friend is still alive following a bank heist gone wrong.
As promised, developer Weta Workshop and publisher Private Division have premiered the debut trailer for Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game, their upcoming life sim title, showcasing glimpses of its cozy setting, art style, core mechanics, and more.