For each main recreation launched by a large AAA gaming firm, there are nearly actually piles upon piles of canceled video games that we’ll by no means see, hear, or learn about. Some canceled video games might have gotten far sufficient in improvement that there are builds of them on an workplace PC someplace, whereas others might by no means have gotten previous the part of inventive leads doodling in notebooks and batting concepts about over drinks.
Blizzard Leisure isn’t any exception, however thanks to dogged reporting, audiences have been ready to glean a sizeable snapshot over the years of its canceled catalog. There have been multiple wonderful attempts to summarize each canceled Blizzard recreation we learn about, however we expect the time is ripe for one more one. It is because Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier has simply launched a model new e-book, entitled Play Good: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Leisure. In it, Schreier tells the fascinating 30-year historical past of Blizzard by over 300 interviews of present and former workers. So, naturally, the e-book consists of a quantity of anecdotes about canceled Blizzard video games. Some of them we’ve heard of. Many of them – together with a canceled Blizzard Star Wars recreation, a Warcraft/Pokemon GO hybrid – have by no means been revealed to the public earlier than.
Utilizing previous studies mixed with every part we learn in Play Good, we’ve compiled a new, definitive checklist of each canceled Blizzard venture over the years and what we learn about it. For extra particulars, you’ll want to take a look at Schreier’s e-book, which we additionally interviewed him about in larger element final month.
Video games Folks Play
Not a lot is understood about Video games Folks Play and it doesn’t make an look in Play Good, however Video games Folks Play is cited in nearly each checklist of canceled Blizzard video games obtainable. It’s listed on MobyGames as a crossword/phrase recreation that was in improvement in the early Nineties at Blizzard.
Crixa
Solely meriting a transient point out in Play Good, Crixa was a top-down 2D house shooter with 3D spaceship fashions. It was developed by Qualia Video games in the mid-90s and was supposed to be revealed by Blizzard. A ultimate prototype did get delivered to Blizzard, however the recreation was sadly canceled due to not being aggressive in the 1996 market, per artist David Seah. Qualia shut down not lengthy after.
Pax Imperia 2
1992’s Pax Imperia, developed by Changeling Studios, reviewed and offered effectively sufficient to warrant a sequel, so Changeling partnered with Blizzard to get it achieved. The sport was introduced at CES 1995 and deliberate for a vacation launch that yr, however that launch by no means got here. Blizzard later offered the rights to Pax Imperia to THQ, which then partnered with Heliotrope Studios to launch Pax Imperia: Eminent Area in 1997. At the time, Allen Adham mentioned the recreation wasn’t progressing in addition to Blizzard hoped, and famous that Blizzard was too small to juggle too many initiatives without delay. Pax Imperia 2 is talked about solely briefly in Play Good alongside Crixia.
Denizen
Denizen has appeared a few instances on lists of canceled Blizzard video games over the years, however we’ve by no means had any particulars about what it really was till now. It’s solely talked about briefly in Play Good, however Schreier refers to it as “a dungeon-crawler that was shelved due to lack of sources” someday in the mid-Nineties.
Bloodlines
Shock! A never-before-mentioned-in-public canceled Blizzard recreation, revealed for the first time in Play Good. We don’t have an excessive amount of in the approach of particulars on Bloodlines, however Schreier calls it “a house vampire recreation that didn’t resonate with sufficient workers to justify its existence.” Like Denizen, it was additionally labored on throughout the mid-Nineties.
Raiko
Raiko is one other mysterious recreation we don’t have a lot information on. All we all know, from a former developer, is that it was a Diablo-style recreation with a 3D engine set in historic Japan. It was developed by Flextech would have been revealed by Blizzard, however was canceled proper round the time Vivendi purchased the latter firm.
Shattered Nations
One of Blizzard’s better-known canceled initiatives, Shattered Nations was one other mid-90s venture that by no means noticed the mild of day. In Play Good, Schreier shares a bit extra perception – Shattered Nations was impressed by Sid Meier’s Civilization, however sadly lead designer James Phinney wasn’t ready to persuade Blizzard co-founder Alan Adham that a turn-based recreation was value pursuing. Adham had simply completed convincing creator David Brevik to take Diablo real-time and transfer away from its turn-based roots, so it appears like avoiding this model of play was turning into a working theme round this period at Blizzard.
Star Wars recreation
Briefly talked about in Play Good, Schreier studies that in 1995 proper round the time Shattered Nations was on the chopping block, Blizzard very, very briefly labored on a Star Wars licensed technique recreation. He tells me that whereas the recreation by no means made it previous idea artwork of AT-ATs and excited however broad discussions internally, these conversations did ultimately spark the flame that may change into StarCraft. Nonetheless, it’s enjoyable to think about what a Blizzard Star Wars may need seemed like if it had gotten additional alongside.
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
One other very well-known canceled recreation, Lord of the Clans was a graphic journey recreation from the late 90s that adopted Warcraft character Thrall in a storyline we’ve since seen replayed in each novel type and in the 2016 Warcraft film. The sport featured point-and-click gameplay and animation impressed closely by LucasArts video games reminiscent of Monkey Island. Lord of the Clans was in improvement for 18 months, however was in the end canceled due to struggles detailed in Play Good. The puzzles weren’t clicking, the artwork model wasn’t working, and a likelihood encounter with Leisure Go well with Larry creator Al Lowe at a commerce present discouraged builders after Lowe mentioned, “If you happen to guys can’t make this work, then who can?” The cancelation reportedly value Blizzard a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars}, however the worry of releasing a subpar recreation gained out.
Challenge X/Starblo
An unnamed venture kicked off in the wake of the launch of Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. Whereas half of the Diablo 2 crew went on to work on Diablo 3, the different half began work on what they known as “Challenge X,” a messy and non-specific venture headed up by David Brevik that at completely different instances was “about kung-fu combating, the pirates, then team-based superhero technique.” Finally, Brevik and Erich Schafer dedicated to one thing they known as “Starblo.” This was mainly a sci-fi tackle Diablo that came about in house, with gamers touring from planet to planet, gathering weapons, and battling aliens. Starblo was in the end canceled in 2003 as half of an upheaval at Blizzard North. Brevik, Erich Schaefer, Max Schaefer, and Invoice Roper all stop without delay in response to challenges with mother or father firm Vivendi. Blizzard accepted the resignations, laid off others, and refocused the studio on Diablo 3.
Nomad
Nomad was in improvement at Blizzard beginning round 1998, and is afforded its personal chapter in Play Good. Nomad was a squad-based, sci-fi technique recreation based mostly loosely off Warhammer 40,000 tabletop spin-off Necromunda. The venture was headed up by Pat Wyatt and Duane Stinnett, however Stinnett struggled to convey to Blizzard leaders what, precisely, Nomad was supposed to be.
However whereas Nomad was being tinkered with to the frustration of these engaged on it, many builders at Blizzard had been obsessive about EverQuest, to the level the place it appeared everybody was speaking about attempting to make their very own model of it. Finally, the obsession grew so nice that Nomad crew leaders voted to pivot their venture into an EverQuest-like. Thus Nomad died, and Blizzard set to work on what would change into World of Warcraft.
StarCraft: Ghost
StarCraft: Ghost is one of Blizzard’s best-known canceled initiatives, partly thanks to its spirited unveiling at the 2002 Tokyo Game Present. It might have been a third-person shooter set in the StarCraft universe the place gamers managed StarCraft character Nova on a sequence of stealth operations, making use of devices, psionic skills, and tremendous velocity to overcome obstacles and keep undetected. Ghost would have additionally had a multiplayer mode with varied attainable aims, reminiscent of king of the hill matches or seize the flag.
StarCraft: Ghost was being co-developed by Nihilistic Software program and was deliberate for a late 2003 launch. In Play Good, Schreier studies that Blizzard proved troublesome to work with for Nihilistic, constantly providing strict or complicated path leading to tons of thrown-out work. After a number of delays, Nihilistic stepped away from the venture. However Ghost wasn’t lifeless simply but. Blizzard partnered with Swingin’ Ape studios to get it throughout the end line, however Swingin’ Ape kicked its work on Ghost off by throwing out most of what Nihilistic had already achieved and ranging from scratch.
Early work on the recreation by the studio prioritized its multiplayer mode, and early prototypes had been well-received. Nevertheless, the crew struggled to get a single-player mode collectively that examined effectively, and with a era of new consoles (the Xbox 360, PS3, and the Wii) on the approach, there was much more stress to get one thing found out quick. Nevertheless it by no means got here collectively. After a sequence of additional delays, StarCraft: Ghost was “indefinitely postponed,” and Swingin’ Ape builders had been both let go or merged into Blizzard to assist with World of Warcraft.
In 2014, Mike Morhaime finally acknowledged Ghost’s cancellation in an interview about a completely different canceled recreation. However whereas it’s formally lifeless at Blizzard, a playable construct of StarCraft: Ghost appeared on-line in 2020, allowing players a glimpse of what could have been.
Avalon
Revealed for the first time in Play Good, Minecraft-inspired Avalon was pitched shortly after the launch of Diablo 3. Although the preliminary pitch was greenlit, one of its major imaginative and prescient holders left the firm for unrelated causes whereas it was being prototyped, and the recreation was later canceled.
Hades
After the launch of Diablo 3, work started on a follow-up internally referred to as Hades. Due to Diablo 3’s many struggles, the Hades crew needed to do one thing contemporary.Thus, Hades included an over-the-shoulder digicam relatively than top-down, had punchier fight, permadeath, and extra. Nevertheless, Hades instantly bumped into points with how the fight system (in contrast to the Batman: Arkham sequence) would work with cooperative multiplayer. Plus, Hades’ early improvement work seemed so completely different from Diablo that many builders puzzled if it actually certified as Diablo anymore in any respect. Finally, the crew lead on Hades, Josh Mosqueira, left Blizzard. And when Blizzard management evaluated the state of Hades, they in the end canceled it and opted to begin Diablo 4 from scratch as an alternative.
Orbis
Briefly talked about a number of instances in Play Good, Orbis was a Warcraft-themed Pokemon GO-like for cell units the place gamers captured fantasy creatures in augmented actuality utilizing cellphone cameras. Orbis was in the works starting round 2016 or so, headed up by Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham as half of a handful of incubation pet initiatives. Nevertheless, Orbis struggled below attrition, scope creep, and COVID-19’s impacts on improvement. Worst of all was the crew’s struggles to make fight good, with Play Good citing ongoing debates over whether or not Orbis was Warcraft for informal gamers, or a informal recreation for hardcore Warcraft gamers. Orbis in the end was canceled, largely due to commentary of different Pokemon GO-like video games failing one after one other to seize the market in the similar approach their inspiration had.
“Flip-Based mostly StarCraft recreation in the model of Civilization”
The header there’s mainly all we learn about this recreation, which has a “blink and also you’ll miss it” look in a single of Play Good’s later chapters. All we learn about it’s that Allen Adham “briefly flirted” with a “turn-based StarCraft recreation in the model of Civilization,” and that it was canceled. Alas.
Titan
All Blizzard die-hards know the story of Titan: a next-gen MMO targeted on superheroes that after seven years of improvement hell was canceled after years in improvement hell. Blizzard by no means technically introduced Titan, although it did announce its cancelation. Play Good consists of a chapter with a way more detailed look into what occurred with the Overwatch predecessor, however right here’s the brief model:
Improvement on Titan started in 2007 in response to the success of World of Warcraft. Conversations about an inevitable “World of Warcraft-killer” stored popping up throughout gaming, so Blizzard leads determined they ought to be the ones to make it. Set in the future, gamers would management superheroes all through their regular, 9-to-5 lives throughout the day, after which battle evil by night time. The daytime segments had been comparable to Animal Crossing or one other life sim recreation the place gamers might adorn their houses, run companies, or hang around with neighbors. The fight might have included teaming up with pals for dungeons, or team-based battles. Sadly, Titan suffered from management disagreements over its path, in addition to struggles to discover the “core loop” of the recreation, particularly in the daytime segments.
Over time, as the crew struggled to make significant progress and different, smaller Blizzard initiatives (reminiscent of Hearthstone) succeeded, firm leaders reevaluated. Tons of work had been achieved on Titan, and a few of it was reportedly superb and enjoyable, nevertheless it all felt disjointed. It by no means got here collectively into a cohesive single recreation. Finally, in 2013, Titan was formally rebooted, having value Blizzard $80 million. Now, it solely exists insofar as some of its concepts trickled into what would change into Overwatch, however Blizzard by no means made its personal WoW-killer – and WoW continues to be chugging alongside.
Orion
Orion was an asynchronous RPG headed up by former Hearthstone director Eric Dodds and a number of other of his colleagues. We don’t have too many particulars on this recreation, we simply know from Play Good it was “a blast to play in a room collectively, nevertheless it was a lot much less enjoyable when individuals had been on the go and it might take hours between every flip.” Orion was canceled in 2019 alongside mass layoffs.
Ares
One of Blizzard’s more moderen canceled initiatives is Ares, a StarCraft shooter designed in the Overwatch engine and impressed by Battlefield. Ares began improvement close to the finish of 2016, pitched by StarCraft 2 and Heroes of the Storm director Dustin Browder. The sport featured large groups of gamers combating each other, and gave them the capacity to management varied StarCraft models in fight. Ares’ cancellation in 2019 alongside the similar layoffs that impacted Orion came as a “massive shock” according to one developer, whereas one other mentioned the recreation was “trying fairly good” at the time. Builders impacted, together with these affected by the cancellation of an extra unannounced cell recreation, had been moved to work on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
Andromeda
Andromeda is described in Play Good as “a high-fidelity motion recreation, like Sony’s God of Struggle, in the Warcraft universe.” It was in improvement in 2020, below the inventive path of Alex Afrasiabi, who Blizzard fired for misconduct that later got here up publicly in a California lawsuit alleging rampant sexual harassment at the firm. Blizzard endeavored to discover a substitute director for Andromeda however was unable to accomplish that, and ultimately canceled it.
Odyssey
Like Ares, Odyssey started improvement in 2017, however caught round a bit longer earlier than it met its demise earlier this yr in a story that’s informed in a bit extra element in Play Good. Odyssey was a survival recreation meant to be the first model new Blizzard IP since Overwatch, and would have featured recreation maps of up to 100 gamers concurrently. Idea artwork prompt a fantasy, fairytale setting linked by a magical portal to modern-day Earth.
Odyssey sadly went by a quantity of improvement struggles, together with a troublesome swap from Unreal Engine to inside engine Synapse and a prolonged improvement time. When Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard final yr, builders had been optimistic the new management would assist Odyssey recover from the end line, nevertheless it was sadly canceled by Microsoft as half of a large restructuring that resulted in 8% of the whole firm’s gaming workers being let go.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Obtained a story tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.