Difference between revisions of "Unannounced"

Revision as of 11:08, 31 October 2010

Unannounced titles remain so until a developer feel it's time to show their work to the world. There are advantages and drawbacks with keeping a game under wraps.

Blizzard's Unannounced Projects

Blizzard currently has two unannounced projects. One new game that is set in an entirely new universe, and one MMORPG. The Next-gen MMO is also rumoured to be in a new universe, but it could just as well be in the same one as the regular game.

At Blizzcon 2010 Blizzard said that the Next Gen MMO would not be announced until 2012 at the absolute soonest. [1]

As stated in an interview with Geoff Keighley, Pardo mentioned we shouldn't expect to hear anything about an actual product announcement until at least 2012.

This isn't especially surprising considering Blizzard's procedure of taking an extremely long time to develop and polish products. It was mentioned that around 50 people were actively working on the MMO project and that it is not exactly in a full stage of production right now.

Why Not Announce

There are many reasons a developer do not announce their projects as soon as they have started with Blizzard, this is very apparent by looking at the community. Fans don't want to wait too long for a game, and while announcing it will create a good amount of pre-release hype to help sell the game (or just keep the existing communities alive), it will also make users more and more anxious to get their hands on it.

Some developers eventually fall for the pressure by fans, publishers and/or investors and launch a game before it's ready, and it can have disastrous consequences. Take Hellgate: London's launch as an example.

Code Names

generally have a code name within the developer's quarters to make sure that even with a 100% reliable staff, it will not leak. For instance, StarCraft II was known as "Hydra" before it was announced, and Blizzard has used other ancient greek terms for projects in the past.

References

• To be added