This year marks the 35th anniversary of Blizzard, and the company already has reason to celebrate the recent Overwatch rebrand that’s revitalized the hero shooter. Blizzard President Johanna Faries is very optimistic about the company’s future, but she’s also fully aware that not every swing at the plate will work out in its favor.
“We’ve set a lot in motion with respect to [the future of Blizzard], making sure we’re clear on it, making sure we’re coordinated on it,” said Faries during an appearance on the Official Xbox Podcast. “There’s sort of a reliability that players can depend on us to launch in big ways, launch in surprising ways. Maybe take some zags! Not everything’s going to hit. That’s gaming. But in many ways, let’s understand where we are going–not only as a company, but by franchise, by game.”
Faries may be referring to some Blizzard games that were in development but never saw the light of day. In 2019, Blizzard reportedly canceled a StarCraft shooter after two years in development in order to focus on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
Compared to some of Blizzard’s other franchises, StarCraft has been underutilized. But there have been recent reports that a new StarCraft shooter may be announced at BlizzCon. A separate report suggested that Arc Raiders’ parent company Nexon is working on the StarCraft shooter.
Faries recently teased potential Hollywood adaptations for Blizzard’s properties, but warned that the company sets a high bar before greenlighting anything. Another Blizzard executive, Holly Longdale, hinted at potential new games set in the Warcraft universe. For now, we may have to wait until BlizzCon in September to see if these projects materialize.
