Blizzard is hiring for an "upcoming open-world shooter game," a new job ad has revealed – and all signs point to it being a StarCraft FPS.
As spotted on reddit, on November 13 Blizzard posted a job posting for a deputy director of design and innovation at an unannounced game. The description goes into more detail:
As the Director of Innovation Design, you will be the visionary and owner of key strategic innovations in an upcoming open-world shooter game. Stay up to date with the latest developments in both the indie and AAA space. David Bowie is quoted as saying, “Go a little out of your depth. And when you feel like your feet aren't quite touching the bottom, you're almost at the right place to do something exciting” — the idea of deep innovation excites you, balanced with a realistic desire to turn dreams into reality that players can take in their hands and enjoy.
This blurb confirms Blizzard's plan to release an open-world shooter, but what is it? In September, it emerged that Blizzard was reportedly making a third attempt at developing a StarCraft shooter, with former Far Cry executive producer Dan Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022, leading the project.
The news came from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier while speaking on IGN's Unlocked Podcast, below, about his new book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Hay's StarCraft shooter is mentioned in the book, and IGN's Ryan McCaffrey asked Schreier if it's likely to actually come out.
"Unless it's cancelled!" Schreier replied. “This is Blizzard after all. Their history with StarCraft shooters is not good.
“Yes, this is a work in progress as far as I know, or at least as of the time I wrote this book it was in progress. StarCraft is not dead for Blizzard.
“The aim of the book is not to make revelations about things to come. That was not the purpose of this book at all, but it wants to tell a story and focus on things that had happened. But this was such an interesting and useful nugget because it really shows you that Blizzard can't give up on StarCraft.
This was a reference to Blizzard's famous attempt to release a shooter in the past as part of an effort to expand the StarCraft franchise beyond its roots. StarCraft Ghost, announced in 2002, was supposed to be a tactical-action console game in which you played as a deadly Ghost agent in the employ of the Dominion, but it was canceled in 2006 after a series of delays.
A second attempt at a StarCraft shooter, codenamed Ares, was canceled in 2019 so Blizzard could focus on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. Ares was reportedly "like Battlefield in the StarCraft universe," but, like the Ghost, it was left behind.
Hay joined Ubisoft in 2011 to work on Far Cry 3, then became an executive producer for the Far Cry brand, releasing Far Cry Blood Dragon, Far Cry 4 and Far Cry Primal. Hay was creative director and executive producer on Far Cry 5 and executive director of Far Cry New Dawn and Far Cry 6 before joining Blizzard in 2022 as GM/VP.
Things are slowly getting better for StarCraft. Blizzard recently released StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection on Game Pass, and announced a StarCraft crossover with Hearthstone. It looks like Blizzard is gearing up for something even bigger, though.
VIA: ign.com
