Excited about its future as an Xbox division, Blizzard is considering a new StarCraft game – Activision Blizzard

Last week BlizzCon 2023 took place, a live event dedicated to the community and friends of the company’s franchises such as Warcraft and Diablo that have returned to the news after a while. The studio, which in recent years has been plagued by scandals and lawsuits, is now part of the broader Xbox community thanks to the $69 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King.

Before Xbox chief Phil Spencer appeared live on stage as part of the BlizzCon 2023 opening ceremony, the Microsoft executive visited the studio’s headquarters in Irvine, California with a message: “How can we help?”

Along with this, a new article by news agency journalist Jason Schreier Bloomberg, which included official numbers from Blizzard and comments from current studio head — and former Xbox executive — Mike Ybarra, paints an extremely positive outlook for the company. Now, Blizzard won’t need to get permission from Activision executives to greenlight a new project, like, say, a brand new addition to the hugely popular but now dormant StarCraft universe.

“I go to Phil (Spencer) and say: ‘Can we do this?’ “I feel like he would look at me and say, ‘Run your own studio,’” Mike Ybarra told Bloomberg. “I think the decision will be made faster.” Now independent and free of company-wide micromanagement but focused on the bottom line, it’s as if the company is returning to its roots and glory days.

As is known, Activision acquired Blizzard in 2008 after the launch of World of Warcraft, but has remained largely autonomous, with decision-making guided by its founders such as Mike Morhaime. But this changed in the second half of 2010. The result was that several long-time employees (including Mike Morhaime) left the company.

Warcraft general manager John Hyde was under the impression that he and his wider team would have to give a formal presentation of their plans for the future of the franchise during the Xbox team’s recent visit to the company’s offices. But this did not happen in the end. “What they were trying to get across to us was that they really wanted to get to know us,” John Hite explains. “We’re not here to tell you what to do. We don’t come here with a master plan. How can we help you;” These were the words of the Xbox team when they visited the company’s offices. “It was amazing,” John Hite added.

StarCraft is an interesting case because Blizzard has moved away from RTS to focus on Warcraft and Overwatch. Key players in the company responsible for StarCraft’s success have left the studio.

“I can’t just say, ‘Let’s make a StarCraft game,'” Mike Ybarra said. “I have to have someone with the vision and passion that goes with the idea, and I will bet on this team.” With Microsoft looking to diversify its game lineup to boost Xbox Game Pass, the idea of ​​developing a title in the StarCraft universe, even if it’s not as successful as Call of Duty or Diablo, makes a lot of sense. Either way, hopefully a more independent Blizzard will lead the company to a brighter future.