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Titan: Blizzard's cancelled MMO.

Hoaxmetal

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A bit of info about the game (source: Shitaku)

So what was Titan? For starters, according to three people I spoke with, it would have taken place on a near-future version of Earth, in a science-fiction depiction of the world where mankind has successfully fought off an alien invasion. Players would join one of three factions waging a cold war over control of the planet, and zones planned for the game ranged from the west coast of the United States to Europe, South America, and Australia, according to a source. Blizzard's plan was to make the game world huge, and to keep adding areas with expansions in the years after launch.

The main concept was this: you, the player, would maintain a mundane job—butchering, engineering, entrepreneurship—during the day, while waging clandestine warfare against opposing factions at night (or between work hours).

One potential scenario, described to me by a person who saw the game, might have gone something like this: You're working for a corporation, helping run a shop, when you're called for a mission by your faction, so you run into an elevator, switch outfits superhero-style, and go off to fight enemies with a group of friends or allies. Or you can just ignore the combat and keep doing your job, which could mean anything from tinkering with vehicles as a mechanic to running your own business as an entrepreneur.

Sounds boring, no wonder it was cancelled

Why the fuck would I play a game doing something that I could get paid to do in real life?
Well, you can be vermin exterminator in real life too so there's no reason to play mmos/rpgs.
 

Echo Mirage

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A bit of info about the game (source: Shitaku)

So what was Titan? For starters, according to three people I spoke with, it would have taken place on a near-future version of Earth, in a science-fiction depiction of the world where mankind has successfully fought off an alien invasion. Players would join one of three factions waging a cold war over control of the planet, and zones planned for the game ranged from the west coast of the United States to Europe, South America, and Australia, according to a source. Blizzard's plan was to make the game world huge, and to keep adding areas with expansions in the years after launch.

The main concept was this: you, the player, would maintain a mundane job—butchering, engineering, entrepreneurship—during the day, while waging clandestine warfare against opposing factions at night (or between work hours).

One potential scenario, described to me by a person who saw the game, might have gone something like this: You're working for a corporation, helping run a shop, when you're called for a mission by your faction, so you run into an elevator, switch outfits superhero-style, and go off to fight enemies with a group of friends or allies. Or you can just ignore the combat and keep doing your job, which could mean anything from tinkering with vehicles as a mechanic to running your own business as an entrepreneur.

Sounds boring, no wonder it was cancelled

Kind of sounds like Destiny. A better or worse version of Destiny, we may never know.
 

Hoaxmetal

Arcane
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
9,157
I guess they tried to "innovate" since they had more money than they could spend anyway. The setting sounds ok but the whole job thing doesn't seem like fun at all/too gimmicky.
 

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,616
Come on guys, use your imaginations a little. The mundane profession thing is just an extension of an MMO crafting profession. The workplace a housing substitution. Three factions is more than two, therefore it will be better like StarCraft was better than WarCraft 2, etc.
 

taxalot

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A bit of info about the game (source: Shitaku)

So what was Titan? For starters, according to three people I spoke with, it would have taken place on a near-future version of Earth, in a science-fiction depiction of the world where mankind has successfully fought off an alien invasion. Players would join one of three factions waging a cold war over control of the planet, and zones planned for the game ranged from the west coast of the United States to Europe, South America, and Australia, according to a source. Blizzard's plan was to make the game world huge, and to keep adding areas with expansions in the years after launch.

The main concept was this: you, the player, would maintain a mundane job—butchering, engineering, entrepreneurship—during the day, while waging clandestine warfare against opposing factions at night (or between work hours).

One potential scenario, described to me by a person who saw the game, might have gone something like this: You're working for a corporation, helping run a shop, when you're called for a mission by your faction, so you run into an elevator, switch outfits superhero-style, and go off to fight enemies with a group of friends or allies. Or you can just ignore the combat and keep doing your job, which could mean anything from tinkering with vehicles as a mechanic to running your own business as an entrepreneur.

Sounds boring, no wonder it was cancelled

Why the fuck would I play a game doing something that I could get paid to do in real life?

You change costume and pretend to be a superhero afterwork ?

You're a codexer, alright.
 

Night Goat

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Why would the heroes spend their days doing bitch work for the Man? Are the factions all broke?
 

Spectacle

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Maintaining a credible cover identity is an obvious reason. Not everyone can get away with pretending to be a wealthy businessman a la Bruce Wayne.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Long article at Polygon about Blizzard's history and future: http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/10/3/6901193/blizzard-entertainment-three-lives

Excerpt:

WHAT’S NEXT?
As Blizzard moves forward in a post-Titan world with a new lease on life, Metzen has spent a lot of time looking back and wondering at the amazing community of fans the company has built.

"I’m not a business guy, so this is just what I observe with the way that I engage with entertainment and brands these days in my civilian life," he says. "Building excellent products, putting them in a box or downloading them, and getting it to consumers or gamers, that’s the core of what we’re talking about. But increasingly over the years, it’s become utterly clear to us that that’s not it. There’s a high level of complexity in doing that, but that’s not it.

"It’s the relationships. It’s the community. You have players for 20 years. Somehow, someway, they see that little blue Blizzard logo, and there’s a point of connection."

Metzen’s hope is that people who love Blizzard’s games will use that point of connection as a springboard to try things they may not have. He wants people who have never played a card game to give Hearthstone a try. He wants people who are scared off by the intimidating MOBA genre to take a chance on Heroes of the Storm.

"Even if it’s a game type they’re not necessarily interested in, I hope they give us the benefit of the doubt," Metzen says. "I want them to look at the games listed on our Blizzard launcher and think, 'You know, I would never try this type of game before, but I know these guys. I’ve been through it with them before. I’ve played two or three other things they’ve done, and I get them. I think I know what I’m in for.'"

Metzen and Morhaime explain that Blizzard will move forward with an eye toward more small, experimental projects likeHearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, latching onto them and expanding them when they seem like they fit the company’s vision.

The core projects long-time fans love will continue being supported as well. A second StarCraft 2 expansion, Legacy of the Void, is in the works. Diablo 3 has a new season mode that promises constant online support and a steady stream of new content. And despite falling subscription numbers, World of Warcraft executive producer J Allen Brack says Blizzard is more committed to its now sole MMO than ever before.

"The World of Warcraft team is 50 percent larger today than it was when we shipped Mists of Pandaria," Brack says. "We’re already working on the next expansion. We already have ideas for the expansion after that. We’ve never been larger. We’ve never been more forward-thinking about the types of things that we can do with World of Warcraft."

But even with its older projects still being supported, in many ways Metzen seems to view this shift as a new beginning for Blizzard, a move back to that "unbounded creativity" that he was pulled in by in the ‘90s.

"In some ways it’s very sobering, but it feels like we’re just getting started," he says. "That’s a weird tickle in the back of my brain, but I still feel it’s true. I’m really curious where it goes from here."
 

Metro

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Metzen and Morhaime explain that Blizzard will move forward with an eye toward more small, experimental projects likeHearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, latching onto them and expanding them when they seem like they fit the company’s vision.
Not a shocker. WoW is still a huge cash cow. There's no point to spend money on grand scale projects when you can nickel and dime people to death with shit that takes very little to develop a la Hearthstone and HoTS. Heathstone has, I think, maybe five 'developers.' HoTS... no clue but it was in development hell for two or three years now with the technical alpha just winding down after a year. It's a very shallow and slow paced MOBA but the community is still terrible.

I'll go one step further and say Diablo 4 is, at the earliest, a 2020 title. I wouldn't be surprised if the next title they released was a version of the garrison follower missions from Warlords of Draenor. It's very suitable to an iOS/browser experience and there are plenty of ways you can work in microtransactions.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
:necro:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-on-cancelled-titan-mmo-we-failed-horrific/1100-6439068/

Blizzard on Cancelled Titan MMO: "We Failed Horrifically"
How Overwatch was created from the ashes of Titan.

Blizzard designer Jeff Kaplan has opened up about working on Titan, the cancelled MMO that was positioned as the studio's successor to World of Warcraft. The project was officially announced in December 2010, but remained shrouded in secrecy before ultimately being cancelled inSeptember 2014. Little has been discussed about it after its cancellation, until now.

Speaking in an interview with GameSpot, Kaplan said Titan's development team "failed horrifically," an experience that was unfamiliar to developers that had previously helped craft some of Blizzard's biggest titles.

"You had a really amazing group that was working on Titan," he said. "They were really talented individuals, but we failed horrifically in every way ... In every way that a project can fail. It was devastating.

"You had these people who either came from other companies or from within Blizzard, and were used to working on games that were very successful like a World of Warcraft, for example. To go through such a complete and utter failure is very hard for people who are used to experiencing success."

In the silence after Titan's collapse, the team found itself feeling the pressure of making up for its failure, particularly as strong new projects joined Blizzard's stable of successes.

"Pressure came from all directions," Kaplan continued. "Not that anybody was outwardly putting pressure on us, but because you’re used to doing well and succeeding … having a moment where you didn’t do well was almost like an embarrassment. Here you have these great projects like StarCraft, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and then you're sitting on the smoking pile of a cancelled project.

"Nobody said a word, everyone was super supportive, but I think there was this inward embarrassment of like, 'No, we need to prove that we’re worthy of being at Blizzard too. We can make something that makes the company proud.' It was a trying period of time and there was a lot of pressure. The team is used to pressure, but never quite at that magnitude, and it helped to forge us in a lot of ways."

In the fallout, Titan's development team found itself doing some soul searching and, eventually, that shared experience of failure gave rise to a stronger drive to rebound with something new.

"We saw it as a last chance. We use the phrase often, 'You’re only as good as your last game,' so you don’t get big headed … my most recent game was an utter failure called Titan that got cancelled.

"[We asked], 'What can I do next to prove that’s not who I am?' Having that level of confidence shattered is shocking. But in a weird way, it was the most bonding moment for this group. It was kind of a crisis of confidence and identity, where you start to ask yourself, 'Did we lose it? Do we not know who we are anymore? Are we not capable of making a great game anymore?'

"I think a lot of us were asking ourselves, on an individual basis, that question. So when it came to move to Overwatch there was an extremely tight bond on the team and a ravenous hunger to show the world that we’re not failures and we can make something really fun."

Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer shooter that casts players as colourful group of heroes with unique skills. Overwatch officially launches for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on May 24. A closed beta is currently in progress but will come to an end on April 25 at 10 AM PT. An open beta is scheduled to begin on May 5.

GameSpot will be publishing a series delving into the creation of Overwatch, which is Blizzard's first new IP in 17 years. Over the course of three episodes, Danny O'Dwyer talks to key developers about the inception of Overwatch, further explores the failed Titan project, and discusses how the team is channelling classic online shooters. Watch episode one above.
 

MicoSelva

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The quoted article contains no actual information, just one phrase ('we failed') repeated in multiple ways.

I guess Overwatch marketing must be entering critical stage.

Gamespot sure knows how to spot a winner. Last year they sucked CDProjekt's cock and covered The Witcher 3 as much as possible, with some extensive exclusive previews close to launch, this year they are betting on Overwatch.

In before 10/10 review and Gamespot's Game Of The Year, calling this now.
 

Saark

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A Beautifully Desolate Campaign
Doesn't matter whether publishers are trying to present their new Awesome(TM) game to game journalists or in this case mention that they failed hard - you're not gonna get any useful information about what's actually going on either way.
 
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Blizzard has been rapidly transitioning from that Skinner Box producer extraordinaire that you love to hate but secretly enjoy all their Skinner Boxes into some fecal entity that you can't even be bothered to hate.
 

Drakron

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Doesn't matter whether publishers are trying to present their new Awesome(TM) game to game journalists or in this case mention that they failed hard - you're not gonna get any useful information about what's actually going on either way.

Thats a shame since I would be interested on what caused the cancellation, well I can guess being in development hell was what caused it but why was it in development hell? was it they stubborn wanting that "janitor by jay, duper sekrit agent by night" despite being obvious stupid and they could not implemented correctly? was it the "whole World" that was way too much for the tech to handle?

I mean the core concepts are fine, development hell seems to be more of a case of mis-management or a tech issue, the whole interview reeks of it being mis-management since its not pointing fingers at tech meanuing it was people, likely people in position of power pushing for their dumb ideas (the whole dual job is just stupid and makes no sense as described) and dragging the project.

Likely it was Jeff Kaplan himself that caused lots of the issues with Titan considering how focused he is on "success" ...
 

Zeriel

Arcane
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13,383
Blizzard always has development hell, though. Diablo 3 took 10 years. I don't get the angst, unless it really is just a marketing push. It's a weird way to market your game, though--"Look at how bad we were at our jobs!".
 

Aildrik

Savant
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Sep 10, 2014
Messages
159
I will go out on a limb and risk eating humble pie later, but I don't see Blizzard doing another MMO. I think this was purely a business decision. Blizzard is very good about capturing different segments of the market, but they are careful not to cannibalize their IP. You have the RTS games, you have the MMO, you have the bullshit card game, the action RPG and soon to be the team FPS. Any MMO would likely eat into their WoW fanbase, unless they did some sort of umbrella sub the way Sony did their Station Pass crap. I can't speak for others but personally I have never been able to juggle multiple MMOs. If I come across another MMO I like better, I cancel and move on.
 

Metro

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A game like Overwatch has far less overhead than another MMO. And now they can sell it AND have microtransactions, too. All Blizzard does now is copy existing successful games and makes them more casual/accessible. Mechanically speaking Overwatch is worse than TF2. But, that doesn't matter because it's a lot prettier and easier to market. Plus a bajillion heroes means more microtransactions. And they can reap the SJW marketing because of their wonderfully diverse roster.

Blizzard always has development hell, though. Diablo 3 took 10 years. I don't get the angst, unless it really is just a marketing push. It's a weird way to market your game, though--"Look at how bad we were at our jobs!".
D3 didn't really have a 10 year development period. It was being made by the Blizzard North guys and then flat out cancelled/abandoned until Jay Wilson and his crew took over several years after the fact.
 

Zeriel

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13,383
A game like Overwatch has far less overhead than another MMO. And now they can sell it AND have microtransactions, too. All Blizzard does now is copy existing successful games and makes them more casual/accessible. Mechanically speaking Overwatch is worse than TF2. But, that doesn't matter because it's a lot prettier and easier to market. Plus a bajillion heroes means more microtransactions. And they can reap the SJW marketing because of their wonderfully diverse roster.

Blizzard always has development hell, though. Diablo 3 took 10 years. I don't get the angst, unless it really is just a marketing push. It's a weird way to market your game, though--"Look at how bad we were at our jobs!".
D3 didn't really have a 10 year development period. It was being made by the Blizzard North guys and then flat out cancelled/abandoned until Jay Wilson and his crew took over several years after the fact.

Yes, but the fact remains that was still years and years of internal development. They do this all the time, build 2-3 games worth of prototypes internally before releasing a single one, whereas other companies tend to release the game they make unless it's absolutely unsellable. I just don't get why they suddenly have existential angst over a process they've repeated over and over and used to describe as their winning quality.

I dunno, maybe the suits are making them give up on their "it's ready when it's done" policy inch by inch and this is them bemoaning that fact.
 

Metro

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I dunno if that policy was ever really in place. Vanilla WoW was filled with bugs and some pretty awful talent trees on release.
 

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