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Blizzard Cancels Next-Gen MMO Titan

"We didn't find the fun," Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime says.

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World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment has canceled its next-generation MMO, Titan. Mike Morhaime, the co-founder and president of Blizzard, confirmed the game's cancellation today.

"We had created World of Warcraft, and we felt really confident that we knew how to make MMOs," Morhaime told Polygon. "So we set out to make the most ambitious thing that you could possibly imagine. And it didn't come together."

"We didn't find the fun," Morhaime added. "We didn't find the passion. We talked about how we put it through a reevaluation period, and actually, what we reevaluated is whether that's the game we really wanted to be making. The answer is no."

"It was hard when we canceled Warcraft Adventures. It was hard when we canceled StarCraft Ghost. But it has always resulted in better-quality work" -- Morhaime

Titan has been in development for years, though Blizzard has never actually announced the game in an official capacity. Despite that, the company confirmed in December 2010 that it was indeed called Titan, though this was believed to only be a working title.

The game's official cancellation today comes after Blizzard removed all mention of the game from its careers page back in August 2013, suggesting the company was moving away from the project.

Blizzard senior vice president of story and franchise development, Chris Metzen, said the decision to cancel Titan was "excruciating." Morhaime agreed that shutting down development on the game was a "really, really" hard decision to make. However, he says he's made these decisions before, and the end result is always positive.

"It was hard when we canceled Warcraft Adventures. It was hard when we canceled StarCraft Ghost," he said. "But it has always resulted in better-quality work."

No Caption Provided

Metzen added: "The discipline of knowing when to quit is important. We were losing perspective and getting lost in the weeds a little. We had to allow ourselves to take that step back and reassess why the hell we were doing that thing in the first place."

Though Titan is canceled, Morhaime said Blizzard hasn't closed the door entirely on making another MMO someday. "I wouldn't say no to ever doing an MMO again," Morhaime said. "But I can say that right now, that's not where we want to be spending our time."

Blizzard will continue to support World of Warcraft, of course, which is now in its tenth year of continued operation. "My hope personally is that we'll support it forever," Metzen said.

At the end of May 2013, Blizzard confirmed that Titan was undergoing "large design and technology changes." Later that summer, Morhaime said during an Activision Blizzard earnings call that Titan may not be subscription-based, or even an MMO.

"We're in the process of selecting a new direction for the project and re-envisioning what we want the game to be," Morhaime said at the time. "While we can't talk about the details yet, it is unlikely to be a subscription-based MMORPG."

What do you make of Blizzard cancelling Titan? Let us know in the comments below!

Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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Talavaj

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No surprise, everything Blizzard has been doing for the past decades is milking franchises made back when there were still some competent people working for them.

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dark_rage864

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Blizzard should take their heads out of their butts and just announce Warcraft 4 already.

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ChaosDecides

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<< LINK REMOVED >>

Believe me I'd love to see Warcraft 4 become a reality but it would probably only have a negative effect on WOW and thus Blizzard wouldn't bother.

Only if Blizzard decides to stop adding new content to WOW will there ever be a chance for WC4.

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Elixir99

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> if theyd made a proper warcraft themed MOBA instead of heroes of the storm they would of made more billions

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skootbootz

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> Yes, WOW has to die before W4 will come out. And even then, blizz will find a way to f* it up. If W4 was going to be good or fun it needed to come out while WOW was still in it's prime, otherwise it'll just be a way to revitalize a dying IP, thus milking the franchise and not actually putting a soul into the game.

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Tangsta03

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Who would play it? MOBA has destroyed the RTS market. If SC2 can lose to LOL in terms of popularity in South Korea, there pretty is no market for RTSes left.

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barleybosh

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If Warcraft 4 has nudity implemented into it, I believe a lot of people will return to RTS.

*strokes wise and long chinese goatee beard*

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dark_rage864

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> that is a different genre, MOBA is different to RTS, there is still RTS game out but FPS are overtooken the trend.

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jameshubert12

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> yeah AND fps at the moment is total shi7, look at the so called "new ip's" lol what a joke, seriously its no more than a fukin show at the moment, nothing new on the so called "next gen" is truly going to come out for a while, and I literally mean for a long while...

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AzatiS

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Blizzard is such a letdown considering how many billions , think it for a while , BILLIONS of dollars they made the last 10 years more or less.


Imagine what one of the best development teams in the world can come up with when it has "unlimited" amount of money to be spend ... and what blizzard did all these years ?


1) Diablo 3 ---> Mega upset for majority of Diablo fans ( now is in good shape but still )


2) Hearthstone --> A card game ... really ? Even if its good ...thats where all those billions $$ and talent went the last 10 years?


3) Heroes of the Storm --> I mean seriously ?


The only game that would make sense was TITAN !! But it didnt work it seems. It felt short ! Well personally , im glad it didnt get a release while being on a bad shape like Diablo 3 was. But on the other hand when i see what titles are out the last 10 years from a multibillion company that used to be one of the most talented and creative developing teams .. Its so pathetic and upseting.


I was one of the biggest Blizzard fans... Now i think they are not even in top 10, not even close top 10 developers. How bad is that when you having the funds and used to be number 1 or in top 3 even ? Roflcopter big time.

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jameshubert12

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@AzatiS a lot of devs are doing this weird "thing" at the moment, its a trend and I dont think it will change...


As soon as a dev makes a new ultra amazing game etc etc, they make tons of cash, as soon as the cash flow rolls in they get inspired and want to make something new, now seeing as greed is taken into account here, they dont truly make that something unique they were hoping to, instead devs now seem to disband projects/the future of the company(s) and seem to take the money hoping for the best in the long run thus ruining the gaming era...look at minecraft perfect example... the fat prik took the money

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ChaosDecides

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Agreed. They are basically just resting on their laurels because the cash flow is still there and thus they have no reason to improve.


Diablo 3 was pretty much the nail in the coffin when it comes to my support for Blizzard.


I played WOW for a couple years and have no interest in playing that overly repetitive, underwhelming and creatively uninspiring time sink ever again. There's no way to justify playing WOW other than the fact that someone has way too much time on their hands or has absolutely no life. Free to play is the only thing that would make WOW even remotely appealing and that is never going to happen. Blizzard can pretend they are innovators but the truth is their creative team is being overpaid for the crap that they come up with. The company is basically just a marketing hype machine now and the rabid fanboys and fangirls eat it all up.

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Jew1

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Bungie here's something you can learn from. If you think your game isn't working out the way you had originally envisioned it and you can't even come close to what you had imagined, then drop the game instead partnering up with activision and selling it half finished with DLC packs to fill in the gaps.

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handofkain

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<< LINK REMOVED >> you realize that the decision to drop this MMO was more likely Activision's don't you?

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Starhowl

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That's some good news for a change.


Every MMO less on the market is a win for the whole community!

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Ripper_TV

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"It was hard when we canceled Warcraft Adventures. It was hard when we canceled StarCraft Ghost,"


THEY'VE CANCELLED GHOST! OMG!! All major press publications think it's still in development! It's big news!

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Nazgoroth

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This, I cried a little.

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Zensora

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I don't like MMO titles anyway. I'm more excited for quality single player games :)

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deactivated-5d4ea9243f8e0

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Seeing that move to endless empty mmo games push for the nextgen is the wrong turn for developers and realizing it themselves, this is a good move. For me personally almost all games after the me3 moronic marketing debacle and the push for mp to be more important than the single player, have massively failed my game enjoyment.

Since then all I ever seen for the next gen hype are games like titanfall and destiny and already I find that many gamers are realizing that a good story, good lines and voice acting is still a staple core to carry on to play and it is the having a reason to play, to keep on playing. Otherwise there is just a five minute wonder sitting in your console/pc, a very expensive one at that for both sides.

Even if it is a selfish survival act on their side, it also is a very true fact that they obviously took to heart. To realize that they themselves can't find the fun and spark in their creation is a big step forward and hopefully a good push to rethinking how to make and sell games.

I wonder if all this is going wrong because this industry has troubles to realize that the main factor lies in their own warped ideas that all gamers are children and once they get to a certain age, they move on and stop playing. There are masses of people out there still interested in immersion of a good intelligent game that have been in it since the beginning. So, reinvent yourselves. Were is the imagination gone...

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esotarious

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You have to give it to the Blizzard. Titan was never confirmed. It was 'leaked' by some unknown source.


7 years later, it was cancelled. It was never being made to begin with. They were always making / creating something else.


Activision Blizzard (not just Activision) just recently acquired the rights to all Sierra titles out of the blue. A new King's Quest was announced. This is definitely what they are/were working on. /tinfoilhat

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wexorian

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If blizzard sees their future in card games,mediocre moba and wow,diablo,sc2 expansion they ain't gonna go far. I'm curious if they can develop new ip at all.

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MattyTheButcher

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<< LINK REMOVED >> they have more subs in hearthstone atm then they ever did in WoW. soooooo I am sure they arent worried about MMOs because of it.

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Death9897

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Well now that we know that we won't see another MMO from Blizzard in a while can we please get a Warcraft 4?! Or maybe StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void. Or some all new game that we all might love to play. I don't know. I think Blizzard should make something new or unique. Something similar to WoW but not an MMO. Something ground breaking or something just really fun or intense. I don't know. Until then I will play Total War and wait for MGS V and Witcher 3.

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GH05T-666

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I want another Diablo 3 expansion and WarCraft 4!

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dani_i89

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Umm they need to release Diablo 3 before we get any expansions. Still waiting for it to arrive.

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duck_boy77

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> .....

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dani_i89

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> You don't honestly believe that that rubbish they released last year is the real thing? C'mon Blizzard...enough's enough. Give us the real D3.

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Tangsta03

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Smart move. MMO saturation is reaching insane levels and trying to squeeze in another major blockbuster in today's gaming environment would've been an impossible task. Especially with competition with offline single player open world games like WItcher 3, DA 3, GTA V and MGS V. Seems like offline open world games are the in thing for this generation - which is awesome.

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Xfaided

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The last time Blizzard canceled a game we got WoW as a result. So don't trip

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HippyTrippy

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Activision did not want a competing sci-fi MMO against Destiny within their own company. There's just no room for competition. All their funding and faith went to Bungie to hold the next online sensation - for the next 10 years.

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feleas

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@HippyTrippy Activision doesn't own Blizzard. Get it right. They're companies that have pooled their resources. That's why there's the 3rd company named ActivisionBlizzard.

<< LINK REMOVED >>

The more you know =D

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