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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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grove12345

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WoW seems to be based off the success of the older, bolder, more creative Blizzard team from years back. Of course Titan isnt going to be any good. They are just copying a formula thats been used since EQ1

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dani_i89

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Lol no it isn't.....

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normanislost

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No it isn't? Care to show us an example?

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dani_i89

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Lol my comment which I just posted is up for pending...seriously it's ridiculous how bad GS is getting at that. Here's what I wrote in a mangled kind of way:


I tak.e bac.k wh.at I sai.d.....that was a rush.ed reply. Beat.ing the success in terms of sales will be hard. Bea.ting the success in crea.ting an inno.vating, fresh and mean.ingful exper.ience will be a walk in the park.


Not sure what needs censoring there...

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dani_i89

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@normanislost I take back what I said..that was a rushed reply. Beating the success in terms of sales will be hard. Beating the success in creating an innovating, fresh and meaningful experience will be a walk in the park.

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Nodashi

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Anyone belive they WERE alctually doing anything? they just let people believe it was a thing and used the know how in WoW expansions. I'm pretty sure all new stuff coming to WoD is actually what they developed to Titan, not nearly enought for a fresh new title.

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normanislost

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Yeah that's why the current WoW tier has lasted 13 months.... at least have a decent theory before putting your tin foil hat on

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keviac

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<< LINK REMOVED >> this /\

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wexorian

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Let me guess they afraid to make Next gen MMO coz Destiny flop, and it was not 1 billion box. And activision blizzard can't waste another 500 million on marketing. So they droped Titan because of that.

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feleas

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<< LINK REMOVED >> My guess is that Blizzard was running tight with their movie they're throwing money at. haha

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M3o5nster

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I think they realized just how much of a phenomenon World of Warcraft was... It's not easy to capture lightning in a bottle twice. W.o.W. came along at the right time, when casual people were getting into MMOs and Blizzard had the quality of work to bring in core PC players with it.

They learned some things from E.Q., FFXI, and other pioneer MMORPGs, then put it in an easy to digest package. Now that people have seen the formula, it isn't fresh anymore. Coming up with something unique yet comfortable that's meant to surpass what's easily one of the biggest franchises in gaming history is just too much to ask.

To be honest, I don't even think they have the talent left...

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deathstream

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This one doesn't sting as much as the cancellation of Ghost did, but Blizzard has consistently shown that they won't ship a game unless they are happy with it. Sometimes they are wrong to be happy (D3 at launch), but they know that their brand is more valuable than any money they would get back from shipping a truly awful game.

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finalkain

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"We didnt find the Passion"


Thats all there is to it folks. Blizzard lost their passion awhile ago to make genuinely creative and entertaining games. They are all in for the money now and it shows blatantly.

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keviac

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<< LINK REMOVED >> /\this

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Alastor_AoR

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Right. Cancelling a project is the best way to make money.

How's that business degree coming along?

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IDostoevsky

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> Cancelling it before it began costing too much money to develop might have saved the company time, money, and labour. It's called risk assessment, and they simply acted on it.

My business degree is going swimmingly.

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AyatollaofRnR

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If Blizzard can't revolutionize the MMO, then perhaps there's just not going to be something new in that space.

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opossumtrot

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<< LINK REMOVED >> 'MMO' is Massively Multiplayer Online, of which there are thousands newer and making money. I'd say even MMORPGs making money number in the hundreds and most are vastly disparate from WoW not only in revenue model but gameplay, art style etc. as well. But if you mean a subscription based, raiding centric MMORPG then I agree, WoWs done it for 10 years and now we want something new.

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M3o5nster

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<< LINK REMOVED >> I'm still keeping my eye on EQ Next.

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tommynj

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The MMO genre just went down the toilet. I was hoping Blizzard would ignite the genre but instead they want to milk WoW forever. Very disappointing.

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t37nguye

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Perhaps it's time you go back to the root and make a proper Warcraft 4 game, not MMO crap with pandas and silly stuff...

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deathstream

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<< LINK REMOVED >>


Pandas are in Warcraft now. Deal with it.

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libbi68

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So can we get SCII: Legacy of the Void now please?

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Brazucass

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So, what is Blizzard doing as a gaming company nowadays? Patches and more patches?

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LordRaymond

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I wonder how much money that was ended up wasted on Titan.

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SaturatedButter

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Now they just need to cancel WoW

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nbf4548

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No one's going to be able to reproduce the success of WOW. It was a cultural phenomenon. There's probably only enough space in the market for one of them. Since monthly subscription based MMO's are going by the wayside, I think it would be cool if they did a fully realized Skyrim style epic single player game. Even if it's not fantasy, they make quality stuff.

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CptJohnnyRico

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world of warcraft 2 incoming.

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capocrimeboss

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Forget about it.

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ChiefFreeman

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There's going to come a time where the 'hands off' policy Activision has with Blizzard is going to go out the window. Blizzard might have wasted as much as a 100 mllion dollars on a cancelled project. Investors will not be pleased. Blizzard are not immune.

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Ravenlore_basic

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Blizzard probably spent less than 10% of their profits from one year. So no, problem, investors know not all money will bring about a payout, and every game idea will not come to fruition. Its the nature of the beast. As long as WOW is successful and giving them profits they have nothing to complain about.

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marcopolo426

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<< LINK REMOVED >> That will probably be the time when Blizzard end up releasing a few half backed games, loose all credibility and then face massive layoffs before the company dies altogether. Making games is an art ... not something that a few business analysts can add to a years product portfolio.


I say good. Work on a new project. Enough money was made and still being made from WoW.

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Ultimate_Noob

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Did they ever announce what Titan was even going to be besides the broad description of an "MMO"?

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KamuiFei

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I'd like to see some large-scale single player games from Blizzard. They need to return to Diablo 2-level quality. Unlikely I suppose, given their Activision puppetmasters.

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Argle

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thats nice. WarCraft 4 please

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handofkain

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Although I'd like to agree, seeing what new managements have done to classic franchises like C & C ( T.T ) and Diablo makes me hate seeing another sequel from a franchise I loved

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Paulf001

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It makes perfect business sense why make a new mmo when your old one still has 7+m subs in a market where people usually don't play sub games.

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k41m

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Why make a new MMO when you could just milk the one you have.. Talk about some Lazy assholes. Better quality work? Okay sure..

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GT_APE

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<< LINK REMOVED >> LMFAO @ lazy assholes. LOL!!!!!!

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irishrizo

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It was Destiny

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northArrow

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Should have cancelled Hearthstone instead

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TheLeftHandDoom

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Activision Blizzard stopped caring about it's customers and fans when it released Diablo 3 on PC as a beta for its console launch.

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Ravenlore_basic

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<< LINK REMOVED >> No. The game evolves and got better on both console and PC. All were winners.

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wexorian

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> game is total junk there's no winner

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