Blizzard Cancels Next Gen MMO "Project Titan"

Blizzard's Mike Morhaime and Chris Metzen discuss the cancelation of "Project Titan".

As early as 2011, news of Blizzard's secretive and upcoming MMO–codenamed "Project Titan"–was hitting the ears of many loyal Blizzard fans and video game news outlets alike. Though the game was never officially announced, it never stopped Blizzard from mentioning Titan in various forms, including the middle of last year with the announcement that development of the game would be reset, in order for the team to re-evaluate the direction they wanted to take with the project.

After months of silence regarding Blizzard's mysterious next-gen MMO, it was revealed in a recent Polygon interview with Blizzard Co-Founder and CEO, Mike Morhaime, and Vice President of story and franchise development, Chris Metzen, that "Project Titan" had officially been canceled.

"We didn't find the fun." Morhaime said during the interview. "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's always really, really hard to make those kind of decisions. 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."

Chris Metzen chimed in saying, "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."

While it doesn't look like the company has any plans to focus on the development of a new AAA MMORPG anytime soon, Chris Metzen added that they do plan on continued support for World of Warcraft, and hope to be able to support the game indefinitely.

With the success of some of their most recent titles, Hearthstone and the upcoming Heroes of the Storm, Metzen goes on to say that the company may not necessarily need to focus only on projects of a grand scale.

"I think the lesson that comes around again is just making damn sure that the things we commit to do, and the things we burn calories on, and the things we commit to our community that we will do, are coming from a place of focus and inspiration.

Maybe we can be what we want to be and inspire groups around the company to experiment, get creative, think outside the box and takes chances on things that just might thrill people. Maybe they don't have to be these colossal, summer blockbuster-type products."

With Blizzcon 2014 just around the corner, it'll be interesting to see what other future plans and projects Blizzard has up its sleeve. You can read the full Polygon Interview with Blizzard here, and don't forget to keep it locked to ZAM for more Blizzard news, information and updates!

Corey "Cyglaive" Jenkins

Follow Corey on Twitter @Cyglaive

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