“Top-secret” Blizzard project to be revealed in 2014, according to resume

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May 9, 2014

Blizzard's year might already be a busy one between the launches of Hearthstone and expansion packs for Diablo III (in March) and World of Warcraft (later this year), but it has plans for even more, as an employee's resume indicates a new project will be announced sometime in 2014.

As reported on Kotaku by Internet sleuth Superannuation, the LinkedIn profile for a senior artist at Blizzard mentions he is at work on "a top-secret project to be unveiled sometime in 2014."

Calling it a 'top-secret project' would suggest this has nothing to do with any of the games Blizzard has announced, like StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, or the next-gen-console versions of Diablo III. It's possible that this is another expansion for Diablo III--Reaper of Souls sold 2.7 million copies in one week, so clearly there is interest in more content for the game (particularly with the much-maligned auction house removed).

Superannuation suggests the possibility of hearing something about Titan, the "next-gen" MMO Blizzard has been working on for the better part of a decade. That project has, according to statements made by Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime, evolved from what the developer originally envisioned it as, and Superannuation brings up the possibility that the game may no longer even be an MMO.

When asked by GameSpot about Titan last year, Blizzard COO Paul Sams said, "We really aren’t talking about that product right now." What he was willing to talk a little about was his enthusiasm at the prospect of developing a new IP, which has to be considered as another possibility for this 2014 secret unveiling.

"I think it’s difficult to launch a new franchise. I think it’s risky to launch a new franchise, but that has never been the reason to deter us." Sams said. "It’s always been about doing the game we think we want to play next. What is the best franchise for that? Is it an existing franchise or is it one we should create? I think we have no concern and no hesitancy about building a new franchise if we think we have the right ideas and the right game to pair it with. Hopefully we’ll have some of those things to talk about in the future."

Whatever Blizzard is allegedly revealing, BlizzCon 2014 would be the most likely place for it to make an announcement. This year's conference is scheduled to take place November 7-8 in Anaheim. The first batch of tickets went on sale earlier this week, with another set to be made available tomorrow, May 10, at 10 a.m. Pacific.