Blizzard Teases Survival Game Set In "All-New Universe"
These days, Blizzard is a company that doesn't often branch out into brand new universes. Overwatch and Hearthstone come to mind as somewhat recent new IPs for the company, but even Hearthstone is set in the Warcraft universe. Today, Blizzard revealed that it's making that rare step out into a new universe by way of a survival game, which is a first for the company.
Blizzard has tried its hand at real-time strategy, action RPG, MMO, MOBA, FPS, and even racing games in the past, but up to this point, we've never seen the company make a survival game. Unfortunately, there are next to no details about this survival game at the moment, as Blizzard's only mention of it comes from a tweet that's recruiting developers and designers for the title.
In fact, in that tweet, Blizzard even refers to the project as an "unannounced survival game," which seems strange now that the company has acknowledged its existence. However, the tweet does confirm the game is set in an "all-new universe," so as cool as a Diablo or Warcraft-themed survival game would be, it looks like we're not getting it with this new title.
The tweet also features what we assume is a piece of concept art for the game, which depicts an armored hunter or ranger carrying an ax and kneeling in front of what looks suspiciously like a portal. It certainly has that "Blizzard fantasy" feel to it, but there isn't much we can glean from it without additional details from the studio.
Considering that Blizzard is revealing this game as part of a call for applicants, we're probably still a long way off from release, too. Blizzard is a company that historically has taken its time developing games, so it could very well be years before this survival title is released.
Blizzard has been in the news a lot lately, primarily because of a sexual harassment and abuse scandal that has enveloped the company and prompted the departures of several high-profile individuals. With that scandal still unfolding, Microsoft recently announced its intent to purchase Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion.
That deal isn't expected to close until sometime in Microsoft's 2023 fiscal year, which begins in July 2022. We'll let know when more is announced both about this game and the potential Microsoft acquisition, but we might be waiting a while on both fronts.