Waiting impatiently for the next StarCraft or Warcraft? Well, you’re unlikely to get them from Blizzard, but not all is lost! A number of Blizzard vets who have worked on games like StarCraft II and Warcraft III have broken away to found a new company, Frost Giant Studios. According to the studio’s website, their goal is to create the “next great PC real-time strategy game" featuring “epic storytelling and innovative co-op gameplay.” Here’s a list of folks involved in the new studio…
- Tim Morten (Production Director & CEO) - Former Production Director of StarCraft II and C&C: Generals 2.
- Tim Campbell (Game Director & President) - Former Game Director of Wasteland 3, Lead Campaign Designer of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
- Cara LaForge (Business Operations Lead) - Former Senior Program Manager at Blizzard Esports, co-founder of Day 9 TV.
- Jesse Brophy (Art Director) - Former Lead Artist on StarCraft II and Principal Artist on Diablo IV.
- Ryan Schutter (Lead UX Designer) - Former Lead Designer on StarCraft II, creator of GameHeart.
- Kevin Dong (Lead Co-op Designer) - Former Lead Co-Op Designer on StarCraft II, Manager for Team Liquid.
- Joseph Shunk (Lead Client Engineer) - Former Gameplay Engineer on StarCraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged.
- Austin Hudelson (Lead Server Engineer) - Former Server Engineer for StarCraft II.
- Micky Neilson (Writer, External) - Former Publishing Lead and Senior Writer at Blizzard, author of two NY Times Best Selling novels.
The reveal of Frost Giant Studios is a timely one, as Blizzard recently announced they would no longer be supporting StarCraft II, essentially abdicating their thrones as kings of the RTS genre. Interestingly, according to noted insider Jason Schreier, there have been attempts to get new RTS projects greenlit at Blizzard, but they’ve been shot down as they likely wouldn’t make the kind of money Activision Blizzard now expects from their games.
Last week, Blizzard announced that it was ending development on StarCraft 2. It's been clear for a while that RTS games don't make enough money for Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.
Today, a bunch of Blizzard vets have announced that they're making a new RTS game. https://t.co/JHNr7iOsar
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 20, 2020
I've heard stories of Blizzard folks trying to get RTS games greenlit in recent years with no success, so it's sadly no surprise to see a bunch of devs who love the genre starting their own company.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 20, 2020
What do you think? Excited for whatever Frost Giant Studios might cook up? What would you want from a new real-time strategy franchise?
About the author: Professional writer of trivial things. Nathan has been covering games, entertainment, and online culture for over a decade with bylines at IGN, GameSpy, Cracked, Uproxx, ComicBook, and more. Joined Wccftech gaming team in 2017, and has written hundreds of game reviews and thousands of news stories since.
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