Blizzard has reportedly cancelled an unannounced StarCraft first-person shooter that had been in development for the past two years, instead allegedly deciding to shift resources over to the unannounced Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 development teams.
According to a news portal Kotaku the internal shift in Blizzard, citing three sources who noted the cancellation of the StarCraft project, allegedly codenamed Ares. Kotaku notes, however, that despite the cancellation of Ares and an unannounced mobile game, there were no layoffs as a direct result. Instead, those working on these now-defunct alleged projects will shift focus to Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2, two sequels to acclaimed Blizzard games that have not yet officially been confirmed.
With Kotaku’s sources claiming that the decision to cease work on Ares (and an unannounced mobile game) was made several weeks ago, so that staff could be shifted to Blizzard’s higher-priority projects – namely Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2. Both of these are expected to have a major presence at this year’s BlizzCon.
StarCraft fans of a certain age will remember all-too vividly, Ares isn’t the first shooter set in Blizzard’s sci-fi universe to meet a premature end. Console spin-off StarCraft: Ghost was cancelled in 2006, four years after it was first revealed to the world. Blizzard would later explain that it opted to cease development in order to move staff to World of Warcraft, which was enjoying enormous success at the time.