We were all caught off guard by the surprise announcement of the new survival game being developed by Blizzard Entertainment, one of the conglomerates whose Xbox Game Studios Microsoft took over after it acquired Activision. The game hasn’t given many clues beyond a “Stay Tuned” which we’ll be following for updates in the hopefully not too distant future.
We are facing a new IP that takes place in a completely new world, here there is no recycling of elements from other worlds created by Blizzard. One thing that is certainly appreciated. But beyond that, we didn’t know much more, until today.
Blizzard’s new survival IP has been in development for at least four years.
And we have two very relevant pieces of information. The first is revealed by PC Gamer, who managed to put together a cohesive argument for the game’s production and pre-production time by reviewing offers and LinkedIn profiles. From the announcement, it looks like we’re dealing with a very young project, but Craig Amai’s profile says he’s been working on the game since 2017, which gives us an idea that they’ve been working on the game since at least 4 years; although much of that time can be invested in the pre-production phase.
The second piece of information comes from Camille Sanford, who is currently one of the designers and producers of the project’s 3D character art. She says the game will be played in first person. This does not exclude the possibility that we can also play it in third person, but for the moment what we know is that it will be played in this view and in the future we will see if other possibilities are announced .
Working in a whole new universe, on a first-person survival game that will surely be the best of its kind, is a real dream come true! #Blizzard #GameDev
— Camille Sanford (@CSanford) January 25, 2022