Shortly after Microsoft announced its historic $79 Billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Blizzard announced a brand-new survival game set in a new universe. This was the icing on the cake for a massive company, with a brand new game looking posed to potentially become another in the growing line-up of Xbox exclusives and Day One Game Pass Titles.
Unfortunately, it has been announced that Blizzard is canceling this project amid a corporate restructuring that is happening in the wake of the Activision Blizzard acquisition closing, according to the Verge. Additionally, as part of restructuring occurring across Xbox, Zenimax, Activision, and Blizzard Entertainment, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra announced his departure which is effective immediately.
In a statement made on media platform X, Ybarra said:
Today is my last day at Blizzard. Leading Blizzard through an incredible time and being part of the team, shaping it for the future ahead, was an absolute honor. Having already spent 20+ years at Microsoft and with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard behind us, it’s time for me to (once again) become Blizzard’s biggest fan from the outside.
Ybarra assumed the position in 2021, taking the position after the departure J. Allan Brack. He served as co-president alongside Jen Oneal who only served in the position for a few months before stepping down.
Exiting alongside Ybarra is Blizzard co-founder and chief design officer Allen Adham. Adham initially left Blizzard in 2004 before returning a decade later to head up development on World of Warcraft Microsoft game content and studio president Matt Booty released a memo on Adhams’ departure, stating:
As one of Blizzard’s cofounders, Allen has had a broad impact on all of Blizzard’s games. His influence will be felt for years to come, both directly and indirectly as Allen plans to continue mentoring young designers across the industry.
The untitled game was previously described as:
A brand-new survival game for PC and console. A place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored.
It would have been interesting to see Blizzard’s take on the ever-growing survival genre given what Overwatch, their last new IP which was released in 2016, did for the FPS genre. Despite this loss, there are plenty of great survival games to choose from, with Palworld making a particularly strong case for itself.
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