RTS game in development from ex-Blizzard staff “feels like an evolution”

A team of ex-Blizzard developers are working on an RTS game that “feels like an evolution of Blizzard RTS games”.

Frost Giant Studios was created in 2020 from a team of ex-Blizzard employees who had worked on StarCraft II, Warcraft III, and Diablo IV. The launch came after Blizzard announced they were ending content production for StarCraft II.

Frost Giant Studios’ aim is to “build the next great PC real-time strategy game”, according to their official website, and a recent interview with OP Attack revealed further plans to create an RTS “that feels like an evolution of Blizzard RTS games”.

“Our influences will include Warcraft III, Broodwar, and StarCraft II. We expect to be as different as those games are to each other,” said co-founder of Frost Giant Studios Tim Morten, “we haven’t considered paths for pre-release player funding yet, because we’re so early in our process.”

“Separate from funding, we’re very committed to having discourse with the community throughout our development. This is currently happening through the FrostGiant subreddit, and through the monthly newsletter that anyone can sign up to receive at FrostGiant.com.”

Soon after Frost Giant Studios announced its launch, video game journalist Jason Schreier reported that in the past few years, there had been attempts “to get new RTS games greenlit” at Blizzard Entertainment.

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

However, he claimed that the ideas were shot down as games from the genre are unlikely to make “enough money” for parent company Activision Blizzard. Schreier added that “it’s sadly no surprise to see a bunch of devs who love the genre starting their own company”.

Recently it was revealed that Blizzard were advertising for new staff to create “epic, memorable worlds”, which was interpreted as a sign they could be producing a new AAA game.