Blizzard Has Canceled ‘Titan’ Next-Gen MMO After Seven Years and One Reboot

Blizzard has canceled Titan, the next-gen MMO after more than seven years in development including one publicly acknowledged reboot of the game. Speaking to Polygon in a recent interview, the makers of the decade old World of Warcraft MMO told the video game news and opinion site that they had indeed pulled the plug on development of Titan.

Titan was never officially announced by Blizzard, though it was publicly acknowledged and talked about by the developer at various venues. Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime stated to Polygon.

“We had created World of Warcraft, and we felt really confident that we knew how to make MMOs so we set out to make the most ambitious thing that you could possibly imagine. And it didn’t come together. We didn’t find the fun,” Morhaime continued. “We didn’t find the passion.”

Seeking the “fun” is one of the driving forces for Blizzard when creating their games and until that internal goal is met, they will not release the game. This is one of the reasons the company is hesitant to attach release dates to their titles until that goal is met, which has caused no small amount of frustration for fans. When speaking to the now defunct GamePro, Jeff Kaplan, the lead designer of World of Warcraft,elaborated on the success of WoW up to the time of the first expansion pack by saying.

“I think it was really a focus on doing a quality game. Releasing something that is polished. It’s kind of Blizzard policy at that point. I don’t think it’s unique to making WoW. Also, a constant focus on, “Is it Fun?” I think a lot of people making MMOs overlook the element of fun and they overlook the fact that they’re making a game.”

Blizzard canceling Titan is even more perplexing after the Inquisitr reported last year how Blizzard was going back to the drawing board on the unannounced MMO, essentially starting from scratch after six years. The team of 100 developers was reduced to 70 with an anticipated publication date of 2016. This is of course, no longer the case.

The cancellation of Titan by Blizzard adds another title to the publishers list of publicly acknowledged canceled or unreleased games, the most famous up to this point arguably being StarCraft: Ghost. Blizzard is known for not setting release dates on their games until they are confident the game is done to their standard. The decision was not easy but it was the right call according to Chris Metzen as he compared to the struggles to find the fun in Titan to that of a band.

“I’m not saying we’re an old rock band. But you watch documentaries about The Rolling Stones or U2 or these bands that have lasted for a while. And there’s times where they just drive each other b*****t crazy. For as good as they are and the experience they have, sometimes you just don’t find it, and you’ve got to get out of the damn studio and go have a beer and regroup.”

While Blizzard cancels Titan, they are still supporting World of Warcraft as well as their two smaller projects, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. There is also no word as of yet if there are any layoffs planned or if the development team associated with Titan has been reassigned to an internal project or other existing teams.

Image Source | Blizzard