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Mike Morhaime on Titan: 'We Failed to Control the Scope'
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Mike Morhaime on Titan: 'We Failed to Control the Scope'
Mike Morhaime is at GameLab, a game's industry event held in Spain. He is receiving the 2019 Honor Award and spent a bit of time chatting with press about his time at Blizzard and about the cancelled Titan MMO that many current and former devs have said was catastrophic emotionally. "We wanted it (Titan) to be our sequel to World of Warcraft. I think where we really failed was we failed to control the scope. It was very ambitious."
Comments
This is not really true at all. You know why so many people flock to games like Destiny 2, The Division 2,ect? It is because they actually want MMOs. All those same guys would flock to any MMO with a bit of a marketing budget. I just don't really think we have seen that since maybe Black Desert. Once the crowd funded MMOs come out we will see potentially 1 or 2 new ones be successful on the level of GW2 / ESO / FF14. It is true that we won't see WoW WOTLK era success anymore, but MMOs did fine without that beforehand. There is also nothing wrong with MMOs that give you instant gratification, but we will continue to see both hardcore and the more casual style of MMOs going forward.
Or if you read .... at all, you would know that Project Titan was cancelled in May 2013 and Activision Blizzard announced their departure from Vivendi in July 2013.
But, hey, what are stupid things like "facts" and "truth" in the face of dumb Blizzard bashing jokes?
Not to cryptic what is being said here and for games as a whole. They lost sight of what 'they' wanted to produce and followed investor/gaming trends, instead of following their guts and making a fun, engaging game to be the companies next big mmorpg.
Anyway, I perfectly understand them for canceling Titan. From Chris Metzen interview about Titan and now Mike, is safe to say that they REALLY tried to make Titan the "Next Gen MMO". I'm sure the disappointing was BIG, but if there was hope, I'm sure all those Senior Dev's would have said so.
Having said that, I really want to see some screenshots/gameplay of Alpha ( or whatever ) version they had before canceling it. A Historical Myth/SF MMO , with time travel , made by the good old guys at Blizzard? Damn! Sounds like lots of fun.
Anyway, Mike .. you are missed in the industry. Why not take Chris and .. start a new company? I know is not going to be the same as when you started young at Blizzard, but .. who knows? I'm sure you two have some more things to say in this industry.
So yeah. Cheers!
Does this sound like a current indie game(s) in development, especially in light of this quote?
"Ambitious, Morhaime explained, meant next gen MMO systems in a brand new universe with different modes. "We were building two games in parallel at the same time. It sort of never really came together." he said."
So very familiar, perhaps history is once again repeating itself?
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
They've got a pretty good track record. I think they deserve a bit of confidence in they're abilities and expectations. Only a bit of course, don't want them to have tooooo big a head.
I self identify as a monkey.
They were trying to create an ambitious game but they could not control how large and ambitious and in the end all their efforts seemed only technical and they didn't create a "fun game." Read the whole thing. "Over time, devs realized that the game "really wasn't where it needed to be". The bulk of development was being poured into upgrading Blizzard's engine to meet the needs of the game. "
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
It would have been interesting to see what Titan was going to become, but its not the only one that fell. EQ Next, WoD and Revival would all seem to be ambitious projects that just exceeded the cost deemed reason to bring to the Market. Probably plenty of others that have or may yet meet the same fate. You also have games pushed to Market too soon, Vanguard was a ambitious game but released to soon and never cared for or really progressed. Imagine if they had continued to upgrade and optimise the engine, then had multiple expansions.
I guess in the now saturated market it doesn't make sense for existing players to compete with themselves even if players are getting jaded with the current offerings. Like most businesses they will only compete if threatened or they see a real opportunity to make money.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
If that's what you want then I hope your expectations are really low for what they can deliver on an ongoing basis. I don't think MMORPGs work as Indie games. To keep delivering high quality content you need a lot of people playing your game to pay for it and still make a profit.
I think the ultimate MMORPG IS a massive appeal AAA game. I can imagine the games of the future being so advanced you each get exactly what you want while still playing with your friends who all want different things. Even down to the genre. You play thinking you are battling a mega robot as a cyber sniper while your friend sees his wizard fighting a dragon and you as his archer buddy. Another buddy is playing with you but never attacks anything the whole time in the game. Spending their time exploring, examining stuff, crafting, while the other 2 run protection.
10s of years away for sure, but that is the goal we should be looking at. Not WoW Classic. Just because modern games are crappy it doesn't make the last moderately good game the ultimate game.
Or they did good market analysis and realized it would not be worth doing as the market is saturated with shooters. But yeah, sound business decisions aside you are correct, how terrible of a business to want to make money.
Too bad about Titan, this is what happens when you let artists try to control production. Feature creep, good idea fairies, etc all lead to not being able to complete a project.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
Seems they aren't against doing another shooter.
But, I mean if you want to make an attempt at a strawman discussion, sure.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
ooh, boy, apologies, just can't write that with a straight face ...
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon