Blizzard Explains Cancellation of StarCraft Ghost

February 15, 2011

During a panel last week at the Design Innovate Create Explore summit, Blizzard front man Mike Morhaime explained exactly what happened to StarCraft: Ghost. Apparently, as Blizzard was developing its first MMO World of Warcraft and StarCraft II, the company had to make a hard decision on where it wanted to put its resources. That choice ended up being World of Warcraft and StarCraft II, which lead to the cancellation of the action game based loosely on its popular RTS series.

"We have to choose, we can't do everything," he said during the panel. "Our vision for what's possible directs that. We like complex games and we like casual games."

"They were working on StarCraft Ghost the same time we were working on World of Warcraft and StarCraft II," Morhaime continued, "World of Warcraft exploded and we needed to make some resource decisions. It just wasn't an environment in which a project like (StarCraft Ghost ) could succeed."

While many lamented that decision, ultimately it was the right one to make at that time.

Source: Kotaku by way of The Escapist

Posted in

Blizzard

Comments

Re: Blizzard Explains Cancellation of StarCraft Ghost

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 23:20.

I would say they should give it another go.

And Blizzard is still pretty cool, like allowing the Starcraft Universe mod to go forward.

Re: Blizzard Explains Cancellation of StarCraft Ghost

Submitted by paketep on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 17:06.

A bit too late to explain that one.

In any case, it's clear this is no the Blizzard of old. First they cancelled Warcraft Adventures, then Starcraft Ghost, and they ended cancelling the most important part of Starcraft 2: LAN.

RIP, Blizzard. May you keep covering your tombstone and Kotick's pockets with $100 bills if that makes you happy.

Re: Blizzard Explains Cancellation of StarCraft Ghost

Submitted by Cerabret100 on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 17:28.

They were the best precisely because they didn't release till the product was ready, and knew when an idea just wouldn't work and scrapped it. Those ideas probably didn't pan out so they shelved it. The SC2 comment is a matter of personal opinion, i personally don't give a crap because i'm in it for the singleplayer. Kotick and Activision have little to no control over blizzard other than that of standard Publisher/Developer relations.

Re: Blizzard Explains Cancellation of StarCraft Ghost

Submitted by Grif on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 14:42.

But Blizzard has absolute power now! They could go back to it if they wanted! *Sob*

"Power means nothing without honor and pride."

Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com

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DorthLous: Anybody tried Hiversaire? Thoughts?05/22/2013 - 5:48pm

E. Zachary Knight: New Humble Bundle Weekly Sale. Alan Wake: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly No Linux or Mac support. :(05/22/2013 - 1:46pm

E. Zachary Knight: Microsoft talks about the lack of backward compatability. You're backwards. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192801/If_youre_backwards_compatible_youre_really_backwards.php05/22/2013 - 1:39pm

E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-microsoft-wont-let-indies-self-publish-on-xbox-one And the hits just keep on coming.05/22/2013 - 9:20am

E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am

E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am

Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am

Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

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