Key Blizzard developers apparently tried for years to get a new Starcraft or Warcraft RTS off the ground, but execs had 'no appetite' for them

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Blizzard RTS fans haven't been having it great, since, as a studio, it doesn't seem to have much of an interest in strategy anymore, despite—as our own Fraser Brown put it while lamenting Spencer's t-shirt tease at the Tokyo Game Show, having established "the model for the RTS genre" back in the day.

Well, turns out there could've been a new Blizzard RTS game. There could've been multiple. There could've even been a Warcraft 4—but alas, Blizzard's executives didn't bite.

That's as per Bloomberg writer Jason Schreier, who's on the promo tour for his new book called "Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment". One of these interviews, an AMA on the World of Warcraft subreddit, reveals a behind-the-scenes history that might break RTS fans' hearts in two: "[Tim] Morten and his team tried for years to kick off a new RTS, making all sorts of pitches and prototypes, from Warcraft 4 to even, wildly, a Call of Duty RTS pitch. (He was desperate)."

"Reforged turned out to be a debacle—the company's first bad game and a blemish in Blizzard's history," Schreier adds. "So in 2020, Morten and some of his team left to form Frost Giant (and recently released Stormgate)."

Still, with new ownership comes new executives that might be more amenable to bringing the genre back from the dead—though if Blizzard wants to get back into the game, it's facing a studio mostly devoid of the original talent that made its old RTS classics great. As our own Fraser put it, Blizzard "does have the resources and ability to attract talent that could give us another genre-defining RTS. If, you know, it tried."

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.