Computer and Video Games (CVG) has anonymous sources backing that Blizzard will announce Starcraft MMO at Korea on May 19th.  It is still a rumor until Blizzard makes the official announcement. T-minus 14 days, and ticking! Read the full article.

CVG: “Well placed US sources have revealed to us that the StarCraft MMO will be unveiled at an upcoming Blizzard event on May 19 in South Korea – the epicentre of the sci-fi RTS series’ rabid fandom.”

CVG is a very reputable Gaming Editorial Outlet, and they have interviewed Blizzard developers many times.  Blizzard has posted job openings in the past years that really trails off people.  Now with the intro of Next-Gen MMO and Mobile Job Openings it becomes further more complicated to throw a fit worth of guesses and speculations of what is happening at the Irvine headquarters.

The question to ponder if CVG’s claims become reality and there will be a Starcraft MMO … why was Dustin Browder hired by Blizzard back on March 15, 2005?  I posted a speculation article some time ago after he was hired.  For those who are not familiar with his name, he was developer of:

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle-Earth (2004)
  • Command & Conquer: Generals (2003)
  • Command & Conquer: Generals: Zero Hour (2003)
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars (2001)
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000)
  • Battlezone (1998)
  • Vigilante 8 (1998)
  • Heavy Gear (1997)
  • MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries (1996)
  • MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear’s Legacy (1995)

Someone like Dustin Browder with a track record on top RTS games must have been hired by Blizzard to develop an RTS Game.  Could it be a Starcraft 2 and a Starcraft MMO, like Warcraft III: Frozen Throne was for World of Warcraft? Or a Warcraft 4 RTS as a tie-in to upcoming Wow expansions?  Diablo 3 as an RTS?  Something I have learned in the past years from Blizzard is … expect the unexpected.  There are so many projects it is hard to pinpoint Blizzard’s next move.

Another job opening that backs up an RTS development was posted on 2006 searching for a Game Balance Designer. The highlights of the job opening were:

  • Experience playing real-time strategy games competitively
  • Has a demonstrable understanding of competitive strategy gaming.
  • Pluses: Experience in designing and playing Real-Time-Strategy games, Has played Blizzard strategy games extensively and Played Warcraft 3 and/or StarCraft competitively.

Confused yet?

A fan, MasterBoo, speculates in our forum that to make sense between the RTS job openings and CVG’s claim of a Starcraft MMO would be if Starcraft 2 became an RTS with MMO traits.  Think of Hellgate: London … a RPG/FPS as Single Player with a free aspect and a MMO paid subscription aspect.  This would justify what Itzik Ben-Basat said in Januray. Blizzard plans to make Battle.net a Broadband High-Bandwidth gaming network.

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