Activision Blizzard is currently hiring for an unannounced game and is looking for multiple senior employees to fill vacancies on the project. These include Creative Director, Combat AI Design Director, Senior Art Director, etc.
While there’s not much indication of exactly what genre the game will be, the creative director’s job posting states that they’ll have to develop the game’s IP as well as “multi-season storylines.” Whether this means it will be a live-service game like most of Blizzard’s recent releases remains to be seen, but it seems likely.
By itself, this is a pretty simple news story, and we probably shouldn’t expect too many updates just yet. However, recent developments at Activision Blizzard could provide interesting outside context.
Xbox head Phil Spencer pointed out in an interview that following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year, he personally hopes to see the revival of Activision Blizzard’s traditional IP.While it’s obviously fun to speculate whether this new game does indeed dip into the Acti Blizz IP library, it’s also worth pointing out that certainly Phil Spencer said in a press conference following the acquisition. His job in the above statement is to drum up excitement about the acquisition, and relying on nostalgia is a great way to do that. That’s not to say that such returns aren’t responsible for the hiring wave, just that the claim isn’t ironclad.
First, it’s hard to notice this development without considering the recent layoffs at Activision Blizzard following the Microsoft acquisition. It’s shocking that 1,900 employees were laid off, and when you sit here and say, ‘Wow, guys, if you’re going to hire more people in the future, why can’t you keep people,’ that’s not a wise statement to make. One wonders if these positions will be filled by some of the talent that has left. Of course, if you already have experience at Blizzard, you probably have a good chance of getting a job, but the layoff was three months ago. Many of them may already have jobs.
What’s clear is that Blizzard really needs to win with this new IP. The company’s last foray into new IP, Overwatch, not only had an easier time, but also canceled the unreleased survival shooter after several years in development due to a series of controversies surrounding Overwatch 2. Whatever it is, this new game needs to be a blockbuster.
But please tell us what you think! What are your expectations for this new game? Yes, I hope everything goes smoothly and there is no controversy, this is fair competition.
