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XBLA, PopCap vet caught in Blizzard

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted May 12, 2009 9:55 am PT

[UPDATE] Former Xbox Live Arcade boss, casual publisher executive Greg Canessa joins WOW maker as Battle.net project director.

In early 2007, Xbox Live Arcade veteran Greg Canessa left software giant Microsoft to lead PopCap Games' efforts in bringing its casual games to an expanded breadth of platforms. Two years later, Canessa appears to be returning to big-budget game development with a new gig at the world's largest third-party publisher.

Greg Canessa

Joystiq reports today that the longtime game executive has taken a position with World of Warcraft maker Blizzard Entertainment. Canessa will reportedly be working on an "unannounced project in the online space" and will report directly to Blizzard cofounder and vice president of game design Rob Pardo.

Blizzard is currently at work on at least one unannounced project, a top-secret massively multiplayer online role-playing game that CEO Michael Morhaime confirmed was in development in late 2007. In February, Blizzard lead designer Jeffery Kaplan confirmed that he had transitioned off the WOW team to work on this unannounced project, which will reportedly be completely different from the game maker's current money-minting MMOG.

[UPDATE] Responding to GameSpot's request for comment, a Blizzard representative confirmed that Canessa has indeed joined the company. The representative also clarified Canessa's role at the studio, saying he will serve as project director on "the next version of Battle.net," Blizzard's online account management and community service. Canessa will report to vice president of online technologies Robert Bridenbecker.

44 Comments

  • Strange-Dude

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 9:39 am PT

    It's not competing with WoW if u get the money from both games... No matter which game people pick, Blizzard gets the money. It's just expanding the market... really genius if u think about it. I don't know any company that had a hold of the gaming community enough to really do something like this.

  • psycho_spaceman

    Posted Jun 24, 2009 3:40 pm PT

    NikNitro brought up the idea of WoD... i agree, that would be friggin' sweet... however... who wants to play a diablo game where the attacks are automatic? not I... Diablo needs to keep it's fast-paced, kill a billion baddies, and wipe the blood off your face to kill a billion more attitude. i remember playing D2LOD from when it was released to about 4 years afterwards.. I'd be chillin' in a game with a buddy or two then we'd start blabbin' on how we'd want Diablo 3. the mmo idea came up, but i think i speak for every diablo fan out there when i say, "stick to the roots".

  • NickAnguiano

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 11:21 pm PT

    Ya know.. this is complete speculation but WoW has the PC MMO market completely covered, right? How smart is it really to release another PC MMO? Nomatter how I see it.. they're only hurting themselves because Blizzard already owns the PC MMO market so whatever game it may be, it'd only really compete with WoW. Short of inventing a completely revolutionary way of playing a PC MMO that will attract millions of people that aren't already playing WoW, I don't see how it's a good idea. Someone made a comment previously that got me thinking... The guy they picked up worked for Microsoft and if anyone remembers.. how many times did the Blizzard staff at last year's blizzcon stress " WE ARE NOT JUST A PC GAME DEVELOPER!" I know I heard it at least 10 times. The more I think about it.. the more I think this new MMO will be something for the consoles or possibly only xbox 360. At the very least, something for both the xbox 360 and PC (Like FF11). Anyways im rambling.. the more I think about it though.. the more it really makes sense that this new game could very well be a console game.

  • NickAnguiano

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 11:11 pm PT

    I think blizzard has already said the new MMO is a "completely new IP" which, to me, means not warcraft, starcraft, or diablo. That's a rather big gamble because I think a lot of the reason WoW became so popular is because so many people were already familiar with Warcraft and all it's previous games. I guess they are betting on the millions of people that already have confidence in blizzard. I just wonder though.. aren't those people already going to be playing WoW, SC2, and/or D3?

  • Nodashi

    Posted May 27, 2009 1:17 pm PT

    Blizzard is the bomb. Whatever they make, they make it to be good and LAST, so I'm really curious about that project.

  • Fady117

    Posted May 16, 2009 10:43 am PT

    Good thing for him. At least we know Blizzard's up to something... They usually aren't selling cookies when they're planning something big.

  • DarpSyX

    Posted May 15, 2009 3:50 pm PT

    Blizzard should start making their games for XBOX and PS3 that´d kick arse

  • Niknitro18

    Posted May 13, 2009 12:03 pm PT

    WORLD OF DIABLO!!! ok maybe not but still i hope its WOD... hahaha

  • madmenno

    Posted May 13, 2009 11:33 am PT

    @cswann821
    Have you ever heard of a footman rush in WoW? And how would you fight a swarm of chimera's in WoW? If you are serious your post makes no sense.

    I hope they bring in a new universe, other then diablo, SC or WC. However i'd like to play a new Sci fi MMO and i hope it's totaly different then other mmorpgs. Like Eve online is different to anything out there. But then again, they probably aim for the big mass and you can't make the gameplay too deep if you want to set a new market record.

  • cswann821

    Posted May 13, 2009 10:40 am PT

    why not a diablo MMO?, to much like conan i suppose. How would you fight a swarm or be a swarm of zerglings in a SC MMO? just cant see that working at all.

  • AdaptorLive

    Posted May 13, 2009 9:59 am PT

    Guy changed jobs. This probably has nothing to do with a new Blizzard or Xbox Live game. Some of you are already p***ed at a game someone else here thought up...

  • anhuarx

    Posted May 13, 2009 8:58 am PT

    i read some where else that the secret project involved developing a MMO for the xbox 360 to compete with SE maybe thats why they needed this guy from ms to complete the necesary arrangaments to interface both xbox live and battle net

  • bucketmaster

    Posted May 13, 2009 8:27 am PT

    another con from blizzard , just give us starcraft II with the old style battle.net - none of this MMO spudge

  • captaink24

    Posted May 13, 2009 8:13 am PT

    I think there is enough lore to support a Starcraft MMO. Or they could just be making something totally new, which would also be pretty cool

  • Innos007666

    Posted May 13, 2009 12:34 am PT

    People, cut the cr*p with StarCraft MMO! SC is on top of RTS and it will alway be. You spit on that legendary name when you daydreaming that sc can be mmo game.
    I hope that something like that will not happen in my life.

  • chappy_man

    Posted May 12, 2009 11:51 pm PT

    I know alot of people are thinking Starcraft MMO, but it could be WOW2 i know it may not seem likely but its an option they have to create an advanced graphical version, and somehow transfer characters or something along those lines.
    Of course they do have other franchises but i couldn't think of anything else that would work out the same as wow.
    Blizzard is truly a power house in the gaming economy, and its always interesting to see what they may come up with.

  • edant79

    Posted May 12, 2009 7:39 pm PT

    All I can say is: they better not charge like they did with PSO & FFO, and have to pay for both an Xbox and MMO account.

    B*tches better make it free.

  • Epicurus-Reborn

    Posted May 12, 2009 3:57 pm PT

    a potential starcraft mmo... that would be crazy. (and awesome!!) with such a universe i really find it hard to believe the gameplay would or even could follow the same rpg styled format as wow does. Id hope for a 3rd person shooter. its about time some one made a good mmo shooting game.

  • nappan

    Posted May 12, 2009 3:51 pm PT

    @starbead: "completely different" can mean a looooot of things... and they've only said it will be different from WoW. That said, I don't do the "inside info" thing, so maybe they have.

  • starbead

    Posted May 12, 2009 3:12 pm PT

    Haven't they confirmed that the secret MMO title is a new IP?

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