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Blizzard Has Multiple New IPs Incubating But Won't Rush Them Out

"In terms of new IP, our pipeline is in a better position than ever before in our history."

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Blizzard Entertainment, the gaming giant behind franchises like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch most recently, is working on multiple new IPs. But don't expect them to be announced soon, or possibly ever, as Blizzard is working on them only in an incubation stage.

Speaking during Activision Blizzard's earnings call today, Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime started off by saying the bulk of the developer's focus right now is on supporting its existing franchises. But at the same time, he reminded people that Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham returned to the company last year to head up the incubation teams working on new projects.

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"In terms of new IP, our pipeline is in a better position than ever before in our history. we're committed to incubating new initiatives," Morhaime said, adding that the developer is looking at new platforms like mobile.

Some of the projects that Adham is overseeing include "great ideas" that Blizzard was working on before he came back. But others are brand-new IPs, apparently. As you might have guessed, Blizzard doesn't plan to rush these games to market, if they are ever released at all.

"We now have multiple dedicated incubation teams that are being led by some of our most experienced game designers at Blizzard," Morhaime said. "I should say that creating new, Blizzard-quality games on any platform will take time. And as we've shown in the past, we're not going to release any games that we don't feel live up to our expectations or those of our players.

"When we do bring new experiences to current or new platforms for new and existing IPs, they're going to be ideas that are our teams are passionate about and that we think there is a large audience for."

Blizzard canceled a new MMO called Titan, later admitting that the studio "failed horrifically."

When Overwatch was announced in 2014, it was Blizzard's first new IP in 17 years. The game has become a massive success, picking up 30 million players and attracting people like the owner of the New England Patriots to its eSports league.

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