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Source is this NYT article
Rob Pardo, lead dev of SC/SCBW vanilla WoW, and hearthstone has been kinda off the grid doing goodwill kind of work while travelling around the world ever since his departure from blizzard a few years ago. However, now it seems he's teaming up with a few silicon valley venture capitalists (Andreessen Horowitz). as well as Riot, to form a new startup under the name of Bonfire Studios. He says he was inspired by the small team size and personal stakes involved during hearthstone's development which led him to want to create his own smaller studio to create games.
While there isn't currently a concrete game in development, apparently he's looking to make "online multiplayer games" with social features akin to the early days of WoW allowing players to bond together. Interestingly, he also says that he doesn't want to be defined by any one genre, which i guess makes sense given his pedigree across multiple genres. Also, he doesn't know if he's going to pursue mobile or traditional games (the NYT article comments about a visit of his to friends at Supercell, the mega mobile company known most recently for Clash Royale, and their largest title Clash of Clans.)
Along with Pardo, there will be a Nexon executive in the form of Min Kim joining the team, as well as a few other blizzard team members of varying fields and seniority.
Regardless, if there's any company in the industry to watch atm it's this startup. if anyone has any inside info about what they're planning to develop be sure to post!
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sounds promising, I hope for PC. But will probably go mobile to make the moneys. Especially if online multiplayer is the thing he is going for, not easy on pc to do that. Should change the name though ~.~
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Wonder what type of game will these guys make, perhaps another Torchlight-esque game to begin with? Or another Hellgate: London? Maybe an MMO like Guild Wars or Wildstar? Doubt it will be an RTS
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I sincerely hope he'll be making a spiritual sequel to WC3:TFT.
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On September 13 2016 01:39 bertolo wrote: Phone game incoming.. What if was like a readly good phone game like "Year Walk", "Device 6", or Subterfuge?
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Josh Mosqueira mysteriously left Blizzard. now we know where he went. Diablo really isn't my thing but the transformation of D3 under JM was great.
i hope JM cashed-in. he deserves it.
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Check it. Platoon scale with RPG elements akin to Warcraft 3 + Diablo 2, true contiguous MMO, RTSFPS akin to Battlezone II. So, an MMORTSRPG with a variety of control formats. And a card minigame.
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On September 13 2016 03:17 Jaedrik wrote:Check it. Platoon scale with RPG elements akin to Warcraft 3 + Diablo 2, true contiguous MMO, RTSFPS akin to Battlezone II. So, an MMORTSRPG with a variety of control formats. And a card minigame. lol we can only hope ^^
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Hoping for the most casual mobile game in existence that will turn my mother into a gamer.
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On September 13 2016 07:15 andrewlt wrote: Hoping for the most casual mobile game in existence that will turn my mother into a gamer.
My mother started playing pokemon Go (while I never played it myself), did you try that?
I guess he goes full mobile, as most people do. With a limited amount of work you can make bonkers of money in the long run and the quality does not even have to be that good. And if he goes PC, I hope he does not produce the next hellgate london.
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Based on OP's post, it sounds like a mobile game.
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Best of luck to all of them. Happy to see Rob Pardo and Josh Mosqueira on board, even tho i probably won't end up enjoying their work as i don't really like mobile games.
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United States12181 Posts
On September 13 2016 08:15 Urth wrote: Based on OP's post, it sounds like a mobile game.
They literally haven't decided. I wouldn't read too deeply into that Supercell visit either. It says:
Small game studios have produced some of the most remarkable successes in the industry in recent years. During his break from Blizzard, Mr. Pardo consulted with Mr. Riccitiello at Unity — through which Mr. Pardo was able to travel the world as a kind of good-will ambassador for the company, meeting with game developers, including Supercell, the Finnish mobile games start-up that makes Clash of Clans.
He went on behalf of Unity and that wasn't the only developer he visited. The article only mentions that because Supercell is a notoriously lucrative small studio, which Bonfire is expected to also become.
If you look at the crew they've established so far, they have: - A visionary - A creative director - A network architect - A financier/business manager - A cinematic artist
The common theme at Blizzard which almost all of these guys lived and breathed for years is to make games that you yourself want to play every day. That doesn't limit you to any particular platform. They're going to be blueskying ideas for a long long time and people like Min are going to look at feasibility and market saturation. Maybe that will be PC, maybe that will be mobile, maybe that will be VR. The idea is going to come first, then the platform.
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On September 13 2016 03:17 Jaedrik wrote:Check it. Platoon scale with RPG elements akin to Warcraft 3 + Diablo 2, true contiguous MMO, RTSFPS akin to Battlezone II. So, an MMORTSRPG with a variety of control formats. And a card minigame. We can call it World of Starhearthwatch!
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Hope its Civilization VII
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Chris Metzen just retired. it'll be interesting to see if he un-retires and ends up at Bonfire.
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I'll be happy if its not a freemium mobile game because thats what it sounds like they would do based on investor influences
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On September 13 2016 10:09 Excalibur_Z wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2016 08:15 Urth wrote: Based on OP's post, it sounds like a mobile game. They literally haven't decided. I wouldn't read too deeply into that Supercell visit either. It says: Show nested quote +Small game studios have produced some of the most remarkable successes in the industry in recent years. During his break from Blizzard, Mr. Pardo consulted with Mr. Riccitiello at Unity — through which Mr. Pardo was able to travel the world as a kind of good-will ambassador for the company, meeting with game developers, including Supercell, the Finnish mobile games start-up that makes Clash of Clans. He went on behalf of Unity and that wasn't the only developer he visited. The article only mentions that because Supercell is a notoriously lucrative small studio, which Bonfire is expected to also become. If you look at the crew they've established so far, they have: - A visionary - A creative director - A network architect - A financier/business manager - A cinematic artist The common theme at Blizzard which almost all of these guys lived and breathed for years is to make games that you yourself want to play every day. That doesn't limit you to any particular platform. They're going to be blueskying ideas for a long long time and people like Min are going to look at feasibility and market saturation. Maybe that will be PC, maybe that will be mobile, maybe that will be VR. The idea is going to come first, then the platform.
Excalibur_Z is correct, i only really brought up supercell because it shows the modern industry shoulders that Pardo has brushed up against. My guy instinct is that they'll try to mix some korean elements into a western arpg to try to bridge the two markets, but i'm hoping that they go for an rts.
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RTS are to difficult of a genre for todays kiddo, sadly.
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