The company recently canceled a survival game that was rumored to have been in development for six years.
Survival game.
The open positions include six director roles, including creative director and narrative director. It’s hard to glean much information about the project from the job descriptions, but it appears to be in the very early stages. Since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $69 billion last October, the Irvine, California-based studio, which develops World of Warcraft and Diablo, has undergone significant changes.
Since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $69 billion last October, the Irvine, California-based studio, which develops World of Warcraft and Diablo, has undergone significant changes.
In January, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 1,900 employees at Xbox, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. Along with that news, it was confirmed that Blizzard’s then-president Mike Ybarra and chief designer Allen Adham were leaving the studio, and that an untitled survival game announced for January 2022 had been canceled. The project, inspired by games such as Minecraft and Rust, was codenamed Odyssey, set in a new universe and had been in development for six years, sources tell Bloomberg. It is claimed that many of the more than 100 people working on it were told they were being laid off.
Some of the more than 100 people working on it were told they were being laid off.
In a leaked internal email, Microsoft’s president of game content and studios Matt Booty said the company would «switch some of the people working on the game to one of several promising new Blizzard projects in the early stages of development».
Microsoft’s president of game content and studios, Matt Booty, said the company would «switch some of the people working on the game to one of several promising new Blizzard projects in the early stages of development.
Despite these changes, Microsoft «let Blizzard be Blizzard», according to Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president of World of Warcraft. In a recent interview with VGC, she talked about what life was like for developers under Microsoft: «If anything, there was only benefit. We communicated with Helen Chang at Mojang, exchanged information, so it’s like we have access to what worked for them».
We had a lot of access to what worked for them.
«We were able to talk to the Elder Scrolls Online team and share what we’ve been up to and what we’ve gotten up to, it’s pretty much the same as if we’d gotten a head start».
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«No one is asking us to do anything» — she continues. «World of Warcraft is doing well, and they’re very proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish, so it’s almost like just let it be what it is and let it continue to be awesome. They’re very supportive, and it’s like «let Blizzard be Blizzard»».
By ForGeeks 
