On various forums people are commenting the enigmatic teaser that Blizzard put on the Battle.net site. As it always happens when something is only hinted, everyone starts to have all sort of crazy ideas and expectations. So we have Starcraft 2, World of Starcraft, WoW’s expansion with Starcraft races and so on.

The truth, despite still only a voice, is that all this hype is unexcused and what Blizzard is going to launch is just about a tornament that will involve all Battle.net games. So no new games or other similar things. Which was also kind of obvious. What else would you expect from an announce on Battle.net slated for tomorrow (today), coming out of the blue and cycling images from all the three classic games?

But the point is another. In the last months we had leaked patch notes, insider informations and all sort of screw ups. You really think that if there was an important announce we wouldn’t have known already? The reality is different and so distant from the hype and expectations. Blizzard is barely able to keep up with WoW. All the live patches are coming out slowly with art assets continuously recycled and all based on lengthy grinds in order to spare time. While they made a lot of money with the game they also lost and continue to lose many developers that made Blizzard what it is today. And that’s something that cannot be bought with money.

We always speak of PUG groups in games but the industry isn’t so much different. The talent cannot be created from the money and it’s a type of resource that you build slowly, with a lot of dedication. It is precious and RARE. And to this you have to add the synergy of a team. Something definitely not easy to achieve and another of those elements that need to mature at their own pace. Again, as I wrote, Blizzard became what it is today as the result of a VERY LONG journey. And not in a couple of days. Money hats or not you cannot now go in a hiring spree, build a PUG of devs and expect “quality” as a result. Too many developers left, it seems, and replacing them with equally or more talented people will require *time*. Because all transitions and transformations cannot be done in a day and it’s always very hard to rebuild something that already crumbled.

I share what Darniaq wrote in this comment, the fact that so many developers decided to quit is probably because “Blizzard has not got anything on their docket at this point”. And maybe also because of the gripes with Vivendi. Or both: the lack of control over what they can do. Because after you reach a so huge success all the eyes will be on you and you won’t be anymore as free to impose your standard as before. You’ll get bought and emptied of all value.

The reality is that Blizzard cannot announce anything worth the hype because they just don’t have anything to show. They already showed all they can as quickly as they can. They emptied their pockets. The public demands more and expect Blizzard to have a number of secret projects going on, like the release of Diablo 3 in a couple of months, or another mmorpg, or a Starcraft sequel or ports to the Nintendo DS. But the fact is that Blizzard had to buy back “Starcraft: Ghost” because it was going horribly and then disbanded Blizzard North because it basically crumbled in their hands after all the defections. The expectations they have now are just unsustainable and totally crazy.

As I wrote on QT3 I’d be surprised if they are able to release WoW exp before April of the next year and still continue the live update. New games? And who will work on them?

Blizzard will need a serious reorganization and plan out its future. They need to rebuild their teams and no matter how much money they have: this will require time. As Thor Alexander anticipated (found via Ubiq), Blizzard didn’t survive WoW. And if only they now want to go past it they’ll need to cut with the past and restart on NEW premises. New teams, new ideas, new processes and a whole new journey. Whatever Blizzard will become from now onward, will be something completely new and different.

And then we have rumors. Rumors so much more believable and coherent than Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 or yet another mmorpg that wouldn’t be out before 2010:

I have a friend working at blizzard, and WoW has been running on a skeleton crew of programmers for nearly six months now. Problem was, blizzard expected all the people who put four years in to finishing WoW to continue working on it forever. Few people weren’t willing to accept that, so that’s what caused the exodus.

It’s really not important whether this is true or not. I just would say to not expect anything from tomorrow’s announce on Battle.net, nor anything spectacular from BlizzCon, when WoW’s expansion will be revealed in all its underwhelming glory. We already saw how some leaked patch notes can be so more exciting than the reality.

They are already doing the best they can and using their resources at 150%. With this pace the hype will just sweep them away.