After layoffs, Blizzard cancels ambitious game that was in development for more than 6 years

The day started with very bad news for Xbox, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, as Microsoft confirmed a wave of layoffs. Unfortunately, one of the hardest hit studios was Blizzard, which lost talented developers and important management.

Now we know that the company also had to cancel an ambitious project that had been in development for quite some time. We refer to a new survival franchise for console and PC that was confirmed in 2022.

Blizzard cancels its new survival franchise

A couple of years ago, Blizzard confirmed that it was working on a new IP focused on survival mechanics. The company described the project as a "vast realm of possibilities waiting to be explored".

However, we now know that the project will never see the light of day, as it has been cancelled. This was confirmed by the studio after the news of the layoffs was revealed. Although the project was announced in 2022, it had been in planning for more than 6 years, according to Jason Schreier, a journalist for Bloomberg.

The developers working on the project will be moved to other new developments already underway. This is sad news for fans, as Blizzard did not have the opportunity to show what surprises it was preparing for its new IP since Overwatch.

"Today’s actions affect multiple teams within Blizzard, including development teams, shared service organizations and corporate functions. As part of this focus, Blizzard is ending development on its survival game project and will be shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development,” Matt Booty, president of studios and game content at Microsoft, said.