Blizzard Entertainment’s survival game, informally announced in 2022, has reportedly been canceled due to engine issues after six years of development, according to a recent report by Bloomberg. This news comes in the wake of Microsoft’s announcement of 1,900 layoffs across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax divisions, as well as the departure of Blizzard president Mike Ybarra.

Blizzard has not provided specific details on the cancellation of the game, which was announced just two years ago. Bloomberg’s report reveals that the game’s engine, initially prototyped using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, encountered difficulties as Blizzard executives decided to switch engines in order to support their ambitions for vast maps accommodating up to 100 players at once.

The development team, reportedly named Odyssey, transitioned to Synapse, an in-house engine originally developed for mobile games and intended for use across multiple projects at Blizzard. However, this decision led to significant development challenges. When Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, the team had hoped to revert back to Unreal Engine, but this transition did not materialize.

Despite the engine struggles, the game made progress, with early testers expressing enthusiasm for its potential within the popular survival game genre. However, development ultimately concluded, and Blizzard’s anticipated release year of 2026 for the survival game will not come to fruition, according to the Bloomberg report.

For more details, refer to the full Bloomberg report. Also, learn about Microsoft’s recent layoffs, which have affected 1,900 employees, marking a troubling start to the year 2024 in terms of job losses in the gaming industry.

[Source: Bloomberg]

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