Blizzard talks Titan development

In an interview with Eurogamer World of Warcraft lead systems designer Greg Street discussed the development process behind Blizzard's next-gen MMO, codenamed Project Titan.

"We've had some key members go over to that team to work," he explained.

"When we interview new people, there's a chance they'll come under our team, and there's a chance they'll go onto that team. We meet with those guys quite regularly to say, 'Hey, here's an opportunity to do something different. Do we want to do it differently to how WOW did it, or are we happy with the way it worked out?'"

"We get to bounce ideas off each other that way," he added.

Asked if the WOW team was ever tempted to bring a Titan feature forward for an upcoming WOW expansion, Street highlighted one such recent occasion.

"The other day a designer was apologising, saying, 'Are you going to be mad if we steal that idea?'"

"Game designers steal ideas all the time. We build on what other games do. It's hard to look at many features in WOW and say, 'Blizzard were so brilliant for coming up with that in a vacuum.' We're building on what great game designers have done since they started making games."

Eurogamer attempted to nonchalantly ask just what that stolen Titan feature might be, but Blizzard sadly declined to comment further.

Little is known about Project Titan.

But we know it is already playable. "We're very confident in that product. It's an awesome one. We're playing it already," Blizzard COO Paul Sams said in March.

"It is a total ball to play. We think that the reach of that product is greater than anything that we've done before. We're very excited about that. I believe that it's the type of game that will have a very long life, much like World of Warcraft has."

Sams added: "The thing that we hope will happen is that it will not stop World of Warcraft but we believe will eclipse it."

Titan carries a rumoured release date of late 2013, according to a leaked internal slate.