Veteran its popular RTS game StarCraft 2.
Both Morten and Campbell possess extensive experience, with each specializing in the real-time strategy genre. Morten previously served as the production director at Blizzard Entertainment while Campbell contributed to Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne as the campaign director.
In an effort to combat recent declines in viewership and appeal, Morten and Campbell have split from Blizzard to create a more accessible RTS game that appeals to newcomers. This shift is a result of the RTS genre becoming increasingly dominated by hardcore fans, with highly competitive esports competitions making it more difficult for rookies to acclimate to the genre. Their new developer, Frost Giant Studios, has the financial of a group of investors led by Bitkraft, which includes popular developers such as Riot Games, according to VentureBeat. The Los Angeles, California-based studio has already received $4.7 million in funding so far, with the project expected to generate additional funds. Campbell will operate as the president and game director while Morton will serve as Frost Giant's production director.
Morten and Cambell are not the first Blizzard veterans to split from the company to create a new studio independent of Activision. Activision first merged with Vivendi Games, which owns Blizzard, in 2008. Since the two companies ed together, there have been multiple reports of negative working conditions, unequal pay between devs and executives and a serious lack of promotion opportunities. This has led to the departure of several notable Blizzard workers, including its co-founder and former CEO Mike Morhaime, who founded his own independent game studio called Dreamhaven along with several other former Blizzard employees.
Enthusiastic fans of StarCraft will likely not view Blizzard's announcement that it is ending development on the decades-old RTS game as a major surprise. It appears Blizzard has been working toward this decision for some time, as a financial report from August of last year indicates. The report refers to the success of titles like Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Diablo without making any reference to StarCraft, which was noted by fans of the series. Despite being released over a decade ago, the StarCraft series is still enjoyed by millions of ionate players around the world.
It remains to be seen how exactly Frost Giant will accomplish its goal to introduce a new generation of gamers to the complexities of real-time strategy games. The success of Frost Giant is inseparable from the progression of the RTS genre as it grapples with more popular gaming trends, including the emergence of multiplayer online battle arenas and first-person shooters. Morten and Campbell have made it clear they intend to utilize a -friendly approach as they begin developing a new RTS game. Fans of Warcraft and StarCraft will likely be keeping a close eye on Frost Giant Studios and its vision for the future of the RTS.
Source: VentureBeat
