The Blizzard survival game that was once set to establish "a whole new universe" has been canceled.
That comes from The Verge, which reports that the upcoming game has been abandoned as part of broader changes that will see 1,900 employees across Micosoft's gaming division lose their jobs. While some Xbox and ZeniMax staffers will be included in that, plenty will be affected at Activision Blizzard.
Blizzard is also apparently losing president Mike Ybarra as well as co-founder and chief design officer Allen Adham. Ybarra confirmed his departure, and touched on the broader layoffs, in a tweet.
In an internal memo seen by The Verge, Microsoft Studios president Matt Booty confirms that Blizzard's survival game has been canceled and that the company 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."
Initially revealed in January 2022, Blizzard said it was making a survival game for PC and console that would take place in a "whole new universe" – "a place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored," as the developer described it.
One aim of the post was seemingly to drum up interest in working on the project, as the post contained nine job openings and mentioned Blizzard's need for a "diverse team of developers willing to lend their voices, to listen and to be heard."
Microsoft joins Riot, Discord, Twitch, and plenty more, all of which have seen substantial layoffs.
