A new job listing from Blizzard offers some hints about one of the company’s next big projects. Although the name of the game is still a mystery, there are some clues that are getting Starcraft fans excited.
Blizzard is hiring a Lead Designer for a AAA Open-World Shooter
Blizzard hasn’t officially announced the project in question yet, but a new job posting (spotted by PC Gamer) confirms that the studio is looking to add a veteran designer for a new project. The job posting is for a Lead Designer, Innovation position and will focus on running development for an upcoming AAA open-world shooter.
The position is definitely a leadership role and Blizzard is looking to hire someone with at least 15 years of industry experience. Another interesting note in the job posting is that the successful candidate should be familiar with developing prototypes in Unreal Engine. Although the vast majority of other Blizzard titles are developed on in-house engines, perhaps there’s something about this project that makes Unreal a better option.
Unfortunately, the job posting itself doesn’t offer any hints about the game’s setting or the characters. It confirms “open-world shooter”, but doesn’t go into any more detail than that.
“We are seeking a highly creative and experienced Lead Game Designer to spearhead gameplay and content innovations for an upcoming AAA open-world shooter. In this role, you will collaborate closely with engineering, art, narrative, and production teams to deliver groundbreaking player experiences that push and explore the boundaries of features within the game.”
Some fans have been hoping for a fresh spin on the Starcraft IP that brings the world into a new genre for decades at this point. There were years of World of Starcraft rumors before the MMO genre began to fade in popularity and, even earlier than that, there was the Starcraft: Ghost stealth-action game that failed to come together.
Some fans believe the time is finally right for a Starcraft shooter, now that it has been more than a decade since the last installment in the franchise. Many fans also have some additional hope thanks to some of the reporting in Jason Schreier’s 2024 book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment that hinted Starcraft third-person shooter was being incubated as a possible project. A few years have gone by since then, but Blizzard games do tend to have long development cycles, so it’s possible this could be related to that project or be something entirely new.
At this time, Blizzard has not announced the AAA open-world shooter related to this job posting.
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