One of Blizzard Entertainment’s largest projects has been cancelled as part of a reorganisation under Microsoft. The game cancellation, codenamed Odyssey, left some Blizzard staff without jobs, and some wondering about the studio’s future.
The news was announced to employees in an email from Microsoft, with many Odyssey team members informed they were being let go.
This comes three months after Microsoft closed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Part of the reorganisation also saw Blizzard part ways with President Mike Ybarra, and Chief Design Officer Allen Adham. The new president is set to be announced next week.
Activision Blizzard was known for its hit video games which included ‘World of Warcraft,’ and ‘Diablo IV.’ Recently, they made a large investment into Odyssey, creating a team of over 100 people to develop it.
The game, which is set in a new universe, was in development for over six years, and outlasted many other projects.
Spokesman Andrew Reynolds said the development ended “as part of a focus on projects that hold the most promise for future growth,” and the company would “ move some of the people on the team to one of several exciting new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.”
Beginning in 2017 as a pitch from a Blizzard veteran, Odyssey was conceived as a survival game, similar to ‘Minecraft.’ In the years that followed, the team working on it expanded, and it was publicly announced in 2022, when Blizzard starting hiring more staff.
Despite having additional resources, the project struggled due to technical issues, according to insider sources.
It was originally prototyped on the Unreal Engine from Epic Games, however, executives chose to switch, as it wouldn’t support the ambitions they had for maps supporting up to 100 players at once.
The team was directed to use Synapse, an internal engine, which was originally developed for mobile games.
This also led to problems, as the technology was slow to come together, and artists were spending time prototyping in Unreal which they knew would be discarded.
When Microsoft’s acquisition of the company was finalised, staff were praying they may get to switch back to Unreal, rather than attempting to finish the game on Synapse.
President Ybarra said the new parent company would offer the freedom of using the technology of their choice, without needing to go through the board of directors.
“The tech leaders will decide what the engines are.”
Despite challenges, the game appeared to be developing well. People who got access to early versions thought there was potential in the market for it. However, it was still years away.
At one point, Blizzard was looking to expand the team to hundreds, with a target of a 2026 release. Instead, the project has been cancelled, and it was concluded Synapse wasn’t ready for production.
“As difficult as making these decisions are, experimentation and risk taking are part of Blizzard’s history and the creative process. Ideas make their way into other games or in some cases become games of their own. Starting something completely new is among the hardest things to do in gaming, and we’re immensely grateful to all of the talented people who supported the project.”
