A Blizzard-Developed Take On ‘Souls’ Feels Inevitable
A Blizzard-Developed Take On ‘Souls’ Feels Inevitable

It feels like it’s only a matter of time until Blizzard makes a game that follows in the footsteps of Dark Souls Fergus Halliday Follow Dec 16, 2020 · 8 min read

Although Activation-Blizzard’s recent string of mass firings might point you in the other direction, the reality is the corporate machine behind one of PC gaming’s most beloved studios is ramping up its production capacity in a real way.

For a long time and prior to its acquisition by Activision, Blizzard was known mostly for two things: hardcore PC games like World of Warcraft, and releasing games when they’re done. If you were a Blizzard fan, you might get a new game once every three or four years and you’d be happy about it.

Nowadays, that’s become less and less the case. New esports and casual-friendly franchises like Overwatch and Hearthstone have blended their way into the company’s DNA; classic series like Diablo have found new homes on consoles like Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch; and things like Warcraft 3: Reforged and the BlitzChung controversy have been a sobering reminder that sometimes even Blizzard can mess up a good thing.

To put a finer point on it, the Blizzard Entertainment of today makes more games and tends to do so faster than its legacy counterpart. In fact, according to Blizzard president J. Allen Brack, the company has “more live games and unannounced projects than at any point in the company’s history.”

In a further departure from the company’s legacy of PC-oriented gaming, it’s probably the case that many of these projects are likely going to be mobile games.

After Call of Duty: Mobile, Activision-Blizzard is hungry for a larger slice of the mobile gaming market.

Speaking in a recent investor call, Activision Blizzard president and COO Daniel Alegre admitted the company plans to take all of their popular franchises to the mobile market.

However, irrespective of whether or to what degree the future of Blizzard is mobile-focused, it feels like it’s only a matter of time until Blizzard makes something that follows in the footsteps of From Software’s enormously popular Dark Souls series.

Blizzard has always been known for making good games but they’ve rarely had a reputation that backs up the notion that they make particularly innovative ones. Before World of Warcraft, there was Everquest. Before Hearthstone, there was Magic: The Gathering Online. Before Overwatch, there was Team Fortress 2.

Blizzard has rarely been the company that breaks new ground or invents new genres but they’re usually the one who takes the time necessary to do it justice. Their strengths have always been in the execution and finding the right balance of accessibility, depth, and polish.

Within that context, a Blizzard-developed take on the Souls formula makes a lot of sense. They didn’t invent the Souls-like but they could probably make a pretty compelling riff on that formula and there’s certainly a market for it.
['Fergus Halliday']
['Features', 'Gaming', 'Digital Life', 'Technology', 'Videogames']