BlizzCon Countdown: 'Team 3' - 7.19.2007

There are fifteen days left until August 3rd, the first day of BlizzCon. Everyday for the next fifteen days I'll be making at least one post that has to do with BlizzCon. This post may be rumor, speculation, leaks, or maybe even *gasp* news. So, here we go...

Fifteen days until BlizzCon.

Fifteen days until BlizzCon and Blizzard recently stated at E3 that they have a third team hard at work on an unannounced project. Frank Pearce, founding member and senior vice president of product development for Blizzard, told Gamasutra, "Our global headcount is 2,700, and most of that is customer service for World of Warcraft! In terms of development staff it’s probably around 350. World of Warcraft is about 135 people, 40 for Starcraft II, 40 for team 3, our cinematics team is about 85 guys. Then there’s sound and Q/A and that sort of thing."

First, let me say that it's no surprise that their cinematics team is over double the size of the team for a single game (Starcraft II and 'team 3'). The Blizzard cinematics are amazing.

Okay, back on topic. Now, we know two of the three current projects. World of Warcraft (including future expansions) and Starcraft II. The third project has the same amount of developers as Starcraft II. This gives me some reason to believe that it could very well be another RTS. Warcraft IV? Although that is pure speculation, I don't believe that this project is Diablo III like many people hope it is. In my opinion, Diablo III would take a much larger team and Blizzard would want a much larger team for it.

Anyways, I'm sure we'll find out what the new project is at BlizzCon. For now though, I'm going to guess that it's either Warcraft IV or a totally new IP.

-Matt Graham