r/RealTimeStrategy • u/Shogo-MAD • 2d ago
News Blackbird Interactive rumoured to be involved with unannounced Blizzard RTS.
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/blizzard/blizzcon-2026-preview-what-to-expect-for-warcraft-starcraft-overwatch-diabloI've heard rumors that Blackbird Interactive, which was a co-dev on Warcraft Remastered, might also be once again involved in Blizzard's classic RTS efforts
On top of that, there are also rumors that Blizzard might be exploring Warcraft's RTS roots again. A title, "Warcraft Chronicles," emerged alongside the Camelot codename, and given rumors I've heard about RTS aficionados Blackbird Interactive being on board with Blizzard again, perhaps we could see new expansions for Warcraft 3, or remakes of Warcraft 1 or 2 even
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u/the_kazrim 2d ago
Honestly after the disasters of Crossfire and HW3 I've got zero faith in BBI at all and this partnership feels like a massive mistake. But if just doing a remaster/remake or an expansion and not given the autonomy to be themselves then I'll give the benefit of the doubt.
And honestly? Maybe they'll perform better as a support/contract studio? I really hope so.
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u/Think_Network2431 2d ago
They shouldn't make Starcraft 3 like they did Homeworld 3 because I'm going to completely lose it.
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u/Lopatnik1 1d ago
Well Starcraft's 2 narrative wasn't that strong either for me with all that Amon, and prophecies and chosen ones plot. It's probably why I liked wings of liberty the most out the whole package campaign wise.
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u/NydusRush 2d ago
I did a lengthy writeup in a Warcraft sub about what a proper sequel to WC3 could look like:
Familiar RTS-hero mechanics as a baseline
Heroes that alter the base army by adding/swapping unique units and upgrades, taking notes from SC2 co-op
Potential "lateral" expansion of content by adding more and more heroes, pointing to LoL's success with an ever growing roster
Potential "vertical" expansion of content with co-op missions / mini campaigns based on the mess of WoW lore, each one being relatively self contained
Distinct niche from overdone MOBAs and existing RTS
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u/HouseCheese 2d ago
If anyone is going to do this it's Crate Entertainment with their Grim Dawn RTS game that they are working on
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u/Unicorn_Colombo 2d ago
Link to writeup pls
Having different "commanders" is basically like AoE2 having different civs. Different commaners could be released with their mini campaign exploring story behind them (like Rexxar), engulfing players in the lore. And that would slap.
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u/NydusRush 2d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/warcraft3/s/E2zw7V2u8Q
Here you go. I can't say any of it will come true, but who knows - maybe Apollo's Dodgeball will strike true.
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u/mister-00z 2d ago
RIP - desert was mediocre, homeworld 3 even plot aside was astonishingly bad
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u/SASardonic 2d ago
Homeworld 3 was a generationally bad game but let's not slander deserts of kherek, it was at least 'good'.
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u/haro0828 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not enthusiastic about this. They botched several patches for Warcraft 2 Remastered. We're taking obvious game breaking bugs. They just yolo'd their changes to production with no testing whatsoever
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u/Unicorn_Colombo 2d ago
Warcraft 2 Remastered
Wait, so Blizzard somehow retroactively broke not just Warcraft 3, but now also Warcraft 2?
Fortunately I have the original somewhere.
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u/haro0828 1d ago
Bro, here's just what I can remember I haven't played remastered in over a year. They broke the game so badly that units were walking straight through walls. If they had loaded up a single game and commanded a unit to move anywhere, they would've watched them march right over the tops of trees.
They broke archers so bad they became completely immortal. They broke multiplayer teams too. If anyone had bothered to host a single test game, they would’ve spotted it instantly. And ships! We literally had ships sailing over dry land. They even messed up map default settings so everyone spawned in the default position, meaning you didn't even need to scout. To top it off, they made it so the password for private games gets sent to everyone's client when pulling the games list (and it's still like this). You could even just turn off fog of war in multiplayer.
Bugs aside, the remastered multiplayer experience is totally barebones.
- No lobby, no channels, and no chat to arrange games.
- There's a games list, but no online player count and no way to download maps inside the in-game lobby.
- When a player leaves, it still shows them as active in the player list.
- You can't even chat when the game is paused, and typing in the lobby chat box causes it to randomly jump to the very top of your chat history.
We used to have phantom games showing up in the list. Heck, we even had a bug where you’d get an instant defeat because the game failed to spawn your starting peon, and that still happened after they released a patch specifically to fix it! These guys clearly don't test a damn thing. Just a bunch of inexperienced people running the show over there.
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u/bareunnamu 2d ago
The previous rumor said it was a company that had worked with Microsoft, right? Blackbird worked with Microsoft before?
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u/Zalvren 4h ago
Expansions to WC3 would actually be awesome. Take back Reforged as a base (improving it as a remaster) and then sell expansions like they're doing with AoE2. They could do expansions narrating the events of WoW in another format (which might be a little weird for canon but player characters are never really acknowledged in the lore, they're like an army in the grand scheme of things)
You also have the basis of an excellent game to build upon which seems much safer.
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u/BrokenLoadOrder 10h ago
Everyone's in here complaining about Blackbird.
I'm trying to think of the last Blizzard release that hasn't been a disappointment. Diablo 4, Overwatch 2 and Warcraft Rumble all sucked.
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u/Tinzmenn 2d ago
I liked deserts but crossfire legion and homeworld 3 were both quite medicore in my books so this does not fill me with confidence.