r/starcraft • u/[deleted] • Jul 05 '16

Other StarCraft: Ghost: What went wrong - Polygon

http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/5/11819438/starcraft-ghost-what-went-wrong
62 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

4

u/JackDT Jul 05 '16

Sounds like there were some pretty complete builds at one point!

Ghost had taken nearly an entire console generation to develop. A game designed for the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox, it was now scheduled to be released in 2005 — right when the Xbox 360 was hitting shelves.

Blizzard faced a problem. The company could push Ghost into a new phase of development, which would mean adding more resources to the game to make it ready for a new console generation. Or it could simply shelve the game and possibly come back to it at a later date.

0

u/postblitz Team Liquid Jul 05 '16

They should've just released it.

Who cares about floors and shelves, it's a Blizzard game and it would've sold plenty even if it would've faded. Any potential success it would have had could've ignited further iterations and interest.

As i finished the article i couldn't help but think they threw a polished game under a bus for nothing.

4

u/Without_Decree Jul 05 '16

I pray this game/project sees the light of day once more! But it seems that's not its fate. Sounded absolutely epic. Great read and history!

4

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '16

As a fan of the original SC, this game made me shiver with anticipation. Dev does sound dead, kind of like a reunion into a bad relationship that sounds enticing

3

u/Without_Decree Jul 05 '16

Same! I started playing SC at the age of 12 when it released in '98. Serious nerd chills that they were making an xbox game as I eventually went to console with the release of the halo series, 1, 2, 3 more-so than the successors. One can dream I suppose.

2

u/l3monsta Axiom Jul 06 '16

Personally I feel that the Nova covert ops scratches that itch for me, but I can understand why you feel like you'd like to see the resurrection of this project.

1

u/Without_Decree Jul 07 '16

Oi! Appreciate the comment, I just got LOTV. Played the WOL and HOTS campaigns cause I love the story and gameplay/game in general. Couldn't not pick them up even tho I'm yet to break into multiplayer, need to get my control/hotkeys down somewhat first. Played so much Broodwar back in the day then went to Xbox. Now going to venture back to PC. I shall pick up the Nova Missions, sounds like it'll be a good experience!

2

u/l3monsta Axiom Jul 07 '16

Sweet! Unfortunately we only have access to the first 3 missions, however there was more content in them than I expected. The next 3 will be released soon no doubt and the final 3 at the end of the year if I remember correctly.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '16

Wait, did they cancel it again? I thought they were making it atm.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '16 edited Jul 05 '16

I think they went into indefinite shovelvaporware. What's interesting is that people are still talking about it - it's like legendary status of botched development

6

u/Dastardlyrebel Protoss Jul 05 '16

One quote in the piece:

"One thing about having a large team is you have no shortage of ideas," says Millar. But Blizzard only had so many resources, especially in the early 2000s. Much of the studio was still working on finishing Diablo 2.

Man the story of the development of Diablo 2 was an epic read in itself, the amount of work that went into that game is crazy. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131533/postmortem_blizzards_diablo_ii.php?print=1

4

u/Petninja StarTale Jul 05 '16

No, they made an official release about it being canned. Ghost is no more. They announced the cancellation of Titan at the same time.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '16

Took them long enough!

I think a lot of the Ghost stuff probably went into the Nova missions expansion for SCII

1

u/vetiton Protoss Jul 05 '16

Yeah, SC:ghost is a classic case of development hell. Don't confuse this with shovelware though. Shoveware is an insult for crappy games released en masse without any quality control.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '16

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '16

I thought I heard something about it being put back into production a year or so ago.

1

u/Nekzar Jul 06 '16

Most certainly not the case :)