Blizzard won't confirm what
purports to be a leaked timeline for its product slate in the next few years, telling Gamasutra: "Blizzard Entertainment does not comment on rumors and speculation."
But the sheet, widely circulated on the internet and reported to have originated from Blizzard's Chinese subsidiary, includes fairly plausible data points, including the company's potential plan to support third-party titles with its Battle.net online service.
Although there have been no announcements of such a plan, Blizzard's Greg Canessa recently
told Gamasutra that may make sense in the future, as part of a "10 year plan" for the service: "Some day, maybe we add other titles in there," he said. "Who knows?"
"When we really feel like we've really delivered that kick-ass set of experiences for Blizzard games, and we feel like we've grown the team -- and you've heard some of my challenges growing the team and finding the talent."
"When I've got that sustainability, when we really feel like we've got that dialed in and nailed down... who knows what the future holds?," he added.
Reports say the "project timeline" originated in China in April, and shows third-party Battle.net support arriving by the first quarter of 2012. The unconfirmed timeline also claims the company plans to release
Diablo III in the fourth quarter of 2011, and new expansion products relating to
StarCraft II at about the same time.
Finally and notably, the list shows "
Titan" -- Blizzard's next big MMO, possibly -- as slated for a fourth quarter 2014 release on the internal schedule.
