Blizzard Will Release Two Games In 2012

Activision, despite closing down studios as fast as they can, are at least planning on releasing some games. 2012, they promise, will feature two Blizzard titles. That's if neither of them appear this year, anyway. Which they expect they won't. But they still might. But they probably won't. The two games in question most likely being the next portion of StarCraft II, Heart Of The Swarm, and of course Diablo 3. Which they'll probably only release once they've got over 3 million followers on Twitter, or something equally inane.

Speaking on one of those mysterious "financial earning calls" that I'm grateful I've never been invited to listen to (and thankful that Joystiq were), the improbably named Activision COO (pronounced, "cooooooo!") Thomas Tippl explained that,

"Because Blizzard Entertainment has not yet confirmed the launch date for its next global release, our outlook at this time does not include a new game from Blizzard in 2011."

I'd love to know the dynamics of the Activsion/Blizzard relationship. For a company as transfixed by release dates and advertising revenues as Acti, working alongside a "dun when it's dun" developer of such an epic scale must make them apoplectic. Until they notice the wads of hundred dollar bills pouring through the pipe network every second from the giant WoW machine, and collect themselves. Tippl continued,

"Should we not see a major title from Blizzard this year, we would expect for planning purposes to launch a minimum of two Blizzard titles in 2012."

No release date is planned for Diablo 3 because they're waiting to see player reaction from a forthcoming beta. A beta they promise to talk about in three months time.

So it's looking pretty likely that Blizzard will be marking their 20th anniversary by not releasing any games at all.