A new game studio formed by former developers of World of Warcraft has emerged. They are working on the ‘next great RPG world’.
Even though Blizzard has captured attention with mostly negative headlines in recent months, it must be noted that at least one positive thing has emerged from the developer studio: other developer studios. Another one has now been formed, consisting of 8 WoW veterans who want to create a new RPG.
What kind of developer studio is this? The new developer studio is named ‘Notorious’ and consists of 8 former Blizzard veterans. The name actually has history, as the developers played in a guild with the same name for nearly 17 years. Some of the developers are:
- Chris Kaleiki: He was a Systems and Class Designer in World of Warcraft. Among other things, he designed the Monk class and the PvP talent system.
- Cole Eastburn: He designed some of the most iconic artworks for Warcraft, shaping the appearance of many well-known characters (via Artstation).
- Colin Volrath: One of the former level designers at Blizzard. He is responsible for the design of the dungeon “The Other Side”, but also the city of Boralus is partially credited to him by WoW players.
In a short introductory video, they reveal the rough plans and what to expect from Notorious:
What genre will it be? Those who think that Notorious Studios is developing the next big MMORPG should temper their expectations a bit. Currently, the studio consists of just 8 people and is set to grow to 12 in the near future – far too few to develop a massive MMORPG.
However, they mention in their introductory video that the studio’s first game will be based on the passions of the developers. These are the points:
- Core RPG Fantasy
- Multiplayer Gameplay
- Focus on Combat
This would at least suggest an RPG with co-op components.
When can we expect a game? That is still uncertain. After the founding of a new studio, it usually takes several years before anything tangible is created. Although the demand for new games is high, developers should be given enough time. Perhaps in two or three years, there will be some initial images to look at.
Notorious focuses on community: Already in the first video, Chris Kaleiki makes it clear that they want to build a strong connection with the community and believe that players have an important influence on the development of games. They want to be open, show more developers and the office in future videos, and generally maintain active communication with the community.
At the same time, the hierarchy in the company is supposed to be quite flat. There are no “Leads” or “Directors”. They hope to avoid a toxic work environment this way. A good working atmosphere is also one of the 6 core values of Notorious, as “Team first, then players” means that you must first create a great studio to later deliver great games.
It will be exciting to see what Notorious Studios creates in the coming years. As soon as there are initial details about a possible game, we will report about it on MeinMMO.
