The studio Frost Giant is working on a new real-time strategy game (“RTS”). So far, the developers have been able to raise $9.7 million from sponsors. Not much is known about the game yet, but the people behind Frost Giant know what they are doing.
What kind of strategy game is this? So far, there is no concrete information about the upcoming RTS. According to Frost Giant’s official website, the developers want to advance “epic storytelling, innovative co-op gameplay, and celebrated e-sports.”
It is quite possible that a game will come in the direction of StarCraft 2, which has already been able to combine all these nuances, but is no longer being developed. The fact that the developers behind the new RTS already have experience with Blizzard’s strategy games speaks for it.
In an interview with US site Forbes, the executives also mentioned that the setting should stand out because “some settings are already strongly associated with certain games.” However, their setting is supposed to be “unique.”
Who is working on it? Frost Giant Studios consists of many former employees of Blizzard Entertainment, including Tim Morten, Tim Campbell, and James Anhalt:
- Tim Morten is CEO and Product Director, having previously worked as Product Director for StarCraft 2 and Command & Conquer: Generals 2
- Tim Campbell is President and Game Director and was previously, among other things, the campaign designer for Warcraft 3
- James Anhalt was the Lead Engineer on Starcraft 2 and is now working as Chief Architect at Frost Giant
According to Forbes, Frost Giant has already managed to raise $9.7 million from sponsors to make the game a reality. That’s another $5 million more than they were able to raise in October 2020. Among these sponsors is also Blizzard competitor Riot Games.
New food for an “underserved” market
That’s why Frost Giant is making an RTS: The fact that the studio chooses a seemingly niche genre has a good reason. According to Campbell, the market for strategy games is “undersupplied”:
Many companies are leaving this area. But there is a loyal and passionate audience and a lot of untapped gameplay potential. We see a truly great opportunity to create something special in this area.
Morten shares a similar opinion, saying: “There is an incredible community around real-time strategy […] that is hungry for more games.”
Indeed, the area of strategy games has been somewhat barren for years and is dominated by a few giants because strong sequels are missing. Titles like Age of Empires 2 or StarCraft 2 are many years old and still popular among players.
Many studios are currently focusing on other projects. Even Blizzard, which owns two of the most famous RTS series with Warcraft and StarCraft, prefers to work on a new action game.
A good sign of how much players long for new or improved games is the new Total War 3. It showed a new trailer in February 2021 and immediately became a top seller on Steam.
When will the new game be released? In the interview, the two executives mentioned that the project will take several years. They are aiming for around four years, so 2025, but they are developing according to Blizzard’s motto: “It’s done when it’s done.”
To bridge the waiting time, fortunately, there are still other titles in the genre. Although some are already older, they are still good. We will show you the 13 best strategy games for PC with multiplayer 2021.
