Blizzard cancels survival game following layoffs

“Today’s actions affect multiple teams within Blizzard, including development teams, shared service organizations and corporate functions,” Matt Booty, head of Xbox Studios, said in a note to staff. “As part of this focus, Blizzard is ending development on its survival game project and will be shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.”

As part of the announcement, Booty also confirmed that Blizzard president Mike Ybarra will be leaving the company, as is chief design officer Allen Adham.

While few details, including a name, were revealed for the survival game, it was notable as a rare new franchise from Blizzard, which primarily focuses on its core brands of Diablo, Warcraft, Overwatch, and Starcraft. The survival game would’ve been the studio’s first new IP since Overwatch debuted in 2016.