In a move that feels like déjà vu from every gamer’s worst nightmare, Blizzard’s long-anticipated survival game, codenamed ‘Odyssey’, has been axed. This decision comes alongside the departure of Blizzard’s president, Mike Ybarra, and chief design officer, Allen Adham, as Microsoft lays off 1,900 staff within its gaming division, setting the stage for a wonderful 2024…
Since its announcement in 2022, Project ‘Odyssey’ has been gathering dust in Blizzard’s vault despite being an ambitious new IP for a company renowned for hits like Warcraft and Diablo. Insiders described it as a survival game similar to Everwild, set in a vast universe supporting up to 100 players at once.
Just like in Fallout 76, players could craft and sell items and also set up their own potion shops to trade with fellow players. Everything about it gave the impression of the beginning of a legendary franchise, but alas, that was not to be.
Originally prototyped on Unreal Engine, the project hit a roadblock when Blizzard’s bosses decided Unreal wasn’t the right fit for their grand vision. This is where Synapse, the in-house engine that was originally created for mobile games, came in. In theory, it was a brilliant move – except, in reality, Synapse was absolutely ill-suited to handle a project of this size.
Engine changes are almost always catastrophic, and the development team found themselves with the herculean task of trying to bend Synapse to their will. This lead to a reliance on Unreal Engine for prototyping, only to then trash what they had built. All this inefficiency was the reason why ‘Odyssey’ spent six years in development with nothing to show for it.
Ironically, some team members were holding out hope that Microsoft’s acquisition would allow them to return to Unreal Engine. However as fate would have it, the game was so far from release that it might as well have been a concept in discussion.
Estimates for a release date were floating around 2026, and that was being optimistic. Inevitably, the realization dawned that Synapse simply wasn’t well suited for the project, leading to the cancellation of ‘Odyssey’, as reported by The Verge.
More than just being about the death of a game, it also serves as a glimpse into the chaotic world of development, where the fight between artistic vision and technical feasibility never ends. Maybe ‘Odyssey’ would have turned out to be the greatest Blizzard IP; maybe not. The only thing that’s certain is that the development strategy employed in its infancy placed it on a doomed path.
Still, we cannot forget the people behind this project, who have now been shown the door. This year has already begun in the same fashion as last year, which was absolutely horrendous for the gaming industry. Now, more than ever, companies need to be accountable for decisions to lay off thousands of employees. This trend cannot and should not be allowed to go on any longer.
