Thursday, January 24th 2019
CD Projekt Red Narrative Director Joins Blizzard Entertainment After Work on Cyberpunk 2077
This story has been going around the online media for a few hours now, with some arguably baseless speculation on the future of the hotly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 game added. Indeed, the facts are only that Sebastian Stępień, who has been with CD Projekt Red for over 12 years, has listed also a new job position as Creative Director for Blizzard Entertainment as of this month. He has been the Narrative and Setting Director for everyone's favorite Polish game outfit, and there is no word yet on whether he has actually quit this position, or whether there is a transition period in place wherein he will continue to be involved as necessary for Cyberpunk 2077 to go gold.
It is unlikely that such a transition period will exist, however, if only because such roles in the corporate ladder involve a physical move- especially when the companies are over an ocean apart. There is no reason to speculate that this will affect the finished product as far as the game goes, if only because the role of narration is essentially over with when this late in the development cycle. There is also speculation galore on how future DLC might get affected, which is valid, but sources in the game industry suggest that storyboards are already in place, and overall plans will not be affected much. We should be more interested in what he brings to Blizzard Entertainment, which has been sorely lacking in new IP in the past decade.
Source:
LinkedIn Profile for Sebastian Stępień
It is unlikely that such a transition period will exist, however, if only because such roles in the corporate ladder involve a physical move- especially when the companies are over an ocean apart. There is no reason to speculate that this will affect the finished product as far as the game goes, if only because the role of narration is essentially over with when this late in the development cycle. There is also speculation galore on how future DLC might get affected, which is valid, but sources in the game industry suggest that storyboards are already in place, and overall plans will not be affected much. We should be more interested in what he brings to Blizzard Entertainment, which has been sorely lacking in new IP in the past decade.
19 Comments on CD Projekt Red Narrative Director Joins Blizzard Entertainment After Work on Cyberpunk 2077
What are they gonna do?? Make a SteamPunk style starcraft?
Here's for hoping.
Was it even ever such a great story to begin with, I wonder. It had nice cutscenes (the old Diablos) for its time, that is what stuck with me the most. The story itself? You're some random someone and get caught up in a quest to kill demons... right? (300+ hours played...)
Honestly Blizzard sorely needs some new IP, and I really hope that's part of his job description. Diablo was actually dead and buried when they released 3 and consoleified it, there are better alternatives out now and I'm sure it'll be a smash hit on mobile devices (format is fine for simple control schemes). HotS got axed by Blizz themselves, Overwatch needs no writing and neither does Hearthstone. Starcraft is EOL. What's left?
You're not some random somebody, you are a character in a rich world with a nice background story of the place you came from. Read up on some Diablo books and lore, there's plenty (6000+ hours played...). Thousands of years of war, locations and events accrued in sanctuary since its inception by the creator.
I do agree that Blizz can use another 1-2 IPs, but there's still tons of ground to cover with its existing universes.
Good for him.
No reason to continue working for a smaller publisher that makes "decent games" when you can go to a large publisher that makes "games" but pays 3x or better.
If there is one overarching theme with all of Blizzards' games is that they really know how to build distinct characters for their games. Warcraft has several returning legends that everybody knows. Similar thing with Diablo - even I know them, while not caring about the story at all, and that includes some of their voice lines. Starcraft also has many very cool characters, like Raynor, Kerrigan, etc.
And even Overwatch, every hero is really quite unique and peculiar, stands out and is well developed overall. DOTA, which started its life as a mod for Warcraft 3, also eagerly used the iconic character (models) and borrows heavily from the Warcraft lore, while not copying it. It is part of its success as well.
When it comes to the actual writing I think Blizzard is a great employer.
I felt after D3 blizzard just made games for money, they still keep their older games alive which is great.
Same thing about Stacraft. It is my number one, hands down game of all time for me. I have watched thousands of hours of GSL, Live championships, Day9 TV, etc.. etc...and played myself and you know what....I can't tell you a single story from the SC universe. Not a single one. Played the single player campaign multiple times as well, watched videos explaining what's going on and I didn't bother to buy a single book from the series.
Same thing with Warcraft3. If it wasn't for the movie I'd probably wouldn't be able to tell you what the orcs were fighting for. So, yeah I don't know, but Blizz aren't the brightest story-wise IMHO.