Game developer and publisher Blizzard has been around long enough to have a bundle of classic games under its belt. While it hasn’t abandoned those games, releasing new titles over the years in the (world of) Warcraft, the StarCraft universe, and the Diablo franchise, some of its older games are a little hard to play today.
Fortunately we live in the age of HD remasterings and remakes, and some suggestions point to Blizzard doing just that with some classics.
Warcraft III we already know is getting a spiritual remake from modders in the form of Armies of Azeroth, but a job listing that Blizzard posted for a “senior software engineer, classic games” suggests that we may be looking at more than just that being brought into the 21st century.
In case we didn’t catch the hint from the title though, the actual description of the role names three Blizzard classics by name: “Compelling stories. Intense multiplayer. Endless replayability. Qualities that made StarCraft, Warcraft III, and Diablo II the titans of their day,” it reads.
“We’re restoring them to glory, and we need your engineering talents, your passion and your ability to get tough jobs done.” That just about spells it out.
Some of the responsibilities Blizzard paints for the role are important too, as while remastering a game is one thing, doing it right is another entirely. Fortunately Blizzard highlights making these games work on modern operating systems; references improving the aesthetics to match the high-level of gameplay; the addition of new features and “curating” old ones; fixing up bugs and crashes and making hacking and cheating in multiplayer as difficult as possible.
That’s just about the bucket list of every fan who has ever looked at a gaming classic and wished for it to be updated to the modern age.
The only caveat to this whole story — and why we aren’t saying for sure that Blizzard is redoing all of these old games — is a statement to PC Gamer when asked about the classics. Blizzard said that the job listing was related to maintaining older games that still have thriving communities. That’s not exactly a “no,” but it’s not a yes either.
