After waiting a length of time comparable to 'forever', Blizzard finally released StarCraft 2 last year. In a separate wait of forever, fans had to wait over a decade for Diablo III, which is now in our grasp as Game Rant plays its beta, but like StarCraft 2 before it, it's been pushed back again and now has an early 2012 release date. While these events are finally giving gamers a look at what Blizzard still has outside of World of Warcraft, for the first time in... forever, Blizzard is about to announce something new, something different and that announcement may be coming very soon. Yes, we're talking about Titan.

Last December, it was confirmed that Titan was indeed a new IP, an upcoming MMO from Blizzard, but no details were confirmed. All we have are rumors and speculation about it being a mix of sci-fi and fantastical elements but more information may be coming soon, at least, according to M2 Research senior analyst Billy Pidgeon.

Pidgeon tells VentureBeat that Blizzard is feeling a little pressure from EA who just announced Star Wars: The Old Republic will be coming this December. With Diablo 3 pushed back to next year, what will Blizzard bring that's new to BlizzCon next month?

"If they are holding any juicy details, it’s going to be announced at Blizzcon. The big news is probably going to be a Diablo 3 date and a possible new announcement about one or more new properties."

With Diablo 3 already playable and it getting pushed to early next year, a release date announcement at BlizzCon seems a certain at this point, but like Pidgeon says, they do have to bring more than that to this expensive fan convention.

The bigger issue here for Blizzard is how much the release of The Old Republic, arguably the first legitimate contender in the MMO market, will affect the slightly declining subscriber count for WoW. Because of that major announcement from Electronic Arts and BioWare, does Blizzard need to re-focus some industry attention on what they're working on in secret?

It won't be until 2013 at the earliest that Titan could release, according to speculation and a "leaked" Blizzard release schedule, but Blizzard does believe that Titan will be bigger than World of Warcraft. Will it erode the fanbase and suffice as a replacement? Or will its ambitious nature and rumored focus on the "casual" market target a new demographic?

Lots of question marks combined with lots of excitement give Blizzard an opportunity to earn a lot of buzz when the spotlight is on them next month.

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Source: VentureBeat