Former Blizzard Entertainment and Gazillion Entertainment developers announced a brand new collectible card game. The former developers co-founded a small studio, and this upcoming online game marks the team's first major game announcement.
The online card game market continues to become more and more saturated after Blizzard's Hearthstone proved that it was a lucrative genre when done correctly. The success of Blizzard's game even led Wizards of the Coast, the owner of the most popular physical trading card game on the planet in Magic: The Gathering, to take a second run at an online client more aligned with the aesthetics and casual feel of Hearthstone. Magic Arena is now enjoying a massively popular open beta phase, and there are even more games, like Valve's Artifact and CD Projekt Red's Gwent, coming soon to capitalize on the surging market for online card battling. Now, a studio called Rhino Games from former Blizzard and Gazillion developers have announced something new.
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Rhino Games, a studio that was co-founded by former Blizzard developer Peter Hu and former Gazillion developer Paxton Mason, has announced the development of an online collectible card game called Mythgard. Hu was a senior member of the Diablo 2 team during his tenure at Blizzard, while Mason was a collaborator on the Google X and Gazillion Entertainment development squads. Their game, Mythgard, is described as a vast world where ancient beings, mythological creatures, and mortals all battle for control using both magic and technology. The game is apparently inspired by urban paranormal stories, and will feature both a single player and multiplayer campaign when it launches as a free-to-play title. The full release date has yet to be announced, but Mythgard will be launching a closed beta in January 2019, meaning feedback on the game will arrive shortly after Artifact and Gwent have made their mark on the online CCG landscape.
Mythgard will be looking to set itself apart using some innovative elements, including a 2v2 multiplayer mode that should help keep friends involved in each other's progress. The game will also launch with over 330 unique cards, meaning the initial card pool will be deeper than average. The hope is to likely give players a lot of freedom in their deck-building decisions right from the start, rather than tide people over with smaller card pools while other, longer-tenured games offer much more variety.
Rhino Games' generous approach with Mythgard's launch isn't just smart, but necessary. Launching its closed beta into one of the most hotly contested online genres in recent memory can make it run the risk of being easily overshadowed. So, the background of Rhino's co-founders, as well as their strong launch, may well lead to positive results. That said, it certainly wouldn't hurt to add a Battle Royale feature to entice even more potential players.
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Source: Rhino Games