I think Blizzard is in a pretty interesting position at the moment.
World of Warcraft's popularity is slowly fading. They manage to reinvigorate interest temporarily with new expansions, but my overall impression is that it's losing effectiveness as time goes on. I predict that the current 'Legion' expansion was a last spurt of sorts. There'll be a few more expansions, but whatever comes after this will no longer draw the same high numbers, and for even shorter times. Mind you, I don't play the game, so perhaps my view is incorrect.
With the release of Legacy of the Void, Starcraft 2 has entered its support phase. Arguably the game currently experiences more communication and proper support than ever before, so I think that's been working out well. Blizzard has decided to start adding in the much requested voice packs, skin packs, etc. But it's likely all a bit too late. This all should have happened many years ago already. The playerbase isn't really all that impressive anymore, so they're probably not earning much from it. Still, it's very pleasant to see, and I've started playing the game for the first time in nearly 2 years. The game even seems to be experiencing some newfound interest among more casual players due to the new Co-op modes...
With that said, Starcraft's story is virtually finished. At the very least this chapter of the game is completely over, all major loose ends have been tied into a knot.
I lack perspective on the Diablo franchise to make any predictions, but last I heard the hopes of a Diablo 4 were answered with a Diablo remaster instead? So I guess Diablo's fate is undecided as well? if anyone has inputs on Diablo's future, I'll try to summarize and add them in.
Blizzard's new 'cashcows' are all a little bit barebone games: Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and Overwatch.
While each of them is a really solid game in their own rights, the former two lack the potential for the proper story and world-building Blizzard is known for. Overwatch has great potential, and probably already has terrabytes of assets from project Titan available for immediate use, but Blizz seems to be using it sparingly. For now OW's story elements are limited to one-liner dialogs, map secrets and separate short movies on YT.
I'm pretty sure among these Hearthstone makes the biggest bank, or at least will carry on making bank the longest as it's the most accessible game of the bunch. I think Overwatch's longevity may not be that long, judging from the pace at which new stuff gets introduced into the game. In the past year HotS received 16 new heroes, 2.5 new maps, and and like 50 new skins. Overwatch has received... 1 new map and 2 new heroes and maybe a handful of skins?
Essentially, with all it's well-known franchises wrapping up one way or another, what's Blizzard's next move?
With the exception of one rumor, there isn't much news of Blizzard even working on anything major at the moment. No new IP's in sight, nor sequels for the existing big ones (Other than probably a few more WoW expansions).
Do you think they will try to close the curtains on the current major IP's? Are they tired of them? Can we expect an influx of brand-new franchises like Overwatch? More games built from the core of the cancelled project Titan?
Or could a Warcraft 4 / Starcraft 3 be on the way after all?
The RTS genre is in a bit of tough spot right now. It seems as if even Blizzard feels a bit uncertain about whether investing money here would net them any profits.
Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm rely heavily on the influence of these existing franchises. If the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo IP's don't last, they'll have issues expanding HS and HotS too.
I believe there's potential for a Starcraft 3, but not with any of the current main characters. At most Valerian Mengsk and Matt Horner in their later years. Starcraft is my favorite among Blizzard's IP's, so I'll be very happy to see more of that.
There's also always been an interest in a new Warcraft RTS game, but considering how much time has passed already, it appears Blizzard seems somewhat reluctant to touch on this subject at all. Perhaps they feel it might cannibalize WoW's profits?
I've discussed this a bit with a friend of mine as well. We agree there's a very large possibility Blizzard will build upon Overwatch by introducing a single player campaign. Either as a standalone game or as an expansion to the current game. It just seems like it makes the most sense. Blizzard surely had a grand story in mind for OW, but it can't be expressed properly in a 5v5 team game. It is probably the most viable path, and I'd like to see it a lot, personally. There's already some news of Blizzard working on a unannounced project that utilizes a robust first-person engine, though it can't really be considered anything more than a rumor.
What do you think Blizzard has in store for us in the foreseeable future?
Additionally notable perhaps is the retirement of Chris Metzen. For better of for worse Metzen has always been knee-deep in the creation process of almost every Blizzard Game. His name is almost as iconic as the IP's themselves. Does his retirement further decrease the chance of our beloved IP's returning?
TL;DR - Blizzard's older franchises are seemingly ending. What now?
In fact, they likely already had a team or two working on thing(s) that will be either revealed in year or two, or killed.
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