Speaking at GDC earlier today, Bungie lead network engineer David Aldridge used the words “massively multiplayer action game” to describe the developer’s first foray away from the Halo franchise since 2001 (from IGN). Aldridge emphasized that the game is not “WoW in space” (was anyone was saying Bungie had to do another space sci-fi game?) and will be published by Activision, but unfortunately, that’s about all the information we’re going to get right now.

Action games in MMO format don’t have a great track record, as APB can attest, and I’m trying to get my head around how the design of a game like that would work. In games that depend on building teams out of diverse class types, it’s hard to get around the use of statistics-based abilities, and those tend to be cultivated through a lengthy leveling process. If they’re trying to come up with something that has the relative social advantages of an MMO without the grinding and gear-mongering, should be interesting to see how that will work. Maybe the first real “WoW-killer” won’t be anything like WarCraft at all.