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Blizzcon 2018 - 'Do you guys not have phones?'

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    #16
    I still to this day don’t understand what Blizzard got out of selling to Activision. I’m pretty sure Blizzard had at the time nearly as much assets in the bank, Great back catalogue, plans going forward and great teams in place.

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      #17
      I've been away a few days so haven't had much chance to weigh in on this, but I've been following the news.

      Should probably say (though it doesn't need to be said, really) that the idea that there are people vilifying individuals for the actions of Blizzard, a corporation, is in poor taste. No individual (at least probably none we've seen) is responsible when this kind of thing happens.

      Putting that aside, though, this is a monumental screw-up for them. And to complain at their audience? I mean both of those things are ridiculous.

      I mean, you don't get to complain at your audience for not liking your product. That's not even the first rule of business; it's like an unspoken expectation that anyone going into business has to accept. This is the actual definition of the phrase "the customer is always right".

      Secondly though, there's a sense of arrogance here. Back at E3, when EA made an announcement for their C&C mobile game, their community eviscerated them. A few years ago, Square-Enix teased a new Star Ocean game, then revealed it was a mobile card-collecting game, and their community crucified them. The gaming community still smells of the damp ashes and Blizzard have chosen that moment to wade in with a can of petrol and a box of matches!

      The reason I say this is arrogance and not simply foolishness is that Blizzard couldn't have missed this. They watch their rivals very closely (remember when Blizzard and EA were playing chicken over the releases of SWTOR and that year's WoW Expansion? Not to mention Battlefield and CoD). No; they will have seen both those incidents I mentioned above but decided, for whatever arcane reasoning they could muster, that their announcement would fare better.

      Then doing it at Blizcon, their event which pulls in their core audience; i.e. people on the level of hardcore that they are prepared to fly across-country and even cross oceans to be there... Even if the game looks good (I haven't actually seen the video), that doesn't matter. You don't announce a romance novel at the Olympics, you don't announce a movie at the Rhode Island Book Fair and you don't announce a mobile game at a core gaming event. They're as different markets as movies and YouTube videos, or Michelin-star dining and Walkers' Crisps.

      This whole thing is just bizarre. Normally when this kind of thing happens, there's a rationale. I might not agree with it but I can usually see it. Often it's the "no news is bad news" problem where the company is trying to court a controversy to drive headlines (classic example was that "bloody torso" special edition of that Dead Island game which was a hoax; a fact which was infuriatingly obvious yet the press went on the warpath about it like moths to a flame). In this case though, I just can't see any "good" outcome here. It's just a complete and utter cluster-****.

      Their PR department probably got to work about half an hour ago. I would love to be a fly-on-the-wall in the meeting that'll happen there at 10am.

      Originally posted by fishbowlhead View Post
      I still to this day don’t understand what Blizzard got out of selling to Activision. I’m pretty sure Blizzard had at the time nearly as much assets in the bank, Great back catalogue, plans going forward and great teams in place.
      They were a public company, and Vivendi owned them. If I recall correctly (though I may be mistaken here), Vivendi were trying to raise the cash to buy Ubisoft as part of the whole deal.

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        #18
        I think it shows a massive lack of understanding what your audience wants. Blizzard were charging $50 just to watch the stream of the event, let alone the ticket cost for going there and they then announce a blatant mobile cash grab and wonder why their audience is angry.

        That's really bad optics.

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          #19
          Originally posted by MartyG View Post
          I think it shows a massive lack of understanding what your audience wants. Blizzard were charging $50 just to watch the stream of the event, let alone the ticket cost for going there and they then announce a blatant mobile cash grab and wonder why their audience is angry.

          That's really bad optics.
          Wait wait wait, what now? They were CHARGING to watch an announcement stream?

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            #20
            https://blizzcon.com/en-us/event-info/tickets/virtual

            £34.99 in the UK. It does get you a number of exclusive in-game tat, complete live coverage of the whole event (the opening presentation is free to all) and has been going for years now. It's not just Blizzard either - Digital Extremes do something similar for Tennocon. And there are other examples too.

            I was sad enough to buy it, but for me it was the in-game tat and the access to the WoW Classic demo.

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              #21
              Wow £35 quid

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                #22

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                  #23
                  Originally posted by fishbowlhead View Post
                  Wait wait wait, what now? They were CHARGING to watch an announcement stream?
                  Originally posted by vanpeebles View Post
                  Wow £35 quid
                  Sometimes I wonder if some of you are stuck in the 16-bit era.

                  If you play lots of Blizzard games then the virtual ticket for the in-game items is considered reasonably cheap (i.e. ten Hearthstone card packs etc.). I'm not that big a Blizzard fan but I have been playing WoW for many years now. And also play a number of their other games. Charging hardcore fans for virtual tickets isn't new.

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                    #24
                    No, but it's an insulting kick in the balls when the top announcement at your virtual ticket event is a mobile game which will be full of microtransactions

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                      #25
                      Absolutely. And given the hints from the community manager and the story from Kotaku it definitely sounds as if Blizzard pulled another Diablo announcement fairly late in the day.

                      But at least the Blizzcon Virtual Ticket doesn't affect the design of the games in anyway and is just cool stuff for their games, as well as including the event coverage and WoW Classic demo. It's one of the few 'mtx' I don't really have a problem with.

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                        #26
                        Seems a bit weird to charge £35 for it, not to mention pretty pricey, but a) I don’t really know what goes on at BlizzCon, other than people queuing up to have a go at developers in a big room and b) YDY.

                        Honestly the nerd rage over this leaves me completely cold. They were stupid to end with it as their big announcement - no idea how they didn’t realise how that would go down - but the reaction seems completely disproportionate. If they’d said that this was Diablo 4, and it’s a mobile game, I could understand it a little more, but they didn’t.

                        There’s an odd belief among certain gamers that companies trying to make money out of their games and properties is inherently immoral.

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                          #27
                          Originally posted by wakka View Post
                          Honestly the nerd rage over this leaves me completely cold. They were stupid to end with it as their big announcement - no idea how they didn’t realise how that would go down - but the reaction seems completely disproportionate. If they’d said that this was Diablo 4, and it’s a mobile game, I could understand it a little more, but they didn’t.

                          There’s an odd belief among certain gamers that companies trying to make money out of their games and properties is inherently immoral.
                          I'm not going to defend the anger or how people have reacted but I think there is more to it than that. Diablo is a storied, long standing and genre defining game series that is extremely popular but the relationship between it's hardcore fans and the company has been strained for a while. Particularly that when look at the franchise since 2001, there has been one game which many regard as dumbed down and launched with a real money auction house that nearly destroyed the game. It wasn't until Blizzard removed the AH, that the game then arguably shinned and received it's only major content. Nearly 5 years ago. Since then Diablo has languished with no real support and is the worst off of any of the current Blizzard games.

                          Given that history it was always going to be a sensitive subject. On top of this Blizzard have never confirmed Diablo 4. Sure it might be obvious but until it's announced no one knows for sure what and where it is. And then you have a company which is becoming more and more aggressive in it's business models and microtransactions. For a company that was once a darling to it's hardcore fans it's not difficult to see that relationship breaking down a bit. I think you've seen similar reactions around Valve and their card game for example, where people just want certain games that they love developed.

                          All of that said excluding the history and issues with Diablo, did Blizzard make basic errors at Blizzcon. Personally I think the criticism of the announcement (i.e. centre stage at the end, and the only Diablo thing), the implementation (i.e. not being developed in-house or part of a platform) and the response since. It's hard not to agree that they didn't make errors in some way.
                          Last edited by Digfox; 06-11-2018, 11:22.

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                            #28
                            Originally posted by Digfox View Post
                            Given that history it was always going to be a sensitive subject. On top of this Blizzard have never confirmed Diablo 4.
                            Blizzard leading up to Blizzcon did hint (numerous times) at a big Diablo announcement at the event,
                            which definitely didn't help things.

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                              #29
                              Originally posted by wakka View Post
                              Honestly the nerd rage over this leaves me completely cold. They were stupid to end with it as their big announcement - no idea how they didn’t realise how that would go down - but the reaction seems completely disproportionate. If they’d said that this was Diablo 4, and it’s a mobile game, I could understand it a little more, but they didn’t.

                              There’s an odd belief among certain gamers that companies trying to make money out of their games and properties is inherently immoral.
                              Sorry Wakka, but I have to disagree with you there.

                              Blizzard are a business, yes, but they've also cultivated a community to whom they have tried to make their products the focus of their lives. This isn't by accident; I mean the announcement was at an event for people who love their products. It's mindbending in a sense; I mean could you imagine people going to a big expo for Primark? Or San Miguel? Or Adidas? Still, Blizzard have consciously built that community and provided them things like BlizCon because it makes them bank. It provides them a die-hard audience who are going to buy their products year-in, year-out, because they love Blizzard's games - and if you're charging your community god-knows how much money for a ticket to your convention, you should probably ensure that every single announcement caters 110% directly to them, because they've paid and traveled to be there.

                              Consequently I think the fanbase is allowed to be angry about this. I'm not okay with them targeting individuals over it, obviously, but I think they're allowed to take the piss out of Blizzard as a company. Blizz are a business, so I think anyone is allowed to do that, but these people have bought into it. It's like they have a stake in it.

                              I wouldn't personally lose my temper over it, but then I have no investment in Blizzard's products.

                              There's a sense here of making your bed and now having to lie in it. You don't get to spend the over-ten-years of World of Warcraft, taking $10 a month from ten million people from over a decade and just acting surprised when you use the stage that represents the height of their devotion to announce a product that those people don't want, and in truth, would prefer not to exist.

                              Blizzard ****ed up, and they're being dragged over the coals for it.
                              Last edited by Asura; 06-11-2018, 11:26.

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                                #30
                                For me, it's this sense that some people seem to have that they have been personally wronged and abused by this announcement that, for me, is going too far.

                                I get that Blizzard have built a passionate fanbase, but to say that Diablo is a 'sensitive subject' because we haven't had a game for five years and is just - well, it's very odd to me.

                                I haven't had a new TES or GTA in years and I really like them. But I didn't feel personally wronged when they didn't announce it for years. It was just a bit annoying.

                                I just find the whole reaction totally perplexing. It's very much like something like Star Wars, where people claim 'genuine grievances' over Episode VIII.

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