Not if you ever want to play a computer game again. If Blizzard’s servers go down so do all of their online games. Blizzard needs new management. Microsoft will provide that unless the deal falls through. That may or may not fix things. You can pretend anything you like. I know how the really real world works.
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I always knew where to blame, but I also knew Blizz were also trying to please the the investors. When ActiBlizz happened people said, “Rip”. We got lootboxes, MTX, expensive paid services, and now, gambling. I feel like we are seeing the end soon. This may be just another hash mark for the number of game companies Activision ruined. Of course don’t forget Blizz is to blame here as well.
OH NO! Whatever will I do without Blizzard games to fill the void!?
It’s pretty disingenuous to imply this is only about Blizzard games or ABK games. This is about the future of gaming as we know it and what we as consumers find acceptable.
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Cept that you didn’t read my other posts to make that assumption. Here is a reminder:
I would quote more but I’m feeling lazy right now.
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I guess I must be tired and misread something. I stand corrected.
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NP. I’m totally aware that this type of bad behavior by companies will spread to other games. That spells doom for people who want to have quality games for the right price.
Yeah, I’m honestly getting insanely worried about the future of gaming as a whole, I’ve seen a bunch of people defending the game because it’s “on mobile”. Like that’s supposed to be a defense. I just want a good game to play or mods for D3. Guess I’ll have to wait forever for either to happen! 
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great now its not only cosmetics but a virtual products reminds me as mr iron legendary logic wyat said no power sell or items in DI gues gems are not items for him
Jesus Christ. Nothing in that giant quotation is in defense of investors. It’s describing reality.
Correct.
No they’re trying to get as much money from you with as little money invested as possible. That’s a subtle, but significant difference.
WRONG. Investors don’t give a crap how developers make money. Do you think investors attend brainstorming meetings in a studio? lol. A company pitches something to an investor using metrics and comps, then if they make a good enough case, the investor gives them money.
Investor has money to make a video game. Company A pitches a game with MTX that is projected to make lots of money at launch PLUS ongoing transactions. Company B pitches a traditionally boxed game that will make lots of money in the first month, then nothing after that.
Investor picks Company A and they make that game. Company B never makes their game because they don’t get funding.
Gamers have no idea how literally anything works.
Investors are not funding ATVIs games in any meaningful sense. Nobody are pitching anything to investors.
The reality is that you advocate for MTX so that investors are happy and we get our game. I don’t.
Clearly. From the gamer’s point of view this doesn’t matter and most are unaware. They paid X amount and got less than what it is worth.
You must be the only gamer to understand the inner workings of how investors spend their time and money.
Ever since Activision merged with Blizz, it all went down hill with Blizz games. It was because of those MTX’s, paid services, lootboxes, and gambling. The reality is you don’t know how much money those things made and what effect it had on the company and more importantly, it’s playerbase.
Well for one you’re going to pay more for any future games you choose to buy. Also any games you have bought from will represent lost value.
That’s an erroneous assumption. Many gamers are investors either directly or indirectly. If you have a 401K you’re an investor. You do know how you spend your time and money right?
Quarterly reports don’t get into details of games but companies do pitch games to investors to show future earnings potential. Also investors do fund Activision/Blizzard. That’s the original purpose of selling stock. Stock prices also give banks a measure of health that is crucial to financing decisions.
Sure, but when was the last time ATVI sold any substantial amount of new stocks? Or needed to borrow for that matter.
Activision borrows money annually for a variety of reasons. They don’t keep enough petty cash on hand to cover operating expenses. Most of their long term debt was retired in 2019 but they still owe around 3 billion.
Please read the person I’m replying to. I’m pointing out that they have no idea what they’re talking to because they keep saying “investors are ruining Blizzard’s games.” Like, at least know what the conversation is before you jump in.
I’m not advocating for MTX. I’m describing why it’s ubiquitous in the AAA gaming space.
Bruh… You can just… listen to the shareholder calls where they gush about how much money Blizzard games make with MTX.
How so?
Yup, buying games that are always online or games as a service are anti-gamer.
Ok.
You still don’t know how much money is made. But I don’t really care. The only position I have is to make educated purchases. And this really has nothing to do with Shareholders, investors, 401ks and the like. I HAD to be corrected by someone here when I said they are the ones forcing this in games. This is why this subject came up.
How dare business make lots of money instead of just surviving.
Also some people have the false perception that I’d a company make more money then “needed” all the money will go to the shareholders and greedy top executives and doesn’t benefit regular workers, and if the company make less money, there is no impact to regular workers and the the same greedy executives will just accept lower pay.
Don’t get me wrong , I think the porportion of profit cuts are often disgusting between the top executives and employees . But it’s BETTER for regular employees when the company make more money than less. If you believe executives are so greedy then the line of thought should be pay cut and layoff to employees before their own bottom lines are affected, wouldn’t you?
Because 1. You are not paying FULL PREMIUM PRICE if there are microtransactions in a game. You are being subsidized by wealthier gamers who buy what ever they want because they can. This drops the price of the game to a level that more gamers can afford. And 2. You killing diablo 1000x does not generate any income for the game developer. They need to pay their staff and just because you paid money for the game does not mean they have made enough to meet payroll and server cost. Blizzard employees do not work for free nor do they get free electricity from what ever electric grid they are connected to. Game development is expensive. Have you seen the credits for AAA titles nowadays? They are paying this staff for years before they even make a dime on the game. And they continue to pay them to make the next big game. How they make the money to do this is tricky at best. And lets not forget that not every title makes money hand over fist. Some just barely make back the initial investment and some even lose money. While I can sympathize with not wanting P2W monetization in D4, I will be happy to see cosmetics and any other thing they want to sell in a store that does not require us to purchase it to progress at the same rate as any other players. Instead of calling for no store in D4, we should just be making it clear if it needs a store to keep cost down for those of us who are less privileged, that it should not have ANY P2W items in it. No mats, in game currency, level boost(at least not for a few months), or experience boosters. Nor should it have anything that affects magic find and the likes. I myself do not mind running around in plain looking gear. If someone wants to pay to make their plain gear look fancier than who am I (or you) to tell them they can’t.
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The problem is there is one thing you and others see things a little bit different. I know actually a bit about investors and such and business models due to my past in accountancy and trust me or not when I say that if the business model is to release basically subpar services for all the money that seriously will raise some risk factors in the audit of those companies. We know those companies tend to have a limited life time over companies that have a long term strategy, at their core try to sell a good product for a very profitable price and reward brand loyalty as long as that last is not just empty hot air, with an exception of course is companies have an actual monopoly or very small competition base so consumers have no real choice and need those products or services anyway.
Just like Blizzard, but also Bioware for example went from a company 90% of fans preordered blindly to way lower % and for myself I do not preorder anything anymore after my experiences with games in last 5 years. Those are asides though.
My main argument is about being ok with not paying the full premium price so you can play anyway and that being ok and not having an influence on those games. Now in the case of social benefits and such I am an advocate of sharing things around reasonably for things people need to live and better themselves with good education and time to engage in that and give them a fair chance to get back on their feet when misfortune strikes, that happens. I could even make a point for the fact that in the long run it benefits me as well, society does not become better if extreme poverty is too high. (To be honest devs will rarely be in that position :P) Always a debate though how good those should be and should incetive doing nothing. That is also another debate though, partly based on political views.
When it comes to peoples entertainment though, I am way less of a fan of subsidising others which is your argument while it is debatable devs see it that way :P, which this model is partly about. I am even less of a fan when certain items become for sale in a full game to subsidize a game, cause that simple fact alone changes the way how the game is designed since what should be game is now an extra aside for pay. That is what all of you overlook or care much less about as we others do. You being able to play the game for free or at lower cost has an impact on every fan.
Same as when Blizz decided they wanted to make a game where they would attract more fans and monetize a game in the Diablo franchise with a RMAH, they decided to make a subpar game by definition for their Diablo fans, what was also shown after release by the backlash. There was no way in hell that D3 would have ever pleased the die hard Diablo fans, it was a to different a game and not a Diablo experience anymore too to many of them. The more you try to get all the market and open it up to different players (In this case likely their WOW fanbase of those days also considering background of many of those devs), the less it will appeal to the real fans in games and other such entertainment products, the less they will be prepared to pay for the game (since it is not worth as much to them anymore due to those changes) and the more you will have to sell MTX including power and gambling. D3 in the end was aside from its engaging combat neither fish or fowl.
It is a cycle that has been going on in the gaming world quite a while now and especially gambling sells unfortunately, even better as a real game. 
Incentivizing gaming companies to go away from a business model where they deliver great quality games for their fanbase for a good prize for both sides into making mediocre games depending on selling MTX, targeted at the greatest possible number of players since those numbers are what you need to sell your MTX.
Giving nobody what they really like or enthuses them outside of the gambling, but just a drab sameness where it does not matter really from which company a game is or what franchise. In the end it plays the same and maybe only story and graphics are a bit better with the increasingly rare exception where a real gem is delivered.
Quite fine they make a ton of money.
Also quite fine if regulations limits them in that moneymaking however.
Not necessarily. But it can be of course.
A larger company can be harder to affect for employees, and thus you end up with pee bottles and all that stuff.
It might however mean they have made enough to pay their staff.
If they didnt make enough, well, maybe they should have less staff. Being able to afford paying your employees is not a guaranteed right.
Try making a game that sell more copies next time I guess.
It clearly is possible to make a profit without MTX.
Heck, unless something has changed in recent years, the vast, vast majority of games that begins development, do not return a profit.
Lvl boosts after a few months is also not okay. P2W is P2W.
At minimum; do not sell those cosmetics through loot boxes. ‘What you buy is what you get’ should be required when selling MTX. Also, no temporary MTX. If you add something to the shop, it stays in the shop. If you have a temporary “battle pass” for cosmetics, every single thing must also be available in the shop individually, of course likely at a higher price due to not buying it as a package. Or just do what I believe the lastest Halo did; all battle passes stay up forever, new ones are just added every month or whatever.
And so on.
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