They are not even always doing what is best for stockholders.
Killing Guitar Hero was bad for stockholders. Even Activisions CEO admit they failed hard there.
Warcraft 3 Reforged was bad for stockholders.
Some people in here just need to learn that humans make mistakes. Even when they have almighty data.
That doesn’t mean having no offline mode is necessarily a mistake. Merely saying it might be.
And who are you to judge their opinions to be wrong when you know that they are a multi-billion company and still do? Do you really think they made decision based on their feelings? Of course they did a lot of research and consulting with experts in field before finalize their decision on certain thing.
What attempt? They never made any attempt to convince us it is for the best for you and us.
And why should they care what other companies do when their goal is always about maximising the profits, and not simply making “enough” money to continue the development? Blizzard Activision is ambitious. If you are actually reading their annual report, they have been praising how amazing is game with MTX and mobile games and wanting to release more mobile titles in the future.
PoE didn’t do offline mode too despite that their fans are asking for it too because GGG and Tencent knew what is profitable to them and what is not.
Having offline options would draw in a broader playerbase, as there are people out there that want to or must play offline. By not having offline options, you’re not maximizing your profits as you are cutting out a chunk of the potential playerbase.
Myself and a few others have mentioned that there are other games out there with MTX as well as offline options. They are doing quite well for themselves. Obviously it doesn’t have to be online only for this to work.
as I’ve said before, Pay Day 2 has 30+ MTX available and it can be played offline. Someone else mentioned the Assassin’s Creed games as well have a lot of MTX and they are offline capable.
There is no real reason that states that MTX must be online only.
They don’t have to be that way. Just saying.
That is what you think. Clearly that the data that they acquired suggested otherwise. If offline mode can be profitable, they would have done it before you can even say “Oh ok” here.
There is one reason, to maximize the profits and minimize the loss to piracy. It is not that complex. It is just that you refused to accept it as a reason knowing how Blizzard Activison doing their things here.
The game companies that you mentioned are not ambitious and most likely will content as long as they made a decent profit from their products.
It should but it’s not. When will people understand this?
Again with the nonsense that a company must always be right.
Lol. That is crazy. So now Activision is the one company that want to maximize profits. Feels like you are butchering your own argument here.
Whether it will be is not really relevant though?
If they keep doing the same thing as a matter of policy they’re quite sure they’re on firm ground. You on the other hand are arguing from the basis of what you want not what is most profitable. So next time skip the strawman.
I am. Never claimed otherwise.
Unlike some people around here I am not acting as if I care how much profit a large company makes (well, since I am invested in Activision, I guess I somewhat do care… just not a lot).
I am just saying that you cant conclude that online only is more profitable. And especially you cant conclude it based on what Blizzard do. If anything, the fact that game companies keep doing different things here points toward them realizing it is not that simple.
Which points toward a lesson that some people seem to miss. That even if something is highly profitable, it doesn’t mean everyone should try to do the same.
We see it for example with Fortnite. Once in a while, you get a stupid investor/analyst/EA CEO wondering why everyone aren’t just making Battle Royales, or predicting that those games will take over the industry. Or we saw it with MMORPGs after WoW.
The answer obviously is that if everyone started making Battle Royals, or MMORPGs, then they would all lose. Game companies are benefitting from differentiated products. It is what has grown the industry tremendously over the decades.
And I am saying, again, just because a company like Blizzard keeps doing the same thing over and over, it does not guarantee it is the best thing they could do. I know that. Activision Blizzard know that. And deep down, I bet people in this thread knows it too.
I think it is. It being online is the only reason these threads and comments exist. Blizzard wants an online environment for numerous reasons. It doesn’t really matter if people want offline modes anymore. Outside of the remasters and possibly a console situation, Blizzard game will be online only. It’s really futile to discuss IMO because we know the outcome already.
Well, that part is pretty huge. When we are discussing D4 here, we are also discussing the console version.
If D4 on console ends up with offline mode, then D4 will allow offline play. Not the kind many of us want, but offline play nonetheless.
Especially if Blizzard add mouse and keyboard support to the console version (which they really should! Seriously Blizzard)
People have said that about so many things in the past, that turned out to not be set in stone after all.
It probably is set in stone, but discussing it, and expressing your view on it, is a positive thing.
Whether it is a waste of time is another matter, but then, posting on this forum in general is a bit of wasting time 
The only reason I don’t think it will be that way this time for consoles is due to the shared world.
Yes, absolutes have been used for things but this is in regards to Blizzards gaming ecosystem. I’d bet my retirement they aren’t having offline for consoles. However, I’m also pretty certain, those asking for offline ate primarily PC users and asking for it for PC.
Of course, PC master race…
Offline console is better than nothing but it defeats the purpose: being able to play on your laptop anywhere you go.
Playing on console is a completely different experience than playing with a mouse and keyboard.
While the ‘laptop on the go’ part will be hard to solve from console, consoles do support mouse and keyboard. Blizzard just have to support it too.
Otherwise I agree, I have zero interest in playing Diablo with a controller. I tried it with D3 and it was horrible.
Yeah, the game just doesn’t feel right without mouse and keyboard.
It’s like trying to play God of War on a computer.
Nope. I tried the PS3 D3 console and it is awesome.
In fact, I am playing Final Fantasy 14 PC with a controller and it feels amazing. I tried keyboard and mouse on FF14 and I don’t like it at all.
That is why I am looking forward to using controllers for D4 and D2R.
It’s better IMO, and you are talking to a PC master race guy.
Mouse/KB vs. controller is one of those things people have very different experiences with. Which is fine. Playing Dark Souls with a mouse sounds like self-torture to me, but I am sure somebody out there prefers it.
The exact reason why PC needs to support both control schemes. And why console needs to do the same.
Consoles are basically PCs these days, which is great, as a PC fan. Controls is pretty much the last barrier to break down before the two become the same.
And there was peace on earth ever after 
Well, not entirely true, modding is the other big difference of course. That probably will remain.
I use a keypad(small 20 keyed device with a thumbstick) and mouse. Prefer it to a controller for my 3rd person games like Dark Souls. It gives me a far more precise control over the camera/aiming than a controller can. Plus, with the keys, all my inputs are easy to reach and o need for any ridiculous claw grip or funky finger contortions.
Still won’t be peace until consoles have the settings and modding options PCs have.
Indeed, personal preferences. What works for one person might not work for the other.
D4 is going to be an open wolrd mmo, so hardly.