Everyone knows that Blizzard Entertainment should give in to peer pressure. We’ve got Sega, CD Projekt, Riot Games, Valve, Konami, BioWare and Studio Wildcard making animated cartoons based on their game franchises.
And because Hearthstone is part of the Warcraft franchise, we’ll be having anyone commenting positively about Warcraft getting an animated series.
And the petition needs more momentum. I’d post it if links were accepted in these posts.
Hearthstone is already an animated TV show, you just sit and watch how your enemy win with no interactions at all… haha 
I could see them doing something like Arcane…except a trillion times worse.
I’d elaborate, but they’d take the examples of past behavior, and slap a price tag on it.
Hearthstone would be the best animated Warcraft option! Warcraft is quite serious. Hearthstone could make a lighthearted and more approachable show.
That’s literally NOT what an animated series is! Quit making an idiot of yourself.
You just can’t understand it… lol… just move on…
I’m beginning to think you’re just another Blizzard hating troll hating on games getting TV shows.
I’m now starting to think you’re a troll who hates Blizzard games in general.
Hearthstone is part of the Warcraft franchise, and has had some very serious moments. eg. Knights of the Frozen Throne.
I literally mentioned Arcane as an example something done right. I enjoyed it, in spite of the fact that I literally know next to nothing about the franchise. I saw it based on someone’s recommendation and because I had some time. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Just saw Gran Turismo, and even though I don’t enjoy sports movies all that much, I loved it because it was done by people who had respect for the story, the people who lived the events, and managed to weave all of it into something that someone who didn’t play the game all that much could have a good time watching.
Same with Uncharted: I only have a passing familiarity with the franchise, but it looked like a fun mix of a Indiana Jones meets Sahara kind of movie and so I watched it. Had a great time. I realize it took a bit of liberties with the origin story, and some fans had some issues with casting (not my franchise, so I won’t dive into that one). But also a fun way to pass a couple hours, because they focused on making a fun movie.
I could keep going, but I made my point: I’m not a “hater of video games getting shows.” I just want it done for the right reasons, and by people who care about the project and the IP (not just the paycheck, more about both below).
If you care about the final product, the WHO, HOW, and so on matter.
If you want something of value that lasts several seasons, get it done right by people who care about it. If you want a single season one and done, sure just have it done by whoever. Because we’ve got tons of those already over the last years. Done by people who were more interested in cashing in, than telling a story that would draw in an audience, last for seasons, and get renewed. Look at The Witcher: Henry Cavill kept what could have been a mediocre show great because he loved the material, and fought to keep the story and character as true to the material as he possibly could. Some of the better moments from the first two seasons were because there was someone in there fighting to keep the kind of shortsighted “let’s just make a show and get paid” by people who not only don’t get the source material, but actively despise it.
That’s why a show put on by actiblizz would be terrible: look at all the great independent content creators who used to make great videos over the years they sucked up just to make bland promotional content for them.
That sounds a lot like something a hater of video game shows would say.
And Riot has been under fire much like Blizzard. Everyone was bashing on them just for the sake of it, and we still got Arcane.
No, everyone wasn’t bashing riot “just for the sake of it” and I would encourage anyone who wants to know more to read up on the subject. Maybe take a moment to get to know someone who’s actually lived through abuse if you don’t. Because people who say and post stuff like this have no clue what they are talking about.
While their workplace harassment didn’t last the years that actiblizz’s did, they had their own particularly scummy mega corp moments, but didn’t have the big microsoft swoop in with the buyout at just the right moment to wind up from paying less than half of what weinstein paid for the same offenses.
At least riot’s victims were paid a little over 100 million, small comfort to anyone who has lived through a nightmare like that, and also had to endure abuse being compounded by complicity and support from those who should be putting a stop to it.
And this reads like something someone wants to spam repeatedly who never watched a minute of any of those creators pre and post actiblizz absorption. And the best part is you directly contradict it by following up by responding to a very small part about my post about arcane (with more than a little whataboutism about which game studio is the scummiest), and completely ignored every other game show movie I talked about. But it doesn’t matter to someone like you, because you just want content, it doesn’t matter the quality. Like I said:
I’d even say the rest of the Ws matter as well.
There is something to be said for the IPs that got done quick and dirt cheap and without any effort into the who to give the keys to. Look at how Fox handled their retention of the rights to the Fantastic Four movie rights over the years. Their ownership of it has an expiration date, as do most film and tv rights to IPs (so no one can just buy it and sit on it for forever). I cant recall exactly the number of years but for sake of brevity lets say its like 10 or 12 years. If Fox Doesnt do something with the Franchise in that time frame their ownership wont continue on so they have an incentive to do whatever the lowest effort and lowest cost excuse to be able to say they did something with it in order to not allow the contract’s timer to expire but instead make it reset itself again and again. There was the never meant to be seen by the public live action movie in the 90s. Then after they had a hit with actually putting the right people and enough money into X Men, they tried that with F4 and we got those two gems which I honestly enjoy both to this day. But when we never got a third installment… eventually time caught back up to them and they needed to rush another film to keep the rights, and we got that awful and so very too dark to see anything Fantastic Four reboot. We are probably due for another copout flick soon if the cameo of Reed Richards in Dr Strange 2 didnt reset the clock again for them.
Anyhoo, the practice of the low effort and low quality films and tv shows are normally this scenario being played out. Occasionally we get quality gems but normally is just a contractual issue being worked out. Remember Dragonball Evolution? same exact thing. The only person in that film that even had any investment into their part and the flick being made was the guy that played Yamcha and the guy that played Piccolo. Everyone else was there for their paycheck, even the screenwriter for it had never seen an episode of the show. Because when you are just trying to not let the clock run out you arent worried about those kinds of details when hiring skeleton crews and minimal casts. Roshi was the only actor that I think actually cost them any money to secure for it.
So whoever might own the film or tv rights to Warcraft IP might one day have to fight the same contractual timecrunches if Blizz doesnt own those rights currently.
The second fantastic four, the remake, dragonball evolution, and films like them are all examples of what I’m talking about.
There is absolutely something to be said for the IPs that got done quick and dirt cheap and without any effort into the who to give the keys to. And just about all of it is nothing good, especially if you are a fan of that IP. It shows they placed an emphasis on saving a buck and shoving product out the door and not on doing a good job on it.
Will SOMEONE enjoy the release? Probably, and there’s more than one low budget film that has gone on to become a cult classic. But if you want a multiple season TV show, and not something that gains cult status in a couple decades, it’s not the way to go.
That’s my point. An animated TV series for any Blizzard game should be treated the same as Arcane, Castlevania, Dota: Dragon’s Blood and Dragon Age: Absolution.
These shows need to be done, and should be done right. That’s how such shows got many more seasons.
This is exactly what I posted. The problem is, this company has shown it won’t do it right. Look no further than hearthstone’s last three modes to prove it:
they killed classic not because it was unpopular all their propaganda to the contrary), but because they couldn’t make more money off it. Classic packs apparently weren’t enough for them, so they screwed over everyone who bought them.
enter mercstone, really big pre sell push, big sales pushes throughout, then killed (oh sorry, “maintenance mode”…minus the maintenance), so they screwed over everyone who bought them.
Now twist, and not even two weeks in, it’s clear the only thought that went into it was “HOW MUCH MONEY CAN WE SIPHON FROM THE PLAYERS BEFORE THEY GET WISE?!"
It’s the same “cash in, dump tepid content, blame fans when it fails, then bail” formula currently permeating most major tv/movie studios. To quote Ian Malcolm, “they were so preoccupied with they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should…stood on the shoulders of geniuses, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it, slapped it on a plastic lunch box, and you want to sell it.”
Blizzard does own those rights right now. The contract they had with Legendary Pictures expired back in 2021.
The best place to put an animated Warcraft series is on Netflix with Castlevania, Sonic Prime and Arcane.
And seeing how we never got a sequel from the same folk that had the rights previously, they must believe a more measured approach to whoever they lease the rights to next would be wiser/better for business. I personally didnt have any issues with the Warcraft film at all. It was kinda offputting the only character I recognized from the games was Guldan. I had expected Thrall and Jaina and Malfurion and Illidan, but my beginning point for WC franchise began with WC3. So the film taking place before all that had me going “who is this? why should I care? who are they in relation to the people I know from the games? Oh its the Dark Portal! I know where that is!” but not much else.
I suspect if the rights are even open to being leased again at all, the owners are being cautious not to repeat the same mistake of the previous partnership. I dont know the numbers or if they flopped or hit a huge profit, but the fact remains we never got a sequel to it, so they must have their reasons for it.