The issue wasnt that it was canceleld or stopped. The issue was that Activision Blizzard didnt bother to notify the teams and people whos livevlyhood depended on it in advance. They basically pulled the rug out under them right before christmas. A truly BS move. But one that is expected from them nowadays i fear.
EDIT: Regarding lack of communication.
So you mean to tell me it can become WORSE? OW team as is already doesnt have a clue on how to be transparent or interact with the community in a meaningful way. We have no idea whats going on behind the scenes and its increasingly unprofessional.
Can people stop with this? Yes, Iâm sure Blizzard/Activision is doing many things wrong but using HotS as an example is just bonkers. It was a failed game and everyone knows that. It got demolished by LoL and DotA 2.
Are you really demanding Blizzard to keep running an eSport game that got zero traction? Be real. Any other company would have abandoned HotS way before Blizzard did. The players just werenât there.
âOh but it was so sudden, they didnât notify X, Y and Zâ
Common. Itâs not exactly a state secret the game were struggling. If you thought Blizzard would keep the eSport scene artificially alive forever thatâs just naive.
EA has wiped out almost 2 years of growth in the past months alone (talking about $ 20b here), Ubisoft has wiped almost a year of growth in the past months. Sure they made money in the shortterm but itâs not looking well in the longterm and investors are being scared of investing, their most important customers. Eventually this kind of stuff comes back to bite you in the bum when you start to piss off more and more gamers. And Activision Blizzard is well on its way to wipe out last years growth.
Donât take pissed gamers lightly, eventually they will cause your downfall because pissed gamers lead to scared investors.
Not all companies decide to flush all their good will down the toilet and reduce the quality of their products at the same time.
Some companies stick with the fundamentals of what made them successful to begin with and retain quality employees with high morale who do everything they can to see them succeed.
imo this is what led EA to be what it is, catering only to âwhat players wantâ.
Thinking differently is what made Blizzard shine like a gem for so many years : Blizzard never released new products based on âwhat current marketâ wants, they always took an enpassionated idea and created a beautiful product, because they simply enjoyed their creation.
Basically nobody asked for Overwatch during its development. It was just the passionate work from a bunch of true gamers. Then it released, amazed us all, then grew. Same for WoW at release.
And now that things are changing so much at Blizzard, Iâm afraid this âtrue gamer making games for true gamersâ spirit will fade away. Hence Blizzardâs signature. Which is (was ?) taking risks for new products.
About gamedesign, I think there are 2 crucial questions any game studio of any size should ask themselves before making any decision :
Do I want to play my game a lot ?
How can I push away the boredom/repetitive feeling as much as possible ?
(both are indeed intricated)
Iâm pretty sure these 2 questions were part of Blizzâs design process.
But how can you explain these 2 to people who are high in your own companyâs hierarchy, but are not gamers ?
Well, actually its a company doing company things. Iâm afraid weâll get less and less responses and more automated answers or template answers from customer support about tickets.
Last thread that discussed this gets 404âd.
I hope this thread doesnât get the same treatment.
The only thing I can see redeeming them at this point, is D4, more community outreach, and a larger attention to the moral and monetary implications for concepts in the future.
Things like Di are going to sink companies all around the globe, if they donât actually try to connect with their audience directly.
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