Activision ruining WoW?

Community General Discussion
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AoC is a few years out still. Oblivion is going to release another in it's franchise. Yeah, if you are looking for a good game Blizz is no longer your boy. They cannot even release a classic version without screwing it up. Would of been an easy homerun.....buy up what Nost had, fix it up and release. But instead we are getting a downgraded BFA.

Here is the issue. The big wigs do not play games.....ever. The board for the most part does not play games. These suits listen to what marketing tells them and then they make an ill informed decision off of that. Diablo on iphone...LOLZ.

Waiting for AoC and the next in the oblivion franchise. Coasting on tokens til those come to fruition. Blizz is not getting my money.
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You think the shareholders don't have a say in how a company is run? Well guess who has a ton of shares and directs the company?


Of course they have a say in how activision-blizzard is run as you can't have direct shares in Activision or Blizzard to be able to affect their development, you can affect their budget possibly but that's it, and I'm sure Blizzard has a nice sized budget to do with as they please (multiple things coming out within the next year would imply that)


lmfao and here I thought CEOs run companies. Forgive me for my "ignorance". Also, controlling the budget means you basically control which projects go ahead and which do not, right? Hmm...

One thing is clear -- he definitely wasn't lying about the "culture of thrift." That much is evident in BFA. Also, take a look at that Chinese Mobile RPG they are calling Diablo Immortal. Take a real close look at Crusaders of Light. Also, they outsourced development of Immortal, and it was made by the SAME company that made Crusaders of Light. Pretty thrifty, Bobby.
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11/03/2018 08:09 AMPosted by Valarien
Activision literally owns Blizzard now. Theres no separating the two.
Activision-Blizzard, the holding company (not a publishing company, not a development company), owns Blizzard Entertainment.

Activision the publishing company (not Activision-Blizzard) and Blizzard Entertainment are lateral partners, along with three other companies, none of which own any of the others.
09/07/2018 11:42 AMPosted by Ythisens
Activision Publishing is involved in franchises like Call of Duty, Destiny, etc but is a separate company from Blizzard, however we're both under the same umbrella known as Activision Blizzard.

In the same way that PepsiCo is the owner of Frito-Lay and Pepsi, but the people who make Pepsi don't ever touch the chips.
11/03/2018 10:09 AMPosted by Monsterskill
You think the shareholders don't have a say in how a company is run? Well guess who has a ton of shares and directs the company?
Do you think Sharholders micromange the individual features of one of the games, of one of the divisions, of one of the franchises? Of course not. Shareholders want profit. If profit comes, then the money makers stay the course.


I get that the semantics are important, but the end result is the same; Blizzard is functionally controlled at a basic economic level by forces outside of Blizzard's sphere of direct influence.

There is zero, no, nil chance that someone at Blizzard came from a position of "let's make the next big Diablo a mobile game, it's the clear creative choice" which Activision-Blizzard's board then OK'ed. The choice to make a mobile game which is an extreme derivative from an existing product with one of Blizzard's premier IPs did not come from someone who loves Diablo. At multiple levels it is a decision based in financial reasoning first, and creative reasoning very far from first.
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11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Hypêrspace
well then who's fault is this? lol
tell us who needs to be bought out lol
The WoW developers/designers are directly who develop/design WoW.

It's amusing to see "Screw you Activision!!" when things are down. But "Thanks Bliz!!" when things are up.
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11/03/2018 10:23 AMPosted by Levíathan
11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Hypêrspace
well then who's fault is this? lol
tell us who needs to be bought out lol
The WoW developers/designers are directly who develop/design WoW.

It's amusing to see "Screw you Activision!!" when things are down. But "Thanks Bliz!!" when things are up.


You really don't think the CEO and higher ups had anything to do with any of this? They are just these great dudes that happened to ruin multiple game franchises in THE EXACT SAME WAY just because of bad luck or w/e? k.
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11/03/2018 10:19 AMPosted by Monsterskill
lmfao and here I thought CEOs run companies. Forgive me for my "ignorance". Also, controlling the budget means you basically control which projects go ahead and which do not, right? Hmm...

One thing is clear -- he definitely wasn't lying about the "culture of thrift." That much is evident in BFA.


Actually they kinda do. CEOs are people that get their ideas from other people....marketing. Most CEO's/Presidents (and I know a few) are not in their position because they are brilliant....they just knew the right people. I know CEos from 3 different hospitals....OMG. There guys are dumb as bricks but if you have the right degree and have sucked up to the right people well GG.
This is the heads of Blizz and Activision in a nutshell.....just sucked up and knew the right people and has nothing to do with them being gaming geniuses......Diablo on iphone....marketing said it was a home run probably.
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11/03/2018 10:19 AMPosted by Monsterskill
lmfao and here I thought CEOs run companies. Forgive me for my "ignorance". Also, controlling the budget means you basically control which projects go ahead and which do not, right? Hmm...


Correct, Mike Morhaime and now J Barak Allan as CEO of Blizzard made decisions on where to put that budget. CFO of Activision-Blizzard decides how much Blizzards 'total' budget is, then the CFO of Blizzard (not Activision Blizzard) divides that into buckets for staff, development, advertising, taxes etc.
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11/03/2018 10:23 AMPosted by Levíathan
11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Hypêrspace
well then who's fault is this? lol
tell us who needs to be bought out lol
The WoW developers/designers are directly who develop/design WoW.

It's amusing to see "Screw you Activision!!" when things are down. But "Thanks Bliz!!" when things are up.

No surprise.
Activision CEO has stated he wants to bring about a culture of thrift and "deep depression".
I'm guessing the best folk at Blizzard still want to use their creativity and hard work to produce great games.
1 Like
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11/03/2018 10:23 AMPosted by Levíathan
11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Hypêrspace
well then who's fault is this? lol
tell us who needs to be bought out lol
The WoW developers/designers are directly who develop/design WoW.

It's amusing to see "Screw you Activision!!" when things are down. But "Thanks Bliz!!" when things are up.


Its been a very long time since its been thx blizz....
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11/03/2018 10:19 AMPosted by Monsterskill
lmfao and here I thought CEOs run companies. Forgive me for my "ignorance". Also, controlling the budget means you basically control which projects go ahead and which do not, right? Hmm...

One thing is clear -- he definitely wasn't lying about the "culture of thrift." That much is evident in BFA.


Actually they kinda do. CEOs are people that get their ideas from other people....marketing. Most CEO's/Presidents (and I know a few) are not in their position because they are brilliant....they just knew the right people. I know CEos from 3 different hospitals....OMG. There guys are dumb as bricks but if you have the right degree and have sucked up to the right people well GG.
This is the heads of Blizz and Activision in a nutshell.....just sucked up and knew the right people.


I never said they were smart or better. But they do have a job. Their job literally involves DIRECTING the company. They approve all the projects, and their vision for the company is what is followed. Their decisions are ultimately carried out by the company. So, yes. Mobile came across Bobby's desk at some point. He looked at it and approved it. Do you really think they have no say over the games Blizzard makes?

What exactly do you think the CEO of a company does all day? Play with himself? They make the major decisions about what a company is going to do. Of course, the idea might have come from elsewhere. But he has to approve of it. He is responsible.
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Activision Blizzard is a holding company.
Except for a very short time at the beginning. Blizzard has never been an independent company.

This has more to do with the modern video game industry. They share the same market guidelines, same type of employees...
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what about people with visual impairment? mobile games are so small. even with glasses/contact lenses/corrective surgery, mobile phone screens are too dang small. big screen tvs and wide screen monitors are popular because people want to see the content.
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11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Monsterskill
You don't think the CEO has any say or control over the general direction of the companies he is responsible for?
The CEO of Activision-Blizzard? I'm sure he does. I didn't say he didn't. All I said was 1) a distinction between Activision and Activision-Blizzard, and 2) that shareholders are not going to micromanage the development of a product. Approve the use of capital on capital products, sure. Keep tabs on profit and direct according to them, sure. Say that Bliz must do/not do Island Expeditions, no. Say that WQ must/must not return for the next expansions, no. Etc.

11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Monsterskill
Process that. Let that sink in, Mr Greenie McShillington.
Let what sink in? That your disdain for someone's color prompts you to fabricate meaning where it doesn't exist, simply so you can call us names? That's already well established when it comes to your types, Monsterskill.
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11/03/2018 10:30 AMPosted by Monsterskill
Do you really think they have no say over the games Blizzard makes?


Yes I do as I understand the difference between a stock umbrella and the companies under it.
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11/03/2018 10:33 AMPosted by Levíathan
11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Monsterskill
You don't think the CEO has any say or control over the general direction of the companies he is responsible for?
The CEO of Activision-Blizzard? I'm sure he does. I didn't say he didn't. All I said was 1) a distinction between Activision and Activision-Blizzard, ans 2) that shareholders are not going to micromange the development of a product. Approve the use of capital on capital products, sure

11/03/2018 10:15 AMPosted by Monsterskill
Process that. Let that sink in, Mr Greenie McShillington.
Let what sink in? That your disdain for someone's color prompts you to fabricate meaning where it doesn't exist, simply so you can call us names? That's already well established when it comes to your types, Monsterskill.


Right well I guess it's pretty funny that this has happened to numerous game studios that Activision has acquired and run into the ground. But no sure, let's pretend that they had nothing to do with it and all of these companies were just poorly run themselves.

Here was a list in 2012:

https://www.gamesradar.com/exactly-how-many-studios-has-activision-closed-generation-exactly-many/

BTW you can add Bungie to that list. And it's funny because everyone always said each of these companies had "full creative control" over their IPs.

Remember THPS, CoD, Guitar Hero?!

BTW the vast majority of people with your colored text openly shill for Blizzard, and your post was also a shill post. So it made perfect sense. And whether it was or wasn't Bobby Kotick or Mike Morhaime or whoever else, the point still stands. Blizzard has become a very big company, and for the economic reasons I outlined earlier, we shouldn't expect to see better things. What is happening makes perfect sense in the context of how much market share Blizzard has, how hard it is to make a AAA game, how much they are charging for subs, and the existence of a cash shop.
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No amount of development time could have made BfA good.
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11/03/2018 10:40 AMPosted by Monsterskill
Right well I guess it's pretty funny that this has happened to numerous game studios that Activision has acquired and run into the ground. But no sure, let's pretend that they had nothing to do with it and all of these companies were just poorly run themselves.


*deep breath*
Activision did not Aquire Blizzard, Activision was Aquired by Vivendi Games, Vivendi Games ( a stock umbrella) renamed itself to Activision-Blizzard who then purchased themselves from Vivendi and then bought King games to fold under their stock umbrella.
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11/03/2018 10:40 AMPosted by Monsterskill
Right well I guess it's pretty funny that this has happened to numerous game studios that Activision has acquired and run into the ground. But no sure, let's pretend that they had nothing to do with it and all of these companies were just poorly run themselves.

Here was a list in 2012:

https://www.gamesradar.com/exactly-how-many-studios-has-activision-closed-generation-exactly-many/

BTW you can add Bungie to that list. And it's funny because everyone always said each of these companies had "full creative control" over their IPs.
Speaking about Activision the publishing company (not Activision-Blzzard the holding company), Activision is those companies' owner/publisher. That gives them a relationship with the studio that doesn't exist with Blizzard. Again, Activision doesn't own Blizzard, so that's taken care of.
As for publishing, Blizzard Entertainment publishes its own games.

So instead of pretending, lets make sure we know how the system is set up before getting on our soapboxes.

11/03/2018 10:40 AMPosted by Monsterskill
BTW the vast majority of people with your colored text openly shill for Blizzard, and your post was also a shill post.
Since you want to focus on this, let's.

All you types see are the posts that don't go along with the lynch mob mentality, when in fact we do post negative criticisms against Bliz, Wow, etc. But since those negative posts don't neatly fit your narratives, they are conveniently overlooked. I believe it was Neall (?) that authored a long, detailed thread about how Bliz quality is literally falling more apart with each content release. Hell, I've even been disciplined by the MVP admins for going overboard criticizing Bliz. No, Monsterskill, we post out feelings the same as everyone else. But unlike your white text compatriots, you choose to cherry pick the ours which allow you to attack us based off our color rather than our words.

And by the way, in order to be a shill, the relationship between the shiller and the one being shilled for has to be concealed, unknown. MVPs' relationship with Bliz is obvious, overt. But I guess as long as a word has a nice ring to it and is dismissive enough, despite not being applicable, it sticks.
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I canceled the 6 month recurring subscriptions for both my WoW accounts today because of this nonsense. Fans bring honest questions forward at Blizzcon and the representatives on stage either insult them, be sarcastic or have their social media shills attack the person and spam nonsense all over twitter and stuff.

Yes Blizzard put in work into the products but you cannot ignore the facts. Blizzard is a company making stuff, their employees are being paid, they do not work for free. Their primary goal is to make customers happy so they continue paying money. Blizzard has a standard of quality in the game industry that is practically unrivaled so when fans see a trainwreck like this they get scared and concerned. They start asking questions like "How did this come to pass? Who is responsible? Why did they think this was a good idea?"

If your customer isn't happy and asks a civil question that has no profanity or personal attacks against the representative then you need to realize you made a bad decision in creating your product, not telling your customer "You are wrong." or if you don't have a phone.

Instead people defending this nonsense on social media and saying they would have thrown the guy out of the convention he paid to attend and broke no rules or terms of service just because he asked a question they didn't like. Also said people on social media are race baiting and gender baiting while demonizing the person that asked a very valid question.
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11/03/2018 10:54 AMPosted by Somalion
11/03/2018 10:40 AMPosted by Monsterskill
Right well I guess it's pretty funny that this has happened to numerous game studios that Activision has acquired and run into the ground. But no sure, let's pretend that they had nothing to do with it and all of these companies were just poorly run themselves.


*deep breath*
Activision did not Aquire Blizzard, Activision was Aquired by Vivendi Games, Vivendi Games ( a stock umbrella) renamed itself to Activision-Blizzard who then purchased themselves from Vivendi and then bought King games to fold under their stock umbrella.


*deeper breath*
*eye roll*
*facepalm*
You're really going to argue semantics here? Also your semantics are wrong. BTW Activision was never acquired by Vivendi. Activision merged with Vivendi games to form Activision Blizzard. Vivendi was in the dumpster and they were selling off a lot of their companies, and Activision took advantage of the opportunity.

And seeing as how the prior CEO of Activision is now the CEO of Activision-Blizzard and most of the people who developed the games we love at Blizzard are no longer with them, nitpicking on the word "merger" vs "acquisition" is a bit silly. But fine..."MERGER". Activision has "MERGED" with many companies and run their products into the ground even though they "gave them full creative control". You can take their word for it or you can just look at what happened and think about it for a second.