I’m just providing facts and dispelling your false narrative. In what case do you believe Blizzard statements? When it confirms your biases?
When Blizzard makes mistakes, I blame Blizzard. I don’t scapegoat onto a company that has absolutely nothing to do with Blizzard games, as stated by Blizzard employees dozens of times.
Conspiracy theories shut down by Blizzard employees on this forum are not valid points.
LFG didn’t come in until 3.3, the tail end of the game and you’re overlooking the influence Ghostcrawler had on that team. late wotlk and Cata was mostly his decisions.
Most of the developers at the time resisted the influence of activision, especially mike. Once they all started leaving is when we started getting all the “cosmetic mounts”.
I agree, current blizzard doesn’t seem to want to make an actual RPG - they want to make banjo-kazooie.
Just because they say it doesn’t make it 100% true to life. Activision has had a large impact on the way they monetize and develop games. Have you not seen the stuff that has been coming out of Bungie?
The greenlight for classic was made by mike morhime.
trading cards are different from in game services… you actually get the cards - something that holds monetary value.
if we’re calling trading cards “loot boxes” then you can’t say they were the first they have been around since the 1860s.
I believe the context of “first” wasn’t intended as this interpretation, but rather prior to Activision.
“The greenlight for classic was made by mike morhime.” and i’m 100% sure he had to ask shareholders to fund it and convince them it’d be profitable.
i wish activision just do like Konami and make sloth machine. Like why do you still make game. Like plz stop
That’s why they brought in the nostalrius team and had a physical petition of signatures put on his desk. This was also the time when rereleases of classic games were getting popular so I highly doubt it was a hard sell for the investors. It had to be more about the logistics of the project and the extended support that needed to be done to maintain multiple online services in the “same genre” and not compete with themselves.
I’m sure it was a very easy project to sell, as activision forced blizzard to fire 800 something employee’s a few years ago? I mean WoW has been hemmoraging players for years. Classic was an obvious way to get the subs back.
I don’t believe it was FORCED it was suggested by activision and approved by J. Allen Brack. Both companies are to blame.
Eh i don’t think thats actually how it works. Moreso something like Activision told blizzard that stock price was down, and they needed to trim the fat or else. There’s no decision making by the lower party in that scenario. Its do as your told or get out.
Not that i expect you to beleive me, but I work for one of the largest communications companies on the planet. I’m not high up on the ladder or anything, but I see execs and CFO’s and other fancy title people get canned ALL the time just because profits are a billion lower than the year before. They don’t care who or why, they just tell you that someone isn’t getting a paycheck anymore to make up for lost revenue.
That’s not the structure of their relationship though. Blizzard is a subsidiary and not a directly controlled entity of activision. It’s true that Activision is the parent company and has influence but Bobby can’t directly call up J Allen and say “you’re fired”.
He would have to go through a ton of red tape to have the company head removed, primarily through stockholder review. However it is in Blizzard’s best interest to cave to what Activision wants.
See Also: Marty O’Donnell (Bungie)
Management can be a dime a dozen. I’ve worked for several major companies in my time and understand that side of business.
It wasn’t an offer. At the time of the merger Vivendo owned both companies.
I used to think this way, too. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that some conspiracy theories have a grain of truth in them.
this one hundred percent. thought it was just me that thought this. Thank you!
That’s nice, but unfortunately you are incorrect on a couple points.
Activision didn’t buy Blizzard. They bought Blizzard’s parent company, Vivendi in 2006, which had purchased Davidson & Associates in 1996. Davidson & Associates was a video game distributor which purchased Chaos Studios (which was then renamed to Blizzard) in 1994, shortly before Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was released.
So, Blizzard, as a studio, lost control of their own fate before Warcraft was even released, because they needed money to make their games happen and get them out to the public.
Activision didn’t buy Vivendi…
in 2008 they merged and Vivendi was the majority shareholder.
Distinction without a difference, but worth making all the same.
Still, the point remains that it is fairly foolish to decry the people at Blizzard for ‘selling out’ to Activision when they had no choice in the matter by that point.
Was just trying to point out that not only did Activision not buyout Blizzard
when Blizzards parent company merged with Activision, Blizzards parent company was in charge.
Fair enough. And then Activision later bought enough shares to force Vivendi out.
Well Activision-Blizzard bought out Vivendi to make a majority of the company owned by the public.
Agreed it basically went from a company that at least seemed to care about its players and image to a company thats trying to fight EA for worse gaming company. Its so sad.