Should Blizzard makes a souls-like?

[Baridorielor-malfurion (Baridorielor)]

Personally, deattached from what i know of Blizzard’s methods, why not? Especially since there is money to be made from Souls-likes. Even 10 millions sales worth, cough cough Elden Ring.

But with what i know of Blizzard’s methods, given they copy games and simplify them to make success. And being honest, as somebody who isn’t in the Soulslike circle, i’m not sure if i want them to approach it with that method. In that being, they will make an already simple genre, more simpler in ways that could be detrimental to the genre.

Why do i say that?

Well we see what Blizzard does with the likes of Warhammer, Everquest, TF2, Dota, MTG and so on, that given us Warcraft, WoW, OW, Herostorm and Hearthstone for how simple they are. And many other companies have practically chased those trends set by Activision Blizzard. Why do you think there’s so many WoW killers, or Overwatch-etse Arena shooters that failed like Paladins or Lawbreakers? Because that’s where the money is. Nobody can predict a splash a Blizzard game makes basicly, which is good in a vaccum.

But in a genre that pride itself (or by it’s fans) as being difficult as well having obscure dark and gloomy lore, and gameplay that you need to be actually good at or else you wouldn’t see the rest of the game, Blizzard would most likely just put out an easy soulslike. Or a Soulslike that isn’t as hard as any other soulslike in the genre.

In short, Blizzard makes causal games for a causal audience, and Soulslike isn’t usually a casual genre.

The exceptions?

Now some will point to some easy Soulslike like Remnant and Jedi Fallen Order even, and to that i will say… in the grand scheme of things, they didn’t do much to dumb down the genre, even with EA’s size here and having an easy mode in the latter game here.

Activision-Blizzard is larger. Soon to be Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard, mind. They make a bigger impact, to reiterate here.

Conclusion.

So what’s the takeaway here?

My takeaway is, while i’m interested to imagine what a Blizzard take on a soulslike would be, i’m also a little concerned if it gets too popular for it’s own good and start charging the genre for not really much of the better. I would love to be surprised for them and make it a hard soulslike, but if they get around this idea, it’s a big ole wait and see.

“Bari, isn’t there already another thread that is–”

This thread doesn’t poo on any soulslike that isn’t Dark Souls. It’s rather unconstructive when you’re making a thread of this topic. That and i do actually believe there is some merit of discussing about this topic, given how Blizzard tend to copy and simplify things and how that gets them popular. I rather this not get lost in the mire of muck and bring this out to the forefront.

Any thoughts?

[Lilybugg-moon-guard (Lilybugg)]

Is it do-able? Sure

Is it probable? That’s a lot of moving parts. It would probably be a new IP to protect their other IPs and Activision - Blizzard has gone on the record stating they are focused on subscription based games (not the only developers to state this), they are even looking to moved Call of Duty to a subscription based model (see COD 2.0). So the game will need a multiplayer aspect maybe somewhat similar to Diablo.

The game will also need to be very good as they pride themselves on “quality” games so I don’t see them just cloning Dark Souls and calling it a day.

There is also the issue of a Western vs Eastern action RPG. The Witcher III is the best selling “western rpg” in Japan but only at 1m units. Elden Ring was able to hit that mark in a few months as opposed to the years it took the Witcher to do so. Would the Asian markets be open to an eastern action RPG made by a US company? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t really know that answer but I do know they are far pickier in their purchases then NA & European markets. Does that mean the game becomes more 'westernized" and less souls genre? Once again that would be an internal discussion for the development studio and publisher.

I would be pleasantly surprised if they did take on such a venture, from the outside looking in it just doesn’t look like a “blizzard” project.

I could see a studio like CDprojekt Red or Maybe THQ Nordic giving it to Eidos-Montreal.

I’m always interested in a “blizzard” take on any new game but I’m not holding my breathe on this happening.

[Darby-boulderfist]

Most original poster of 2023 award goes to

I could see a studio like CDprojekt Red or Maybe THQ Nordic giving it to Eidos-Montreal.

They already have their own take on ARPG and they clearly don’t like souls style gameplay. Blizzard doesn’t have a third person ARPG. Why wouldn’t they tap into the market?

[Baridorielor-malfurion (Baridorielor)]

@Lilybugg-moon-guard

Is it do-able? Sure

Is it probable? That’s a lot of moving parts. It would probably be a new IP to protect their other IPs and Activision - Blizzard has gone on the record stating they are focused on subscription based games (not the only developers to state this), they are even looking to moved Call of Duty to a subscription based model (see COD 2.0). So the game will need a multiplayer aspect maybe somewhat similar to Diablo.

Tbf, Dark Souls and Soulslike, already kind of have communities from it being pretty Co-Op based (not exclusively, but it makes things easier) and such. So really, it wouldn’t be too out of the way for Blizzard to make such a thing, i mean, a level in Dark Souls i would imagine would be a Scenario but on the Super Mythic mode. As well the invasions being Arenas/Open World PvP.

Or maybe not, considering you meant more like “More people at once in the hundred digits” probably. Trying to “MMOize” it if you will.

@Lilybugg-moon-guard

The game will also need to be very good as they pride themselves on “quality” games so I don’t see them just cloning Dark Souls and calling it a day.

I mean, it’s a statement that isn’t entirely wrong, lot of the games Blizzard cloned, are pretty good. Or decent the very least to be popular for years to come.

@Lilybugg-moon-guard

There is also the issue of a Western vs Eastern action RPG. The Witcher III is the best selling “western rpg” in Japan but only at 1m units. Elden Ring was able to hit that mark in a few months as opposed to the years it took the Witcher to do so. Would the Asian markets be open to an eastern action RPG made by a US company? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t really know that answer but I do know they are far pickier in their purchases then NA & European markets. Does that mean the game becomes more 'westernized" and less souls genre? Once again that would be an internal discussion for the development studio and publisher.

Ehh, a fair concern. I mean this does happen to certain genres over the time as well.

@Lilybugg-moon-guard

I would be pleasantly surprised if they did take on such a venture, from the outside looking in it just doesn’t look like a “blizzard” project.

I could see a studio like CDprojekt Red or Maybe THQ Nordic giving it to Eidos-Montreal.

I’m always interested in a “blizzard” take on any new game but I’m not holding my breathe on this happening.

That’s understandable.

[Lilybugg-moon-guard (Lilybugg)]

@Darby-boulderfist

Most original poster of 2023 award goes to

I’ll send you my venmo account info so you can send me my award money

@Darby-boulderfist

They already have their own take on ARPG and they clearly don’t like souls style gameplay.

so that’s a lie since neither developer have ever said such a thing

@Darby-boulderfist

Blizzard doesn’t have a third person ARPG

they don’t have a soccer game either, doesn’t mean they should make either

@Darby-boulderfist

Why wouldn’t they tap into the market?

mostly likely because it doesn’t fit their MO or revenue stream desires

[Lilybugg-moon-guard (Lilybugg)]

@Baridorielor-malfurion

So really, it wouldn’t be too out of the way for Blizzard to make such a thing, i mean, a level in Dark Souls i would imagine would be a Scenario but on the Super Mythic mode. As well the invasions being Arenas/Open World PvP.

Or maybe not, considering you meant more like “More people at once in the hundred digits” probably. Trying to “MMOize” it if you will.

The muliplayer aspect of the game would come more from the business model side than the gamer side. If you look at Activision statements, they clearly like the subscriber model and are focused on such games. So from the business side it would be, how to we get players to purchase more than just the base game. Is from a monthly subscription? Is it from download packs? Is it from something else? I don’t have a specific answer for that but clearly Activision/Blizzard wants a model where the revenue keeps coming in after the game is launched.

If you look at the next blizzard project they have job listing for, a survival game that seems to have MMO properties (or may very well be a MMO), it fits the business model model they like.

@Baridorielor-malfurion

lot of the games Blizzard cloned, are pretty good. Or decent the very least to be popular for years to come.

If you look at their success with WoW, they have tried to replicate it with other games. They see a genre game with a good fan base but not necessarily “polished” games and they come in to create a quality game for the masses that can be that genre leader. The survival game they are working on definitely fits that model as do past games launched after WoW like hearstone, overwatch, HotS. Do they really want to take on fromsoftware that not only has the IP that genre is named after but just launched the “flagship” IP for that genre in Elden Ring (itself polished and open to more masses)?

Once again I don’t have the answer but that question definitely needs to be answered.

It also brings up a man power issue, they already have one game in the oven that’s about to take most of their focus. What is a realistic launch window for this "souls like"undertaking? Five, six years from now? Will any of their other games need to be revamped prior to that? Will that take away resources from launching a new game?

I think it’s fun to think about a possible souls like game from Blizzard but in the world of reality, it’s more on the not probable side.

It also begs the question, how much of Blizzard is really Blizzard, aka the guys/girls who gave us Warcraft and WoW. Most of those people have retired or moved on. It’s very similar to Bioware with Baldur’s Gate, Knights of the Republic or even the original Dragon’s Age. Gamers keep clamoring for new entries in those IP’s yet they don’t realize that if the studio does undertake them (or in DA’s case continues them), the people working on those games won’t be the people who brought you them in the first place. Those people are gone as well into new developer studios or even new fields of work (last I heard the old owners were starting microbreweries). Luckily for BG fans, Larian has undertaken BG III.