The problem Blizzard is having

Community General Discussion
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This post is for one reason. to incite discussion and the curiosity of everyone who has been a fan of blizzard for over 3 years. i personally have been a fan for about 15 years, discuss on this forum if you will. the problem that blizzard is having.

                   It is unfortunately simple.
   Blizzard is no longer just Blizzard. It's Activision Blizzard.

Activision doesnt solve problems. they cause them. the CFO’s were fine until activision wanted more money for less work. Chris metzan stepped out ahead of the problem. nothing they can do when the tyrannic all father steps down from its false throne built on the work of dedicated Blizzard employees. i bet money that if activision just stopped trying to hard to be involved blizzard would come back harder than ever and win.

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Not this AGAIN.

For the nth time.

Activision does not control, direct, manage, influence, interfere or in any other way involve themselves with Blizzard game developement.

They are a publisher only, Blizzard is an independent entity with full autonomy over their games and IP.

Activision is. not. involved.

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right, all the activision-style decisions are totally not activision.

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See above.

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all you’re saying is that they’re not involved.

but they are. blizzard is non-existent. there is only activision’s controlled version of blizzard.

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Activision has nothing to do with this.

Chris Metzen retired, after 23 years at Blizzard he wanted to spend more time with his family. This also has nothing to do with Activision.

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Activision-Blizzard is a stock holding company
Activision is an independent developer under that stock holding company
Blizzard is an independent developer under that sock holding company
King Games is an independent developer under that stock holding company
MLG is a Esports promoter under that stock holding company
Blizzard publishing (?) is an independent publishing company focused on movies, books, tv shows etc. under that holding company.

So why does everyone keep saying “Activision is ruining Blizzard” if Activision doesn’t have anything to do with Blizzard?

answer

Because they’re upset and they don’t know how companies work, that or trolling, you can guess which one it usually is. It’s usually legitimate complaints that are reaching for an irrational explanation.

I get why it happens, but I would be lying to you if I said it wasn’t a little frustrating sometimes.

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While that might be technically and even organizationally true, it’s a foolish thing to say. They are joined in several areas. There has been a fair amount of staff intermingling. And even ignoring all that, I’m sure they at the very least chat. You could argue on how much influence they have, but it’s just not correct to say they have none.

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See above.

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That’s a curious choice of words. “Incite” is usually followed by “riot” as opposed to “discussion”.

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I wouldn’t bother friend. As much as I hate Activision and all that, this is one situation where it’s not on them. Unfortunate that some people here wrapped that tinfoil a bit too tight.

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This community has some pretty weird cults obsessed with their pet narratives.

(I have no information that I can contribute to the discussion, but as far as I can tell, neither does anyone else here … so these threads seem to be just sort of going in circles, manufacturing a fantasy in a vacuum)

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What people who say they are separate companies seem to forget is , the over all head of everything (Activision /Blizzard) is CEO Bobby Kotick who prior to being the head of ACT/Blizz was the CEO of just Activision. All the heads of the various companies Blizzard, KIng ect. Do have to ultimately answer to him. So in that aspect yes Blizzard does have to answer to Activision BLizzard.

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[q(I have no information that I can contribute to the discussion, but as far as I can tell, neither does anyone else here … so these threads seem to be just sort of going in circles, manufacturing a fantasy in a vacuum)

Id say the quote I provided is as concrete as it gets.

Facts being what they are.

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I always wonder where people would place the blame if Activision and Blizzard were completely and totally separate. Because, you know, I deeply truly doubt anything would be any different right now. No one working on this game was hired by or works for Activision.

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The waters are muddied, that’s kind of my take. For awhile, the idea of Blizzard being influenced by Acitivision was ridiculous but it’s hard to not be concerned. Diablo has gone in an incredible dire direction, Heroes has been gutted and massively downscaled, Overwatch feels dependent on OWL and BFA is a mess. Corners are being cut financially and by all reports it’s the first time that finances have ever been a problem at Blizzard.

Despite every reason for Blizzard to be more profitable today than ever before, it’s cutting costs, delivering poorer products. That doesn’t happen if the guys who are running the company, who have overseen the growth of the company for so long, aren’t taken orders from higher ups. Unfortunately, Activision-Blizzard is led almost exclusively by former Activision executives. I’m not absolutely saying Activision is influencing Blizzard, I’m still leaning towards that not being the case, but some things are highly questionable.

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There is a legitimate reason for people to suspect Activision is taking more control.

Activision bought 429 mil shares of stock from majority owner VIvendi games (which Blizzard was part of) THere fore taking over control of the entire Parent company. Most of the change we have seen like Pathfinder , rep gating for races , rng upon rng of gear stats even TF/WF along with mini game aspects like mission tables have all occurred since Activision became the majority holder of Activision /Blizzard.

Activision took controlling interest prior to the announcement of Warlords in 2013 by about 3 months . The process to do so was probably going on longer then that so it would probably be safe to say some things were added to appease the future leadership of the parent company.

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How would you have any idea

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Another negative blood elf thread about the state of Wow just what we needed.

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They’ve been Activision-Blizzard for about 11 years now, so. :man_shrugging:

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