I’m confused. Are we talking about the Stress Test, Classic’s release, or some other nonsense? They are working with the mentality of “when its ready”. The stress test got pushed back because it wasn’t ready and everyone is accusing them of trying to profit. They already pushed the release date back, since it’s barely in summer despite them saying “Get ready for a Classic Summer”. They also provide a release date for the game, in part because of the howling masses demanding it. When they went on record, that’s the record. They can’t push it back any further unless the problems are worse than the blowback of changing it.
Since they’re still confident they can hit August 27th, maybe we should take that as it is.
Thats because you are an insignificant holder. When people are talking about shareholder influence, they mean investment companies and other large holdings i.e. 1% or greater.
You said “You know shareholders don’t make that call, right? As long as they’re making their money, that’s all that matters. And they’re not stupid, they don’t want to risk losing money on rushing things to be released.”
This is the exact issue EA games have been having for the last 5 years, being pushed to release games before they are ready due to greedy shareholders demanding a deadline to see their investment turn into profit.
They will absolutely risk losing money to push out an unfinished product, in fact, that is becoming the norm in the gaming industry if you have not been paying attention.
And other than some negative PR that will fade away faster than you can say No Mans Sky, they wont suffer at all for it.
SHAREHOLDERS IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY HAVE BECOME GREEDY AND FORCE RELEASE DATES ON DEVELOPERS NOW TO MEET DEADLINES SO THAT THEY CAN SEE THEIR INVESTMENTS TURN INTO PROFITS FASTER.
THIS DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHICH COMPANY OWNS WHAT.
EA. BLIZZARD. SONY. IT DOESN’T MATTER.
…
tldr: You said shareholders dont make the call. They do, just not in the way you are thinking. Making money is not all that matters to them. They need it by certain dates due to fiscal years, investment pressure, and greed. 9/10 games released these days are unfinished an rushed to earn a quick buck before promising players it will be “fixed” in a patch.
That’s a bold statement, as you don’t know the level of my investments. Furthermore, the law makes no distinction among shareholders. Even owning one share in a company grants me the rights of the shareholder with regard to things like shareholder derivatives actions and basic accountability of the board and any other trustees within the corporate structure.
People within the corporation are not calling investment companies to see how they want the company run. As somebody above stated, that’s what the board of directors and the CEO are for. In fact, a corporate executive who only paid attention to a certain percentage of shareholders (less than 50% + 1) would be unquestionably and objectively in violation of their fiduciary duty, and subject to accountability in the event they tank the company.
Uhm…well, if they don’t understand the market, they might definitely do this.
From what I’ve seen happen in gaming, investors (or many of them) are utterly clueless when it comes to what they can get away with. Gamers these days can usually tell when a project’s budget got the shaft, but was still released.
I’m sure they’re all very successful business people, but gaming is something that’s evolved so quickly it’s not surprising that some decision-making is made out of ignorance and pure money-grabbing.
Then again, I’m probably speaking out my butt since I’ve never been to a board meeting or whatnot.
I think some may have also misconstrued my original reply to the OP. I never said that the shareholders have any say in what Blizzard does. The point of my post, is that Blizzard’s priority is to please the shareholders…what we as the consumers who don’t invest in the company and buy shares ourselves comes 2nd, because at the end of the day, Blizzard doesn’t have to care what we think (unless they start making complete garbage all around that completely ruins the faith and goodwill that they have built up for many many years) because we will buy their stuff regardless…but they have the shareholders to answer to if say something doesn’t release on time and the share holders aren’t getting their return on investment when they would like it. THATS’s why “done when it’s done” and “SoonTM” isn’t a thing with them anymore and hasn’t been since probably Wrath of the Lich King (right about the time they released “that retarded horse”)
Now when the day comes that they have completely ruined all of the good faith that they have built up in the gaming community because of their history of AMAZING games…THEN they will care what we think. But right now the pressure of what they do doesn’t come from the consumer specifically…it comes from the shareholders primarily…and THOSE are the guys Blizzard are focused on appeasing right now. That’s why Layering threads go mostly ignored, as with unarmored mounts, and a lot f the other stuff we complain about here. Blizzard has a plan in place that they believe will benefit the shareholders more because they know that WAY more people are going to play Classic than will quit because of a “change” or two. Even something like layering regardless of how I or anyone else feels about it.
So TLDR: Blizzard’s motivation right now is appeasing the shareholders. The shareholders may not have any say in what they do, but they do indirectly have a say in it because Blizzard wants to appease them and give them their return on investment.
I can say with almost 100% certainty that you are not a major share holder. 1% is like $400,000,000 so…
No duh.
We are talking about influence. Not just legal shareholder rights. An investment company holding $500,000,000 will have exceedingly more influence than you despite what the law says.
No one is saying that calls are being made from Capital World Investor demanding a release.
But you are beyond naive if you do not think major shareholders have influence in the internal operations.
Just like you would be naive to think that insider trading isn’t a daily occurrence in NYC at late night bars or parties despite what the law says.