Yeah, nobody is disputing this. The questionable thing about all of this is that they decided to pull their own $500,000 contribution without explicitly stating so beforehand. They got off on a technicality and none of it was illegal, just morally questionable.
I don’t expect crowdfunding next year to be as successful as this if they insist on these shady practices.
Eh, they are a business after all. I guess I just don’t see the big deal. But a lot of things people complain about in the forums I don’t generally see the big deal.
It’s just not a good move from a company that is already in the gutter PR wise, the last thing they need is more bad press for doing a bunch of scummy stuff and neglecting their game(s).
And yet 5 years down the road they will still have the best games.
At this point I wouldn’t be so sure. Hearthstone is probably the only game that isn’t going downhill for years now (not too sure about OW, but there’s better shooters out there and riots new FPS is also most likely going to be a big competitor).
Even WoW isn’t exactly something to hang in the christmas tree anymore at this point. Sure they might still be one of the top MMORPGs in a few years but does that even mean anything if their playerbase continues to diminish every year (unless the classic servers take off massively and expand to BC/LK).
MMOs are a dying breed. It’s not hard to be the best when the competition is nonexistent.
An industry standard for free to play games…
I dunno it just seems lame that blizzard doesn’t want to invest in their community? Instead of doing a 50/50 split (cause you know they have a sub and a box price) or at least putting in a little of their own money they just pulled out.
I get why snutz is upset. I didn’t buy the toy because I thought 75/25 was lame to begin with. I’m super glad I didn’t since they used it to pull out any investment in their community.
I hate to say it, but with the cashshop in the picture, and classic on the side they will be doing just fine.
Unfortunately I think you might just be right. Blizzard doesn’t seem too concerned with another half million people unsubbing if the remaining whales will continue to buy up their whole MTX shop.
Yeah, the store might have been one of the worst things to happen. Why put cool mounts or toys in the game when they can get people to drop hundreds of thousands or a couple million on them?
Hey, I’ve bought a couple things off there like tokens (even bought the fireworks because I wanted them and I could afford it) Maybe that makes me a bad person to you, but hey idc. Like I said, they’re a business and the goal is making money. The days of them actually caring like they did 10+ years ago is probably gone.
Yeah, it’s your money, do what you wish. I’ve wasted more on less. I just don’t think it’s existence is good for the game. But they’re a business and if they can make money off of it, they should.
There’s a few things in existence in retail that is not good for the game. I am 100% Classic since it launched.
I don’t think it makes you a bad person. I’ve bought things from there too. I’m just saying I don’t think blizzard concerns themselves too much if a bunch of minimally invested players quit the game as long as the whales who will put down hundred and hundreds on special editions, every store mount, sub bundles (etc) stay put.
I agree which is why I’m not surprised this happened. I like to play devils advocate too 
Does blizzard not realize bigger prize pool = more fans watching because it’s more intense = more money
Look at fortnites 3m dollar tourney. It was HUGEEEEEE. I bet the made bank off of that
Yeah. That appears to be the industry standard when crowdfunding tournaments – 25% crowdfunding + base prize pool.
Blizzard used the same exact crowdfunding percentage as other games, which made it seem like they were following the industry standard.
And then they used verbiage like “contribute” and “help” which implied they’d be working together with players to reach a new level for prize pools.
Unfortunately, what they actually meant was help support esports and we’ll “help” by contributing $0.
It was deceptive. They clearly blindsided the esports competitors and their supporters.
Instead of increasing the $500k prize pool by 25% of player contributions, it ended up being around 6%. Six percent. $2.6 million of player support, and they raised the prize pool by $160k.
Good luck getting “help support esports” money next year. Maybe this was their last cash grab before they cancel the esports department.
Dear Blizzard,
I think I hate you.
Last year’s Blizzcon winner:
Yeah, Dmachine didn’t seem to like that tweet.