Meanwhile, this is the most recent Q&A stream from Blizzard.
Lets compare how each company handles their games.
Warframe:
-For the most part, has two seperate streams on each week. (Devstream, and Primetime.)
-The devstream has 3-4 (sometimes more) of the devs all sitting on a couch, talking about what’s upcoming in recent patches. Usually, they will be playing the beta build to show off whatever new features they have planned.
-The Primetime stream is an hour of the CM’s (and sometimes devs) playing the game with fans, while discussing the game.
-They have a long history of answering hard hitting questions on stream (things like resource nerfs, or content being too grindy). They will usually admit it’s an issue and will address it ASAP.
-They reward people who watch the streams with in-game stuff, and will also host giveaways.
WoW:
-Only has a Q&A stream every month, this is basically it.
-The stream usually involves Lore looking nervous, and Ion staring into space as he gives nonanswers. There is almost never any other footage to accompany it.
-CM’s prefer (Or are just flat out told) to not interact with the community in-game in any way. Their community presence basically involves a single post on the forums each week.
-Both Ion, and Lore act as if the game is not loosing subscribers. They give vague nonanswers to most questions asked (“We’re working on it”, very often without any indication as to how they will address the problem).
-0 involvement with the community in these streams, outside of answering prescreened questions. It’s unlikely that they even read the chat while the Q&A is airing.
Is there any good reason for Blizzard to not interact at this sort of level?
Blizzard’s developers don’t enjoy playing WoW in the same way that Warframe’s devs enjoy playing Warframe. Don’t like Q&As now? Just imagine Ion and Lore having to play an arena match while they talk.
The devs will usually talk over the game, as the CM is playing it and showing off new features. Plus, the Primetime streams are usually nothing but the CM’s chatting with eachother while playing with fans.
What is exactly preventing Blizzard from hosting a similar type of stream?
Warframe’s Devstreams kinda set the bar on what studios who are looking at stream-based community interaction should aim for.
For Honor’s Devstreams are also much better. They even have a segment towards the end of their streams where they showcase community-made content and memes called Community Corner (aka Cringe Corner), which whilst often cringy, is still fun to watch most of the time, it’s a fun way to end each week’s show, and shows a willingness to meld with the community in a way that feels less sterile and synthetic. They’re even willing to occasionally show memes and videos that throw shade on their own development of the game if it’s funny enough.
Meanwhile with WoW you’ve got two guys sitting in deck-chairs, who are so extremely overlit it looks like they’re being interrogated by the Cardassians, and when they’re not looking away into space wishing they were anywhere else they’re staring at the camera like it’s a firing squad.
The World of Warcraft Q and A’s feel robotic. And it’s obvious that it’s all scripted and the questions are cherry picked. We also have a trained lawyer in Ion who is a magician with language explaining and dancing around questions, wasting time with some of his answers. It’s not nearly the same thing as the Digital Extremes presentation.