Why is everybody leaving Blizzard?

[Racthoh]

cancelled project

[Toppy]

http://www.bonfirestudios.com/ expect more Blizz devs joining this .. i guess many of the Blizz devs wanna go for their own game idea without some bigger company standing on top of them

The funny thing is, blizzard devs have done this before.

It tends to end badly. Very badly. Hellgate London.

[Deleted]

My theory is about time, get burned by some decisions and new outcome ideas since 2010. But is my theory.

[Darktbs]

People complain that they are doing the same thing over a year in a content drought of a GAME.

Imagine doing the same thing over 20 years as a JOB.

Its sad that they leave,they will be missed,but this is a oportunity for new people to make their names.

[ryanmahaffe]

http://www.bonfirestudios.com/ expect more Blizz devs joining this .. i guess many of the Blizz devs wanna go for their own game idea without some bigger company standing on top of them

They shouldn't

This is verrrry familiar so far

Game company formed by ex blizzard devs with the intent of making a new mmorpg more similar to WoWs "glory days"

The same start as Wildstar.

[Toppy]

They shouldn't

This is verrrry familiar so far

Game company formed by ex blizzard devs with the intent of making a new mmorpg more similar to WoWs "glory days"

The same start as Wildstar.

Devs always forget that what made WoW so wildly popular was that it was BY FAR the most accessible and casual MMO at the time. It wasn't because it was hardcore, the exact opposite.

[Thelxi]

I mean it would be a good time now to capitalize on legions very positive reception as a developer

[bufferunderrun]

maybe some of them are sick of following Watcher elitist jerks dogma.

[Deleted]

Are you drunk? Seriously?

Overwatch has a single micro transaction, which is for loot boxes. Which your given every level, even after each prestige. The box's mostly contain random shit that doesn't impact game play and no one even notices for example voice lines. Theres cosmetic items such as sprays and skins granted, but there aren't many for example, I've got 5 legendary ones and one pre order bonus skin from my boxes and I'm only level 83, without having to buy a single one. Oh, they also give you currency in the boxes to buy said items (again, Ive had a total of 2800, when the most expensive thing is 1k, thats not bad) Oh, they also give you currency for any item duplicates you get.

As far as micro-transactions go, Overwatch has to be the least micro-transaction-ey that I know.

Had you of said just hearthstone, I'd of agreed with you to a point, people will always want more cards.

I had 5 by rank 30, reinhardt dva 2 zarya tracer #bragging #Noshame

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2 different zarya and I got the same dva one twice

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Oh and I got two legendaries in the first two weeks on my main in WoW, I've been on holiday the third week

[Onvious]

Riot Games planned to make a MMO? they hired bunch of ex-wow devs

[xindralol]

it's easier to see problems with a company when you're at the management level. then the idea is to get out before anyone notices the problems (look at enron for example, skilling's resignation)

[unbound]

If you're into last months news, you must have noticed that on last months, lots of workers are leaving blizzard to work on other companys.


Any guesses on why is this happening, and how it can affect blizzard titles?

I don't see any movement beyond what is expected. Once something big, like an expansion, is complete, that is the time to move on to other projects...whether internally, or to a new company altogether. It's happened with all previous expansions and game releases.

[Xirrohon]

I agree with pretty much everyone saying that things for WoW are coming to an end. The creators probably feel hampered down by Activision. The writing is on the wall. All of the main Heroes/Villains are being killed off. We will most likely do something with Sargeras this expac or next.

Also, does anyone find it funny that they are all leaving Blizzard for Bonfire? The Ice and Fire thing seemed funny to me, though it prob means nothing.

[Sabii]

I have a good friend he worked on WoW from TBC development up until WoD then switched to HotS, he left and came back to the east coast. Reason. He wanted to do something different, something not Warcraft, some personal work.

One thing I learned while he worked there, the conspiracy theories people come up with why people at blizzard do things (bother "haters" and "white-knights") and how much power activision has or vivendi had is so off the mark they actually find it funny.

[Nikkaszal]

So much Chicken Little'ing fresh off what has been one of the most well-received expac launches to date

Hilarious.

[ryanmahaffe]

Devs always forget that what made WoW so wildly popular was that it was BY FAR the most accessible and casual MMO at the time. It wasn't because it was hardcore, the exact opposite.

That combined by the fact that the market wasn't near as saturated as todays market

[Tharkkun]

They realized they screwed up big time and lost their dignity the last couple of years with microtransaction heavy games like Hearthstone and Overwatch. The games aren't about passion anymore. They are about money now (as their main focus).

And now with World of Warcraft being artificially enlongagated through very long cooldowns that last multiple weeks they want people to pay for the game each month. This was probably the tipping point for many old blizzard guys that don't want to stand up for it anymore

Or you know like in the software industry, people rarely stay in their job for more than 5 years...

[Deleted]

Remember what happened the last time a bunch of former Blizzard developers thought Blizzard was too good for them and decided to leave, forming their own company? I'll tell you what happened. Around 30 developers left.

The end result?

Flagship Studios: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagship_Studios

They gave us the global superhits Hellgate: London, which I actually wished would've been great, but which turned out to be a pile of crap, and Mythos, "the Diablo killer", which was much hyped at one point, but which then ended up being absolutely nothing at all, as it got cancelled.

Castaway Entertainment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castaway_Entertainment

They basically ran a company into the ground without doing jack. Good job, ex-Blizzard developers.

Runic Games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_Games

Is where the Schaefers moved on after Flagship failed, and again they were going to give us a much hyped "Diablo killer" in the form of Torchlight, which ended up being a glorified beta version, and the second version, Torchlight II, while seemed to have a bit of appeal at first, faded into obscurity because of a complete lack of proper world servers and so on, unlike, for example, Path of Exile, which is still going strong.

So yeah. That's the history of "great developers" leaving Blizzard. I'm expecting such huge things from Bonfire. I'm sure they're going to make such amazing games. -.-

[Deleted]

Or you know like in the software industry, people rarely stay in their job for more than 5 years...

Or you know like in the software industry, the reason for that is, most companies are not as huge and successfull as Blizzard and frequent change is not a choice.

[Nikkaszal]

Remember what happened the last time a bunch of former Blizzard developers thought Blizzard was too good for them and decided to leave, forming their own company? I'll tell you what happened. Around 30 developers left.

The end result?

Flagship Studios: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagship_Studios

They gave us the global superhits Hellgate: London, which I actually wished would've been great, but which turned out to be a pile of crap, and Mythos, "the Diablo killer", which was much hyped at one point, but which then ended up being absolutely nothing at all, as it got cancelled.

Castaway Entertainment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castaway_Entertainment

They basically ran a company into the ground without doing jack. Good job, ex-Blizzard developers.

Runic Games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_Games

Is where the Schaefers moved on after Flagship failed, and again they were going to give us a much hyped "Diablo killer" in the form of Torchlight, which ended up being a glorified beta version, and the second version, Torchlight II, while seemed to have a bit of appeal at first, faded into obscurity because of a complete lack of proper world servers and so on, unlike, for example, Path of Exile, which is still going strong.

So yeah. That's the history of "great developers" leaving Blizzard. I'm expecting such huge things from Bonfire. I'm sure they're going to make such amazing games. -.-

You forgot Carbine, who drummed up massive hype for Wildstar because it was "all about what the players want", and then it turns out WHOOPS what people say they want on forums looking back through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses isn't actually what they want to play when it's given to them

People quickly remembered how much lengthy attunements and un-puggable content sucked bags and bags of wang