Chris Metzen Returns as Full-Time Executive Creative Director of Warcraft Franchise

Originally Posted by Ateo

Blizzard is literally only tied to Activision and king because all three companies were acquired by 1 bigger company. The three have no ties once sold and will no longer be associated.

That is not what is going to happen at all. Activision, Blizzard and King are all owned by a larger company called Activision-Blizzard. It is Activision-Blizzard, the bigger company, which has been purchased, not Activision, Blizzard and King separately, therefore they will still remain in the same structure.

To be specific, Blizzard was owned by Vivendi Games, which was owned by Vivendi, and Activision proposed a Merger, so Activision was merged with Vivendi Games, renaming to Activision-Blizzard, and Activision Publishing and Blizzard are companies under that banner. Then Activision-blizzard purchased itself out from Vivendi Games, and later still, they purchased King.

Originally Posted by Ragedaug

Pre-expansion cinematic...Thrall wakes up in Eastern Kingdoms. Medivh is standing over him telling him it was all a dream, and now he must rescue the nearby Orcs and Hellscream from their internment camps and make their way to Kalimdor to prepare for the impending Legion invasion.

Oh we goin THAT far back?

Originally Posted by Stickiler

They're still owned by Activision-Blizzard, and there's zero indicators that it's going to change. MS just bought Activision-Blizzard. MS is also notoriously hands-off with it's purchased studios, so don't expect anything to change.

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This is some high-as-a-kite copium. You said it yourself, MS is hands-off with studios, they're not going to break up ABK in to their component studios.

my hope is the following: if not only shareholders sit above Bobby, but Phil Spencer etc. it won’t take long, until Bobby fades away into the next ATVI-like project. when MS sits above Bobby, i am sure as hell, Bobby is no longer a problem in 2028. which is a huge first step in the right direction, when it comes down to budget, cost-effectiveness and global goals.

i dont believe he can save DF but i am looking forward to what is to come. for me the game lost its cool factor. less fluff and disney-ish vibes and more warcraft please and i will gladly return. good luck chris

Originally Posted by Stickiler

That is not what is going to happen at all. Activision, Blizzard and King are all owned by a larger company called Activision-Blizzard. It is Activision-Blizzard, the bigger company, which has been purchased, not Activision, Blizzard and King separately, therefore they will still remain in the same structure.

To be specific, Blizzard was owned by Vivendi Games, which was owned by Vivendi, and Activision proposed a Merger, so Activision was merged with Vivendi Games, renaming to Activision-Blizzard, and Activision Publishing and Blizzard are companies under that banner. Then Activision-blizzard purchased itself out from Vivendi Games, and later still, they purchased King.

There are still 3 separate and completely independent studios under the banner of "Activision Blizzard" those being Activision, Blizzard, and King.

Once merged with Microsoft they will join the catalog of companies acquired by Microsoft and will continue to operate separately. Just like all of the following:

343 Industries
Alpha Dog Games
Arkane Studios
Bethesda Game Studios
Bethesda Softworks
Compulsion Games
Double Fine Productions
id Software
Inxile Entertainment
MachineGames
Mojang Studios
Ninja Theory
Obsidian Entertainment
Playground Games
Rare
Roundhouse Studios
Tango Gameworks
The Coalition
The Initiative
Turn 10 Studios
Undead Labs
World's Edge
Xbox Games Studios Publishing
ZeniMax Online

Being owned by 1 company does not mean all studios under it's banner are tied to one another. They all have near complete autonomy.

Blizzard games will never be associated with Activision games again other than having the Microsoft trade mark on all its products after the acquisition is done.

This is a major reason why people who understand what is going on are hype for the acquisition. Microsoft is VERY hands off with its studios, unlike Activision (Bobby Kotic really).

To further push this fact, all streaming rights for Activision games have gone to Ubisoft, meaning you will see the removal of all Activision products from the Bnet Launcher(if Bnet survives the merge which is doubtful, we will likely see all blizzard games merged into the Microsoft catalog or game pass).

Originally Posted by Ateo

Blizzard games will never be associated with Activision games again other than having the Microsoft trade mark on all its products after the acquisition is done.

This is a major reason why people who understand what is going on are hype for the acquisition. Microsoft is VERY hands off with its studios, unlike Activision (Bobby Kotic really).

You're just wrong, Blizzard will STILL be owned by Activision-Blizzard after the acquisition. It'll go Microsoft -> Activision-Blizzard -> Blizzard. They're not dissolving the parent company.

Originally Posted by Ateo

To further push this fact, all streaming rights for Activision games have gone to Ubisoft, meaning you will see the removal of all Activision products from the Bnet Launcher

This is also just wrong, given Bnet has literally nothing to do with game streaming.

Originally Posted by Sorrowseer

DF is not shite at all, its just boring.

pretty sure the profession system alone puts it in the "shite" category. lets not even talk about splinter/shard gating.

Originally Posted by MasterOfNone

pretty sure the profession system alone puts it in the "shite" category. lets not even talk about splinter/shard gating.

Lets be honest, its a low bar being proven wrong that DF is in fact, shite.

Originally Posted by Kralljin

While i fundamentally respect Metzen and what he has created, i'm not so sure whether he's going to "turn things around".

I think he reached his zenith somewhere between WC2 and Classic, from there it was downhill, with a bunch of extremely questionable choices (Female Diablo, SCII - especially Heart of the Swarm, etc..), so i'm not sure whether he can be the impact some people hope he's going to have.

Nevermind that Blizzard has also changed, so all that can be worth jackshit anyway.

I am pretty sure chris has no influence on starcraft 2 or diablo 3.
I know he worked on d2 and starcraft 1, but I thought he had gone wow full time by the time d3 and starcraft 2 came out.

Originally Posted by FelPlague

I am pretty sure chris has no influence on starcraft 2 or diablo 3.
I know he worked on d2 and starcraft 1, but I thought he had gone wow full time by the time d3 and starcraft 2 came out.

No, Chris Metzen did work for basically all IPs that Blizzard had. He was majorly involved in Overwatch, for example. And my memory may be faulty, but I'm pretty sure I remember him being in the special edition interview video that game with one of the SC2 Collector's Editions. A brief search says he was working on Starcraft at least in a minor capacity through to 2015.

Originally Posted by The Stormbringer

No, Chris Metzen did work for basically all IPs that Blizzard had. He was majorly involved in Overwatch, for example. And my memory may be faulty, but I'm pretty sure I remember him being in the special edition interview video that game with one of the SC2 Collector's Editions. A brief search says he was working on Starcraft at least in a minor capacity through to 2015.

ahhh ok good to know.

Originally Posted by Sorrowseer

Lets be honest, its a low bar being proven wrong that DF is in fact, shite.

Yeah? Is that why you cant fill a group at all? Since it is so good? It is not as bad as shadowlands, but it is bad.
Blizzard sells dragonriding as feature to all the fan boys. 2 months later when the new has worn off, its a 5/10 expansion at best and there are still people sticking up for the nonsense.

Originally Posted by MasterOfNone

Yeah? Is that why you cant fill a group at all?

Lmao what? Say you don't play the game without saying you don't play the game. I fill groups any time of day I'm online.

Originally Posted by Stickiler

Lmao what? Say you don't play the game without saying you don't play the game. I fill groups any time of day I'm online.

congrats? if you cant tell the decline in users, you are not paying attention.