Activision Earnings Call, Hearthstone Pop-Up Book, Mobile Titles for Blizzard IPs

[Deleted]

People mocked me when I said back during Legion I didn't like the direction the company was heading in... guess it took this Blizzcon to see how far they've fallen from their mantle for the masses...

Well if they cater to the masses, then a mobile phone game is the correct way to go?

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

Are they committing suicide or what?

[Gadzooks]

observant forum readers will start connecting the dots between the authentic diablo experience phrase and the authentic classic experience phrase.

You're a clever one...

But I'm not going there, I don't care about Classic. It's fine. It's coming, and it will be the hardcore paradise so many want and dreamed of.

[crakerjack]

Diablo Immortal is going to make them a boat load of money. No idea why people think its a bad business decision to release the Diablo mobile game. What was a bad business decision was not announcing any Diablo pc content.

Well and how they did it too. "Hey guys its blizzcon and oh what's this behind me? Giant lettering for Diablo?! Well let me just hype the hell out of this game and get everyone excited. Oh and don't forget Diablo 3 came out 6 years ago so we're right at that time where most fans could expect an announcement. Before we tell you what Diablo this is, lets show you a cool cinematic. ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR THIS DIABLO GAME?! Well it's for mobile only, no plans at all for it to be a PC game when it's been a PC game for over 20 years. Enjoy blizzcon!"

[Zandalarian Paladin]

The interview for D:I is nothing short of infuriating.

I wanted to at least give the game a try, but right now I don't even want to hear about it. They've just added insult to injury with that crappy interview.

[Deleted]

Sounds like they are narcissistic.

Also is it safe to assume that Hots is about to be cancelled if people don't play it nor spend any money on it, not to mention they were not even worth mentioning.

[Biggles Worth]

"Fan reaction was muted, but fan's reactions at BlizzCon confirmed Diablo Immortal will be well received by players around the world."

[Gadzooks]

Well and how they did it too. "Hey guys its blizzcon and oh what's this behind me? Giant lettering for Diablo?! Well let me just hype the hell out of this game and get everyone excited. Oh and don't forget Diablo 3 came out 6 years ago so we're right at that time where most fans could expect an announcement. Before we tell you what Diablo this is, lets show you a cool cinematic. ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR THIS DIABLO GAME?! Well it's for mobile only, no plans at all for it to be a PC game when it's been a PC game for over 20 years. Enjoy blizzcon!"

Yeah, it was the presentation, pretty much. We know now, that more stuff is coming for the franchise, so that issue is somewhat settled.

The whole "You guys have phones, don't you?" thing is still obnoxious. They expected dedicated desktop players to just accept this, and it reeks of arrogance. It's not that they don't get the players, it's they don't care - and that comment is like "Like, are you dumb or something? You don't get how awesome this is? Noobs!" This was an obvious attempt to shove a game down the throats of players who didn't want it, don't want it, and have been starved for anything Diablo related for years. In a different context, in a different setting, it would have been fine.

But I think that's been covered to death at this point. We all pretty much agree it was a shit move by them, and they responded by tripling down on their campaign.

Again, their PR and marketing people are just awful.

[Kpmk]

This isn't their first mobile endeavor, Hearthstone was.

They have to partner with a Chinese company, to sell a game in China. Companies in China that sell games have to be Chinese owned.

Netease already licenses WoW and Hearthstone and other titles there for Blizzard.

This is less about Netease's experience, because there are plenty of other Chinese companies with that, and more about Netease already being Blizzard's partner there, a necessary one, and that they have a game they can rebuild for Diablo is just icing on the money cake. I'd almost guarantee they didn't shop this project around to other Chinese companies.

If Blizzard intended to make this game for US/EU markets primarily, they wouldn't need Netease, at all.

Porting a card game to mobile is a little different than building a mobile game from the ground up

[Gadzooks]

Porting a card game to mobile is a little different than building a mobile game from the ground up

What part of the game did they not write and code? The still had to do the work, even if the concept was from the physical card game. Are you that invested in being in denial about this? What I'm saying isn't radical at all. Why is this a point you felt you needed to make?

[Byleth]

I mean, I'm not super excited that Blizz has a mobile focus. But if it brings in the money and they continue their PC franchises as well *shrug*

I would like to see more console content too.

[Evolution69]

Legendaries
The devs are open to having legendary items where it makes sense.
They want to avoid past experiences of having players get lucky and being 20% stronger than anyone else because of it, guilds having bad luck and getting no legendary drops, or stacking players because they have legendaries.

I dunno why they dont introduce some legendary random drop base on ilvl only

One you have to be extreme lucky to get one
You could put +5 ilvl over the mythic difficulty lvl drop. So if you have a possibility of a titanforged mythic piece of max 395 ilvl, the legendary would be ilvl 400 Which would be only a stats increase and it wouldnt be so much powerful that everyone would die for or whine about not having one. And it wouldnt be such a powerful item that the next content would make them obsolete and you would pray for another lucky drop.

You could also introduce a grinding process to trade currency for a legendary upgrade. Pretty much like the valor points. It would take around 3-4 week to grind the currency and get one upgrade.

That would be a cool and fun way to obtain legendary. You could also put some set bonus, like...
2 legendary +1% increase dmg.
4 +1.5%
6 +2%

I know the increased dmg % is low, but you don't wanna make it so powerful that you would keep them for the next content patch. So,this way, you'll always be sure that the player will replace his gear on the next content without having the problem to come up with some set bonus.

[jasoncb]

Right. I'm sure you speak for the hundreds of millions of people who do play mobile games.

umm he did say "his perspective" so clearly wasn't speaking for anyone else.

[Kyphael]

Right. I'm sure you speak for the hundreds of millions of people who do play mobile games.

No, just myself. I didn't mean Activision-Blizzard's future wasn't bright, I meant my perspective of them. I won't be one of their customers if they focus all resources on mobile games.

[Shinagami091]

- Many top mobile games are based on IP originally created for console and PC, so the company is investing in mobile releases for Activision and Blizzard fanchises
- Fan reaction was muted, but fan's reactions at BlizzCon confirmed Diablo Immortal will be well received by players around the world.

Now theres a head scratcher. I cant think of any top mobile games based on console or PC games. Fan reaction was muted? Now there's the understatement of the decade. I've also heard testimony from BlizzCon who said the tone was very, for lack of a better word, somber so where they get the thought that Diablo Immortal was well received at BlizzCon is silly to me. Feels like they just flat out lied to their shareholders.

[Archmage Alodi]

Many top mobile games are based on IP originally created for console and PC, so the company is investing in mobile releases for Activision and Blizzard fanchises.
And they say diablo immortal was well received, blizzard should take their asses out of their butts.

[Shinagami091]

When I saw Mike Morhaime give his speech at the opening ceremony I couldn't help but feel like he seemed regretful to be handing the company over. I know that Blizz has creative autonomy but I have to wonder if Activision is pushing Blizz into the mobile market and Mike didn't like that direction so he instead stepped aside. This of course is purely conjecture. It has me wondering why he really left though.

[Xisa]

My hope is investors keep smashing their nuts in until they are forced to show hands on D4 to sate that.

Blizzard isn't EA - they know the level of fan engagement that the company relies on is a huge part of its success.
Intentionally alienating your primary revenue stream to chase an oversaturated Asian market isn't necessarily good business.

[Nargrom]

''Fan reaction was muted, but fan's reactions at BlizzCon confirmed Diablo Immortal will be well received by players around the world''
lol what?

[Kpmk]

What part of the game did they not write and code? The still had to do the work, even if the concept was from the physical card game. Are you that invested in being in denial about this? What I'm saying isn't radical at all. Why is this a point you felt you needed to make?

It's just a fact that counters some of what you said.