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

[Lulbalance]

Translation: "We'll make a lot of money off of it in China and South Korea, surely!"

my thought too.. even art from blizzard games screams they're chasing weebs and Asian no lifers for easy cash. it's like they've decided to shamelessly dollar chase instead of making decent content. guess it's expected.. bloated public company.

[Mojo03]

Activision stock down 17% since October 1st.

O_o

That's pretty significant...

[sam86]

Blizzard never innovated; they just took existing concepts & ideas and presented them in a better and more polished version. I mean come on, this is pretty much what Blizzard is known for - and they are doing it for mobile games now. Why people are reacting so negatively to this, god only knows, beacuse well, you could see this coming after mobile market's resurgence & smartphones being readily avaliable for everyone.

that might be true for SC or WC, but Diablo 1 is literally their innovation, Diablo 1 is considered one of best pc games ever and credited for the growing market of PC in first place, that how innovative Diablo 1 is, Diablo is - in term of accomplishments in gaming industry - is Blizzard most successful game ever
Ironic how blizz hate that franchise the most, the joke that blizz hate the game more than their own fans seems was real

[minititan]

“ fan's reactions at BlizzCon confirmed Diablo Immortal will be well received by players around the world.“



Errrr.... what?

[JacobusRex]

Blizzard... you're greed is showing for all to see and you've irreparably tarnished your reputation as far as I'm concerned. Plus you're edging on becoming liars too.

[Pete]

The action of taking any mobile release and placing it upon a pedestal at one of the most prestigious gaming conferences on the calender (with PC franchise consumers in heavy attendance) was always going to be as welcome as a fart in a space suit and made the whole thing feel like a presentation for investors/stockholders rather than a new exciting product for consumers/fans.

Anyone else wonder if not for virtual ticket sales if they would had even bothered with a conference this year?
They've done it in the past and were none worse for wear afterwards.
IMO the problem isn't DI alone, its that they offered nothing concrete to the fan base other than off the cuff comments when caught off guard.
To us outsiders all we see is a cash-grab as the asia market where the mobile platform is a good earner for them already, the studio they partnered with already helps out with other blizzard products when their released there (for example in China where the company must be based within the country)
The part about moving their best developers around doesn't install confidence either

C&C Rivals : everyone hates me

DI : Hold my beer

Its sad in a way because while at their core we know their about the money, we want the products we enjoy to do well so we can continue to enjoy them more so.

[Mercadi]

fan's reactions at BlizzCon confirmed Diablo Immortal will be well received by players around the world.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This quote from them is like a litmus test. Shows that the rest of their statements are also BS.

[Kythera]

They just don't get it. This stuff about professions and Azerite armor is a joke. They truly do not understand their playerbase.

[Mercadi]

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

My guess is that the target audience gets their information about company's well-being from reports like these.

[Deficineiron]

that might be true for SC or WC, but Diablo 1 is literally their innovation, Diablo 1 is considered one of best pc games ever and credited for the growing market of PC in first place, that how innovative Diablo 1 is, Diablo is - in term of accomplishments in gaming industry - is Blizzard most successful game ever
Ironic how blizz hate that franchise the most, the joke that blizz hate the game more than their own fans seems was real

I played d1 at release and there had never been any dungeoncrawler like it that I had ever seen anywhere. it had some glaring defects/bugs and a rather harsh death penalty, but it was an awesome game.

[Nnyco]

And once I have expulsom with my enchanter, I do what with that, exactly?

use it on your 2nd proffesion that needs it but you have none because you disenchant...

theres also a pet that needs 50 if they havent changed that last time i checked

[Kathranis]

And they say diablo immortal was well received, blizzard should take their asses out of their butts.

They were talking about the people who played the demo on the show floor. Every reaction I've heard from people who tried it was that it was pretty good / suprisingly good for a mobile game.

This is one of the areas where they don't care if the core PC gamers dislike it, the people downvoting it were probably never going to play it to begin with. Their goal is to tap into a new market, especially in China.

Logically, their end goal is to have PC gamers playing PC games, mobile gamers playing mobile games, console players playing console games. Right now there are a lot of untapped markets for them to pursue.

[Turaska]

"Many of Blizzard's best developers are now working on new mobile titles across all of Blizzard's IPs."


And with that, Blizzard is now dead to the PC audience.

[Soeroah]

“ fan's reactions at BlizzCon confirmed Diablo Immortal will be well received by players around the world.“



Errrr.... what?

I think they mean reactions on the stage were muted, but reactions among the people who actually played the demo and quite enjoyed it suggests it's, despite everything, good for a mobile game and could be popular among people who didn't go to BlizzCon hoping for D4.

[Auxora]

I think they mean reactions on the stage were muted, but reactions among the people who actually played the demo and quite enjoyed it suggests it's, despite everything, good for a mobile game and could be popular among people who didn't go to BlizzCon hoping for D4.

Yep I kind of spit up a bit when I read that. Fan reaction at Blizzcon to Diablo Immortal was that most seemed so disinterested in it that they didn't even bother waiting in line to play the demo. The fidelity of phones has improved, but it's apples and oranges to compare it to PC gaming. Leadership that doesn't play games would compare the experience of a game on a 5 inch screen with no keyboard and significantly less processing power to PC gaming. That's what concerns gamers when we see Blizz doubling down on mobile and making out-of-touch comments like that.

[Erixi]

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

Aka we ignored everyone who hates the idea of the game, didn't like the demo on the floor, or have spoke out against the idea of the game. However Steve likes the game and thinks it is going to do well... so let's listen to our lone supporter Steve.

[Shigma]

I'm sure Diablo Immortal will be a great mobile game. Blizzard is an amazing company that makes fantastic, well-polished, addictive games. BUT they were booed during questioning once it was confirmed that there would be no PC release.

People aren't worried about it being a bad mobile game so of course once it's out it'll probably be downloaded and played a bunch and likely be well received (people WILL still protest in the reviews, however)

In the end though, everyone's just pissed that it's a mobile game, period. They were looking forward to the next step in the franchise and this simply wasn't it.

They WERE. Diablo 3 was pure trash cashgrab with one of the worst releases ever and broken to the bone. RoS fixed *some* stuff and then they just let the game stall.

So yeah, as a Diablo lover, i am worried. They are showing to be below those standards, and Diablo 3 already was the most disappointing game for me, ever, period.

It's not the same blizzard which worked as you said. You'll see when it arrives. If people are reacting as they are, it is because they are showing their new true colors, and we all used to see Blizzard as you described them.

I trusted Blizzard the most and i don't anymore.

[Jawless Jones]

Diablo: Immortal is being designed with the intent that people of all ages can play it, and will not be a mature

Acti-Blizz confirming they will now be preying on kids, and hoping they start stealing their parents credit cards to pay for their micro-transactions

[Rogalicus]

In Q3 2016 Blizzard had $321M operating income, in Q3 2018 $189M. That's everything you need to know about BfA's success.
https://investor.activision.com/stat...5-16221d2981e5 2016
https://investor.activision.com/stat...b-42ea074b896f 2018

[TheViper]

Because it is largely still a new emerging market. Everyone rushed to get in on the profits. Now if companies start making real gaming experiences on mobile that would leave less room for the shitty cash grab type games and hopefully drive them out.

It doesn't matter how good a mobile game is, you simply cannot create the feel, depth, complexity and style of a fullly fledged pc title. It cannot be done.

Blizz can make very good mobile titles which im sure will be fine, but they are not pc titles and its pc gamers that built blizzard.

Entering the mobile market is fine, but they NEED to have appropriate PC titles being developed alongside them.