What could be happening in Blizzard?

[Mirabai]

When the EU is done banning lootboxes and more of that pay2win shit. Mobilegaming will dry out.

[glowpipe]

They will earn more money focusing on mobile for the next few years than they would making "loyal fans" happy. They know we'll probably stick around and pay either way, specially if they throw a cheap bone like Warcraft 3 Reforged every now and then.

Not necessarily. Its mainly their loyal fans who also gonna buy the game on mobile. The market is HUGE. So many companies already making mobile games. Many players won't just blindly go over to blizzard games and ditch the games they been playing from devs they know.

Also. Mobile game market being 51 % and how many of those aren't playing simple shit like candy crush ? Real games like diablo immortal will never be played at the same levels as brainless timesinks

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Millennials can't spend more than 30min on the same activity, so they want games with simple gameplay (max 4 abilities) that you can play everywhere and in short sessions -> Phone games.

and not phone games like diablo, phone games like candy crush and the likes

[Noctiphobia]

You do not watch a good movie on your smartphone...

Wrong. I know people who do watch movies primarily on their phones.

[markos82]

Those reasons too, and this.

Mobile is the future, whether we like it or not. And Activision-Blizzard want their fair share of $$$.

Mobile is a future but only for some type of games. Selling a piece of shit wrapped in a paper is a bad way to go.

[Soulwind]

The problem I see with this statement is the assumption that loyal fans only play on a monster gaming rig at home. Their loyal fans also can be people who play...say Hearthstone...which already works well on a tablet. And a loyal fan can still enjoy a quick game of Diablo Immortal on the bus and then raid mythic in WoW.

And really, if the sometimes rabid posts here are what a loyal fan is, I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard rather shoots for a different audience.

Seriously. Look at the people here. They cannot agree on anything. They hate on each other for prefering retail over Classic or Classic over retail. They hate each other for wanting to adjusted Classic over pure Classic and vice versa. The people who call themselves "loayal fans" can be really hard to stomach....and that is before the term "fan" is used neagtive when people call you a "fanboi"

Good luck defining what a loyal fan is.

Oh, absolutely, it's not black and white. What I mean is that they've already got the PC-only players in their pocket no matter what they do. If they make Diablo 4, they might get a few new players to install the Battle.net client for the first time, but mostly they'd just be selling it to the people who already bought Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, every WoW expansion and a few Hearthstone packs. People who right now play their games every week or even every day.

With Diablo Immortal, and any mobile game they develop now, they're aiming for a playerbase that, for the most part, has never given them a cent, and who are likely to spend quite a lot of money on microtransactions. While at the same time they don't have to worry about their current playerbase, who is going to keep playing and paying, even if they don't get a new Diablo game in the next 4-6 years.

I used the term "loyal fan" because that's the term that was thrown around when Diablo Immortal was announced. How it was a betrayal to the "loyal fans", how Path of Exile was going to get all their money and such.

It's nonsense, and Blizzard knows it. They know their customers are unlikely to move on, so they can safely focus on catching new ones, even if they have to invest in a more volatile platform.

Not necessarily. Its mainly their loyal fans who also gonna buy the game on mobile. The market is HUGE. So many companies already making mobile games. Many players won't just blindly go over to blizzard games and ditch the games they been playing from devs they know.

Also. Mobile game market being 51 % and how many of those aren't playing simple shit like candy crush ? Real games like diablo immortal will never be played at the same levels as brainless timesinks

But they ARE going to make it a brainless timesink. They want those who only play games like Candy Crush to play (and spend money on) their version of Candy Crush. Some Diablo fans will also play it, others won't. But the ones who won't are probably playing their other PC games anyway. They don't really risk losing them, that's the thing.

[Ophenia]

Mobile gaming is great for instant money. But you don't grab people onto your franchise, you don't develop your lore/story with mobile games.

People playing Diablo Immortal will switch to whatever Gods and Angels, Demons of Hell, Clash of Whatever, Demon Slaying 34k, if this game is suddenly better. They won't connect to their character, or to the environment enough to keep playing a sub-par game.

Impact? No mobile gamer will attend Blizzcon. No mobile gamer will buy IP-related products (mouse pads, posters, statues, pops, goodies). No mobile gamer will discuss about their mobile game while drinking coffee at work. No mobile gamer will ever spend hours theorycrafting on an internet place.
Honestly, have you ever heard someone having a passionate discussion about Candy Crush ? Someone with a Bejeweled-themed living room ? Literally anybody recommending you to play Angels of Earth because of its impressive and deep lore ?

Nope.

Diablo, even without any update for the last years, even with its huge content drought kept being the second top Blizzard franchise. Because Diablo is not only Diablo 3.
Diablo Immortal will forever be Diablo Immortal. Alone, and way too different from the rest of the Franchise to ever be considered as a great addition to the Sanctuary's world. The lore of "between D2 and D3"could have been interesting, in a real game or in a book, but not in a mobile gaming where there won't be any cutscene, any interesting quest (the goal is to play in-between morning commutees, you don't read quests, you want to slay stuff !).

[glowpipe]

But they ARE going to make it a brainless timesink. They want those who only play games like Candy Crush to play (and spend money on) their version of Candy Crush. Some Diablo fans will also play it, others won't. But the ones who won't are probably playing their other PC games anyway. They don't really risk losing them, that's the thing.

Its a Mobile mmo, its not something you just turn on, play for 5 min and put the phone down. This is already confirmed in Rhykkers vid.

[Kantor]

You do not watch a good movie on your smartphone...nor would you play Baldur's Gate II on it

Hate to nitpick, because I do agree that no one seriously hardcore games on phone, however...I play the shit out of BGEE and BG2EE on my phone. It translated over so well, that it blindsided me.

[PaladinBash]

They're just focusing their efforts on a larger and dumber audience to try and take advantage of.

This is true. It's hard to accept that the current WoW playerbase is not the most entitled and desperate source of revenue but it's true.

[FelPlague]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh0m...ature=youtu.be

I believe that this MIGHT be a start of a possible reasoning of the things happening in Blizzard and what Activision is doing to the company

yeah former... the dude hasnt worked for blizzard for more then a decade..

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You do not watch a good movie on your smartphone...nor would you play Baldur's Gate II on it..

Runescape plays just fine on phone, so does hearthstone, pokemon go, clash of clans, and clash royal, paired with angry birds. (some of the most popular mobile games i can think of)
and yeah on a decent sized phone or tablet i am good with watching a nice movie in bed, its not amazing, but its nice for comedies where you dont need to upmost perfect detail.

cause here is the shocking part.
games made for mobile, are usually pretty fine to play on mobile.
saying "a game set in the wow universe on mobile" people would scream and cry that there is no way you could play wow on mobile.
then hearthstone.

same with diablo, diablo is a twinstick shooter, something you really do only need 2 well twin sticks for, and that translates super well on phone, i remember back in the old day of touchscreen phones and ipod touch you had some pretty good twinstick shooters on em.
now make a game based on a pc game universe, put it on a phone with the idea hey this is gunna be a phone game and banm, there you go, good game.

[kamuimac]

Diablo Immortal

Blizzard knows what theyre doing! The problem is you, you and the rest of us.

yes the problem is most of ignorat forum warriors who dont know that mobile gaming market is twice a size of computer one.

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Mobile is a future but only for some type of games. Selling a piece of shit wrapped in a paper is a bad way to go.

estimates for next 3 year are 70 - 15 -15 for mobile gaming

but sure activision should ignore this growing market to server few SJW on forums and few greedy youtubers capitilising on people stupidity

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Sadly, people do that...I see them on the train every day.

why sadly ? at this point you people are like sad dinosaurs who try to prevent inevitable extinction of computer/console gaming .

mobile games are future - in 5 years PC/consoles will be just song of the time passed

[Deleted]

yeah former... the dude hasnt worked for blizzard for more then a decade..

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Runescape plays just fine on phone, so does hearthstone, pokemon go, clash of clans, and clash royal, paired with angry birds. (some of the most popular mobile games i can think of)
and yeah on a decent sized phone or tablet i am good with watching a nice movie in bed, its not amazing, but its nice for comedies where you dont need to upmost perfect detail.

cause here is the shocking part.
games made for mobile, are usually pretty fine to play on mobile.
saying "a game set in the wow universe on mobile" people would scream and cry that there is no way you could play wow on mobile.
then hearthstone.

same with diablo, diablo is a twinstick shooter, something you really do only need 2 well twin sticks for, and that translates super well on phone, i remember back in the old day of touchscreen phones and ipod touch you had some pretty good twinstick shooters on em.
now make a game based on a pc game universe, put it on a phone with the idea hey this is gunna be a phone game and banm, there you go, good game.

There are plenty of games which would transfer fine to mobile, especially with the modern HD screens and somehow larger formats. Though I would not want to play WoW on a mobile device.

[Exquis]

When the EU is done banning lootboxes and more of that pay2win shit. Mobilegaming will dry out.

Fairly certain that the european mobile market is barely even a fraction of the global one. Even if you included the entire west (us and eu etc), it wouldnt be enough to drench this wildfire. Mobile gaming is way too big in Asia, western companies will want to tap into that, regardless of the results in the west.

Mobile gaming is not twice the size of PC gaming in the west, those are global numbers, extremely inflated by Asian statistics. China/korea/japan etc being the major 'villains' in terms of mobile gaming.


Just look at NCSOFT, all their new releases (of previously PC games) are for mobile.

[MalfLFT]

Those reasons too, and this.

Mobile is the future, whether we like it or not. And Activision-Blizzard want their fair share of $$$.

Its not the future because it makes a shit ton of money, its the monetization models and nothing more that makes the mobile market profitable. Oh and the fact we all have phones lol.

[RoKPaNda]

LOL another video about David Brevik's drunken stream rant? That guy hasn't worked at Blizzard in well over a decade, he hasn't had a single success since Diablo 2, why are people still giving him attention? In the stream with his drunken rant his own wife reminds him that he doesn't actually know any of what he's spouting.

Blizzard is following market trends and embracing mobile (and consoles.) - This is what Blizzard has always done. They just also happened to make the dumbass decision to not at least tease D4 during Blizzcon. Dumbass move? Absolutely. Should fans be upset? Sure.

Is Activision ruining Blizzard? Go play an actual Activision game like CoD and get back to me on that. The new COD is $60, the season pass (a handful of maps a couple times a year, at least one of which for sure long after you've stopped caring about the current game.) is $50!, cash only time limited skins on top of that. It makes Blizzard look pure and virginal by comparison. Oh noes, a charity pet, a mount or two every year. Blame Blizzard for Blizzard's fuck ups, don't give them a free pass by blaming Activision.

why sadly ? at this point you people are like sad dinosaurs who try to prevent inevitable extinction of computer/console gaming .

mobile games are future - in 5 years PC/consoles will be just song of the time passed

Literally never going to happen. I mean PC gaming has been going extinct for what, three decades now? =]

[SirCowdog]

Mobile is the future,

Mobile is the future of shitty, second rate games with predatory business models. It is not the ONLY future.

[Tharkkun]

The issue really is Activision.

Diablo Immortal is just blizzard wanting to tap into the most lucrative market in the world. Chinese cash grab cell phone games. The fact Netease is doing it is blizzards way of bypassing Chinese law preventing them from making gambling style ingame microtransactions.

The paycuts is just more Activision trying to make more profits. Profit sharing was great for employee retention. They loved it, they got a lot of great money out of it. However, these days companies are greedy as fuck. They've accepted that employees don't last anymore and as such as taken away almost all incentive to stay in it.

Also, 10% of the people that play Mobile games account for 90% of all sales in game. It's basically just catering and exploiting people with certain personality traits that are exploitable. Mostly completitions and gamblers.

Chinese law only states you must publish the exact probabilities of any in game gambling type reward such as lootboxes, lottery system, etc.
Netease is the company that has been publishing and hosting Blizzard games in China for years. It's basically a requirement to do business in China...

You can't blame a company for wanting to make a profit especially when the mobile market is still exploding. Blizzard most likely won't have any sort of loot boxes that grant power like all the other F2P games do. It will be cosmetic only because that's *how* they design their games.

With the new iPad being more powerful than the latest consoles there's no reason why mobile should be ignored as well.

[Kynario]

Mobile is the future of shitty, second rate games with predatory business models. It is not the ONLY future.

Yes, but that doesn't matter unfortunately.

The games are worse mechanically, graphically, and depth-wise in every possible way, of course. But they're the ones making the most money and people are dumb enough to support it.

It's like gambling, the games are made so you're always returning and buying gems, coins and boosts, and thus always "throwing coins into the machine", hoping you'll "win". It's a platform ultimately built to have instant gratification and to make the most money off players. That said, as of 2018, it's a 70 billion dollar industry where major gaming studios like Activision-Blizzard want to also start dipping their hands into... we can't blame them.

[riptal]

Mobile gaming is the future of casual gaming only! Sure you can make way more money because more people had mobile phone than any other gaming devices. But there's no possible way to imagine that mobile is the real and the only way to experience the full potential gaming!


With Mobile you reach more people = more money! Simple as that! But it's another kind of entertainement who reach different kind of people or gamers. Still wondering if you can call mobile phone gamers, "gamers".


The problem is there's some companies like Blizz who thinks that gamers who plays on phone are exactly the same as those playing on PCs or consoles. Sure you can make games for all kind of devices, but transfering a franchise to another device thinking is the way to go and everybody will follows is a mistake!

[Exeris]

Mobile is the future of shitty, second rate games with predatory business models. It is not the ONLY future.

You have to be pretty dumb to ignore a 67.5 billion dollar market that is still growing(just not as fast), I don't think we have anything to be concerned about other than maybe games taking a little longer to release than we are used to, if that.

It might even turn out to be a positive in that the increased profit will remove some of the desperation of releasing games when they aren't quite ready yet and even see bigger investments in pc and console games.