Morale at Blizzard low?

[Deficineiron]

It may have been a contractual obligation that was part of the deal with NetEase. Back when they made the deal it is likely they expected to have PC-related Diablo news as well. Not that this excuses Blizzard from blame when it comes to disappointing, and perhaps even insulting, a large part of the Diablo fan base. But there was something about the whole thing which felt very much "doing our duty" to me.

This whole deal probably seemed a much safer and better deal when D4 was still on track. Being able to show some teasers/trailers for D4 while presenting Immortal as the franchise branching out to a new platform - that would have resulted in a very different reception. I would not be surprised if NetEase are angry at Activision-Blizzard for botching the presentation by not having some Diablo news of their own to accompany it.

To the degree they care about perception in the US (and they are (dual?)-listed in the US so they likely do care), the number of fin-press articles citing DI as one of the problems ATVI has had recently cannot thrill them.

I find your posts worth reading. Please keep posting.

Of course, I assume if the D4 premise is sound (and going on the Kotaku article, I assume it is), the botch there has to just increase annoyance upstairs. Hard to know how all this fits into Morhaime departure. Maybe he was tired of the increased pressure (on missed targets?) maybe he had a 10-year contract or hurdle in his contract with ATVI post-merger?

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A word of caution: We don't know how much or how close Netease worked with Wyatt and others in Irvine on this. Maybe none. Maybe everything they did was subject to review by Wyatt or the Diablo team at HQ.

We have no idea about how much of that there is. Could be nothing, could be a lot. Could be that the demo is mostly Netease and the final product will have significant input from Irvine. A lot of folks are proclaiming stuff about the final product as facts with little-to-no-information based on a preview demo.

this is true, but the company releases demos with the intent that potential customers draw conclusions and form expectations based on it.

One can err on the side of making the demo off-limits for forming any conclusions or expectations, which is the opposite of the general intent of the demo.

in other words, if a company puts a demo of a game out there, they are not saying 'dont look at this or take it seriously,' they are actually doing the opposite. If a company doesn't want potential customers to draw particular conclusions from a demo, they are better advised to modify the demo, rather than literally advise customers not to take the demo seriously in terms of anything they don't like (I am thinking of the wow demo and the various explanations for how features/elements didn't really count)

[Soon-TM]

Bellular gaming did a video today on the OP video and an article coming out of Kotaku;

Just wait till the BDS (Blizzard Defense Squad) starts calling Bellular a drama queen/clicks whore/doomsayer, etc. It's (mildly) funny

[Ungeir]

Vivendi was siphoning all the profits from the 2 cash cow companies (Blizzard and Activision) and using it to further their failed media ventures. Rather than let Vivendi sell them to someone else they became independent.

This is not quite correct. See the dividend history: https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/atvi/dividend-history.

What Vivendi did do was take on a truckload of debt to prop up the other ventures they had (which as you mention, did not perform well). In 2013 they announced planned to force a massive extraordinary dividend payout (billions) from Activision-Blizzard, in order to pay off debts. A few days later, Activision announces the buy-out by Kotick et al. Note that the original dividends would have netted Vivendi $2 billion, while the buyout gave them $8 billion - about 3/4 from Activision Blizard itself (mostly fresh debt, only $1.2 billion from cash reserves - tax concerns prevented the use of the remaining, overseas, approx $3 billion), and the remainder from management and investors. Note that this was also when (the now ubiquitous) Tencent got a stake, as part of the investor consortium.

Since then, stock price and dividends have soared, making this a really good investment for the new owners. I absolutely cannot fault Kotick and friends for exercising control of a company they paid *billions* for - just one month after Titan was disbanded, and millions of development dollars effectively flushed down the drain. Rather than gutting the studio - he demanded that they focus on smaller products with less time to market. That resulted in Hearthstone.

Without the Activision-led buy-out, it is very likely that there would be no Hearthstone, no Overwatch, no Heroes of the Storm. We would probably have seen a World of Warcraft and Diablo 3 with incredibly aggressive monetization and much lower production value content.

Blizzard is in a much better place today than in 2013, but they've also failed to keep up the pace after Hearthstone and Overwatch. It seems like they've become even slower and more bloated than in the past. Combine this with a shortage of engineers, conflicts between old-timers and newcomers, corporate management clamping down on budgetary flexibility - and it's no wonder morale is low.

I would speculate the "low morale" problem is centered around the senior designers, producers and (creative) managers. This group probably had perks/effective salary far in excess of their actual contribution, not to mention a lot of formal and informal power based on the culture and history of Blizzard. The grunts and newcomers might even be welcoming the changes - heck, even some old-timers may be hoping for action against organizational cruft, nepotism and general stagnation. I've seen plenty of companies where low morale in one part of the company was matched by high morale in another.

TLDR: Vivendi wanted to suck out the majority of cash reserves. Kotick and co. actually *saved* Activision-Blizzard from having absolutely no available development funds - by putting in their own cash and bringing in fresh investors.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkai.../#1df36bfe5bce
https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...Shares-Vivendi

[RobertoCarlos]

Spin that positive narrative champ.

its difficult to come to terms with the death of a loved one in this case a once great gaming company.

No king rules forever.

[OmniSkribe]

its difficult to come to terms with the death of a loved one in this case a once great gaming company.

No king rules forever.

Yet king is here and still rules it's kingdom. Hard times like this show who is truly loyal.

[RobertoCarlos]

Yet king is here and still rules it's kingdom. Hard times like this show who is truly loyal.

Hard to be loyal to someone who whores themselves out to china and laughs back in your face when you ask for some one on one time.

[Clone]

Just wait till the BDS (Blizzard Defense Squad) starts calling Bellular a drama queen/clicks whore/doomsayer, etc. It's (mildly) funny

It's more like anti-bullshit lies squad. This whole thread is filled with people who can't cope with the fact that Blizzard is not some patron saint of gaming who isn't in it for the money, and would prefer to blame it on Activision for corrupting their beloved company.

[Soon-TM]

It's more like anti-bullshit lies squad. This whole thread is filled with people who can't cope with the fact that Blizzard is not some patron saint of gaming who isn't in it for the money, and would prefer to blame it on Activision for corrupting their beloved company.

Lolololol keep up the good work my dude, I'm sure that Kotick himself will come someday and /pat you This whole thread is filled with people who can't cope with the fact that Blizzard is sunk to the neck in corporate BS and that it's no longer the same Blizzard of D2/WC3/early WoW. It's fascinating how white knights are quick to praise Blizzard when it does something right, but when it drops the ball, they deflect the blame (real or perceived) onto Activision or even players.

[Dracullus]

Yet king is here and still rules it's kingdom. Hard times like this show who is truly loyal.

I like many Blizzard games (WoW, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch), but it's really stupid idea to be "loyal" to company. I buy their games ONLY if they're fun to me.

You know what playerbase were veeery loyal to "their" company? Bethesda fanbase. B kept dumbing down their games (and actually in Skyrim they hit sweet spot, since it's their most popular game) on same engine, it's 7 years since last TES and no new one on the horizon, each Fallout got worse reviews and only modern Fallout with deph was made by other studio - but people were still buying it. Some idiots even gave Game of the Year award for Fallout 4. In 2015. Year when Witcher 3, Bloodborne and MGS V came out.

Now check out reviews for Fallout 76. Most sad think that it will too sell ton of copies and they may not learn anything for TES VI.

I'm not interested in Diablo Immortal -> I won't play it at all. Youtube drama queens make videos that "world is ending" for views -> ALL OF THEM will play Immortal just to shit on it - also for views. Judge who's giving better feedback for Blizzard.

Lolololol keep up the good work my dude, I'm sure that Kotick himself will come someday and /pat you This whole thread is filled with people who can't cope with the fact that Blizzard is sunk to the neck in corporate BS and that it's no longer the same Blizzard of D2/WC3/early WoW. It's fascinating how white knights are quick to praise Blizzard when it does something right, but when it drops the ball, they deflect the blame (real or perceived) onto Activision or even players.

It's fascinating how grown (I assume) people don't understand that EVERY working corporate is "sunk to the neck in corporate BS". Good companies, where everyone care about fun and no one cares about profit exist only in nostalgialand (where for example there is no Vivendi over Blizzard head). Or die off.

[Kokolums]

It's more like anti-bullshit lies squad. This whole thread is filled with people who can't cope with the fact that Blizzard is not some patron saint of gaming who isn't in it for the money, and would prefer to blame it on Activision for corrupting their beloved company.

Hmmm. I've been around a few decades now.

What always happens to forums based around something with declining interest is the shills looks for posters to say something slightly factually incorrect to use as confirmation bias that anyone not shilling for the company is a troll. Then they circle the wagons harder and harder while the community shrinks.

Hell, that happened to the Diablo 3 forums. The d3 forums got super small and the few that remained were singing its praises as a wonderfully fun game. They were ready to shut out the entire world as being biased against their game.

Forums are a distorted view of the fanbase.

[OmniSkribe]

Hard to be loyal to someone who whores themselves out to china and laughs back in your face when you ask for some one on one time.

Well yes, but R* and GTA Online is a good example how lotta people hated on microtransactions and were very disappointed about no single player DLC for the game and how money hungry R* became yet everyone forgot about it the day RDR2 came out. Companies be companies they will always be about profits and Blizzard still can and will deliver good products. Anyone can make mistake.

If and only when Blizzard officially cease to exist (like Lionhead or Maxis and many more great studios consumed by bigger fish) or go bankrupt only then it'll be proper to state that it's dead.

Same will be with Blizzard, they will deliver D4 and new games, simply right now they have some internal problems that we as community can only speculate about.

[Soon-TM]

It's fascinating how grown (I assume) people don't understand that EVERY working corporate is "sunk to the neck in corporate BS". Good companies, where everyone care about fun and no one cares about profit exist only in nostalgialand (where for example there is no Vivendi over Blizzard head). Or die off.

I understand it, yet I'm still disappointed by what Blizzard has become. I was referring to the white knights who can't admit that Blizzard can ever make mistakes, or (if the mistakes are too blatant for a plausible denial) deflect the blame onto others, be it Activision, David Brevik, players or their dogs.

Hmmm. I've been around a few decades now.

What always happens to forums based around something with declining interest is the shills looks for posters to say something slightly factually incorrect to use as confirmation bias that anyone not shilling for the company is a troll. Then they circle the wagons harder and harder while the community shrinks.

Hell, that happened to the Diablo 3 forums. The d3 forums got super small and the few that remained were singing its praises as a wonderfully fun game. They were ready to shut out the entire world as being biased against their game.

Forums are a distorted view of the fanbase.

Completely agree. Hell, official forums are looking even worse than Reddit now

[OmniSkribe]

I like many Blizzard games (WoW, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch), but it's really stupid idea to be "loyal" to company. I buy their games ONLY if they're fun to me.

You know what playerbase were veeery loyal to "their" company? Bethesda fanbase. B kept dumbing down their games (and actually in Skyrim they hit sweet spot, since it's their most popular game) on same engine, it's 7 years since last TES and no new one on the horizon, each Fallout got worse reviews and only modern Fallout with depth was made by other studio - but people were still buying it. Some idiots even gave Game of the Year award for Fallout 4. In 2015. Year when Witcher 3, Bloodborne and MGS V came out.

Now check out reviews for Fallout 76. Most sad think that it will too sell ton of copies and they may not learn anything for TES VI.

I'm not interested in Diablo Immortal -> I won't play it at all. Youtube drama queens make videos that "world is ending" for views -> ALL OF THEM will play Immortal just to shit on it - also for views. Judge who's giving better feedback for Blizzard.

New TES is comming (e3 announce). Yeah, I hear you. Like many I was really struck by how dumbed down Oblivion/Skyrim was compared to Morrowind (I'm still salty) yet unlike 10-15 years ago I simply don't want to spend the same amount of time on games like I did during childhood. Shame on me but I can't say that I've enjoyed games like Pillars or Divinity because I simply can't invest so much time to understand rpg mechanics (overwhelmed by all the stats and attributes) to play it on hard difficulties even thou Baldur veterans will laugh at me (I even played them myself).

Can't say anything about Witcher (never liked the series) and while Bloodbourn is niche game, I would gladly forget about MGSV existence (as long time series fan) so all around Fallout 4 is better pick for GoTY despite yours or my preferences, it's good game with good gameplay, good graphics etc. <- This comes from the guy who thinks that fallout should be isometric RPG and thinks that F3/NV were a mistakes despite being good games.

[RobertoCarlos]

Well yes, but R* and GTA Online is a good example how lotta people hated on microtransactions and were very disappointed about no single player DLC for the game and how money hungry R* became yet everyone forgot about it the day RDR2 came out. Companies be companies they will always be about profits and Blizzard still can and will deliver good products. Anyone can make mistake.

If and only when Blizzard officially cease to exist (like Lionhead or Maxis and many more great studios consumed by bigger fish) or go bankrupt only then it'll be proper to state that it's dead.

Same will be with Blizzard, they will deliver D4 and new games, simply right now they have some internal problems that we as community can only speculate about.

GTA has a single player. If you felt it wasnt worth your money then thats different.

But as long as Rockstar still provide a full single player experience while skimming the cream off the whales in online then whatever. As long as you feel you get your moneys worth you cant complain too much at the end of the day.

RDR1 had a huge single player game and so does RDRD2 so gamers generally dont have a problem with it.

If they didnt provide singler player like blizzard with diablo not even being a PC game anymore then you can question them

[OmniSkribe]

GTA has a single player. If you felt it wasnt worth your money then thats different.
But as long as Rockstar still provide a full single player experience while skimming the cream off the whales in online then whatever. As long as you feel you get your moneys worth you cant complain too much at the end of the day.
RDR1 had a huge single player game and so does RDRD2 so gamers generally dont have a problem with it.
If they didnt provide singler player like blizzard with diablo not even being a PC game anymore then you can question them

Exactly my point. It has nothing to do with GTAV and single player. It's about everyone doom and gloom that company will only live on MTX.

Many people stated that R* is done and dead after GTA:O yet they over delivered with RDR2.

You just jump the gun as like blizzard stated that they won't ever release Diablo 4 or like if they stated that from here and now they are Mobile-first company (which is not) and they core playerbase now are people who play Pokemon Go.

Sorry but that exact same thing when Blizzard as an RTS developer decided to create MMOrpg or as MMO Developer decided expand into MOBA, FPS and TCG genres.

[RobertoCarlos]

Exactly my point. It has nothing to do with GTAV and single player. It's about everyone doom and gloom that company will only live on MTX.

Many people stated that R* is done and dead after GTA:O yet they over delivered with RDR2.

You just jump the gun as like blizzard stated that they won't ever release Diablo 4 or like if they stated that from here and now they are Mobile-first company (which is not) and they core playerbase now are people who play Pokemon Go.

Sorry but that exact same thing when Blizzard as an RTS developer decided to create MMOrpg or as MMO Developer decided expand into MOBA, FPS and TCG genres.

They could turn it around sure. But they show no signs of that and their greed has only increased. Might as well get use to the new blizz rather than living in denial.

[Mister Cheese]

Stop linking this drama monger

He had a 2 hour interview with mark kern that confirmed many people's suspicions. He's still a drama monger I guess. Blizzard is doing this shit to themselves I hate to tell you.

[Eapoe]

And how many people will leave Blizzard becouse of this decision? Diablo 3 sold 15M copies. RoF expansion sold only like 3M becouse players got burned by D3. D:I will definitly cause huge playerbase losses across all blizzard games as it do no line up with current pc players. Better Asia market be big to made up losses here in west. If Blizzard wont remedem themself with new game they can also just move to Asia and make games for addiceted children.

Why would people leave Blizzard? Releasing a game into a market that Western audiences doesn’t mean Western players are going to leave the franchise. It does mean that the company is entering a new market that stands to be quite profitable if done well. As long as the company keeps making games for its PC base then why would D:I have any bearing on people leaving?
Also, D3 has been cited as one of the best selling games of all time with over 30 million copies being sold, and that includes RoS (which I assume you meant). 12 million in its 1st year alone with another 18 million since.

[Deleted]

Why would people leave Blizzard? Releasing a game into a market that Western audiences doesn’t mean Western players are going to leave the franchise. It does mean that the company is entering a new market that stands to be quite profitable if done well. As long as the company keeps making games for its PC base then why would D:I have any bearing on people leaving?
Also, D3 has been cited as one of the best selling games of all time with over 30 million copies being sold, and that includes RoS (which I assume you meant). 12 million in its 1st year alone with another 18 million since.

Yes it does mean people will leave diablo ip. Thia is second time what blizz screw diablo fans and releasing pc game in 2020 wont fix it. Those people will be long gone playing other and better games.

[Necroxis]

He had a 2 hour interview with mark kern that confirmed many people's suspicions. He's still a drama monger I guess. Blizzard is doing this shit to themselves I hate to tell you.

Yes, he is.

Mark Kern has been out of Blizzard for 14 years. He knows absolutely nothing about anything. And just like when he was acting like a twat during GamerGate, Mark Kern is now using legitimate outrage at Immortal to once again poke his head out of his sewer and try to insert himself into the conversation again.