For everyone blaming Activision for Blizzard failures. Read this! And shut up!

[Deleted]

From 2008. Words directly from Blizzard director Mike Morhaime after the merge.

https://www.wired.com/2008/07/blizzard-presid/

BLIZZARD PREZ: WARCRAFT FANS HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM ACTIVISION

Don't worry, World of Warcraft fans. The company that feeds your addiction is in good hands.

This week, shareholders put the official stamp of approval on the merger of game publishers Activision and Vivendi Games, which owns Warcraft maker Blizzard Entertainment. But should fans be worried that the perfectionists at Blizzard will be swallowed whole by the sequel-hungry home of Guitar Hero?

Not a chance, says Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime, whose title will remain unchanged within the new organization.

"Fans shouldn't really see any changes," Morhaime said in a phone interview with Wired.com Thursday morning. "We're always trying to improve and to make our games better. I wouldn't really expect the fans to notice a difference."

The reason Vivendi and Blizzard approved the merger in the first place, Morhaime says, is that Activision understands Blizzard's meticulous, fan-oriented culture. Blizzard spends years lovingly crafting its games, and cancels any game that Morhaime and his crew are not ecstatic about. If Activision wasn't on board, he said, the merger wouldn't be happening.

All parties involved understand the importance of the house that World of Warcraft built. In 2007, Vivendi's games division brought in 1 billion euros, of which 814 million were contributed by Blizzard. No wonder the new company will be called Activision Blizzard.

"In the beginning, we were pretty cautious about the merger, but it just made a lot of sense from a long-term growth perspective," Morhaime says.

"The first step for us was to meet with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and the other senior leaders. We grilled them: 'Why are you doing this? What do you hope to accomplish with the merger?' We had to feel comfortable that they understood our culture."

The merger, Morhaime says, works because Activision and Blizzard are complimentary: Blizzard only produces PC games, while Activision focuses on consoles.

"We're not stepping on top of each other with what we're trying to accomplish," says Morhaime. "The areas where we lead the industry, they don't, and we don't have a hand in the areas where they lead."

Still, many fans worry that the merger will inevitably lead to Activision flexing its corporate muscle and drastically altering the games that Blizzard creates.

Morhaime dismisses this possibility. "Activision has their own games," he says. "Blizzard has our own games. We're not going to go in and fire their people and they aren't going to come in and fire any of ours."

Another concern shared by many Blizzard fans is the possibility that Activision and Blizzard properties would be cross-pollinated and cross-promoted in a series of poorly advised cash-grabs.

That fear was seemingly confirmed by the recent release of the Warcraft-themed "I Am Murloc" track for Activision's Guitar Hero III – a song created by Morhaime's real-life band, Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

Morhaime says this crossover was simply "done in fun," and not in the interest of generating sales. "Everyone had fun doing it when we did the 'I Am Murloc' crossover," he says. "I certainly enjoyed it. I wouldn't be surprised if there were further crossovers."

One of the more optimistic concerns some fans share is the idea that Blizzard's partnership with Activision will mean more Blizzard titles available on consoles. Morhaime, however, claims the company will maintain its tradition of only porting its titles when it can do the games justice.

"I don't think that the merger necessarily changes whether or not we'd choose to do something on a console. The way that we make that decision is on a game-by-game basis. If we were to choose to do something on a console, the merger with Activision is going to be extremely helpful," he says, citing Activision's status as one of the world's leading console publishers.

"It's nice to know that we have that option, but I don't think it's going to push us one way or another."

Why don't you blame Blizzard if Activision fails to create good Call of Duty....but blaming Activision for bad WoW expansion?
Can you stop blaming Activision for Blizzards failures now?

EDIT: Confirmed again by Blizzard. Source: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...nship/68419/38

[Projectmars]

Well, it was 10 years ago though. Who's to say that is no longer the case?

[Eleccybubb]

10 years ago...

Because a 10 year old article is relevant today right?

And I'd advise you look up recent interviews on the matter now. There has been a lot of talk of Activision getting more involved with Blizzard with things such as "cutting costs" and whatnot.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...n-relationship

There is most certainly influence from Activision within Blizzard. Whether you want to believe it or not.

[Deleted]

Linking some unconfirmed "said a source within Blizzard" ..."source".

Blizzard fanboys will never admit it. @Projectmars @Eleccybubb

[McNeil]

Don't worry, I blame both of them.

[Eleccybubb]

Linking some unconfirmed "said a source within Blizzard" ..."source".

Blizzard fanboys will never admit it. @Projectmars @Eleccybubb

How.... am I being a Blizzard fanboy for saying Activision has been getting a bit involved?

And there is blame on both sides. Blizzard should be aware of what they are developing and Activision should stop trying to focus so hard on the company generating profit at the cost of a good product.

Activision have CoD. It sells a bucketload each year and will continue to do so.

[hynx]

Fuck it. Im blaming Gaben from Valve. thats how it works here, right? aimless finger pointing?

[Thestuff1992]

Mike Morhaime stepped down as CEO amidst all of the new articles we’ve been getting about Activision taking more control. Could easily be a coincidence but if you actually read the letter in the OP it seems Mike would be very against Activision taking control. So now all of a sudden we’re getting a bunch of info that Activision is bringing in some hands and has blizzard cutting costs and shifting people around meanwhile Mike steps down as ceo?

Honestly it seems kinda obvious but it certainly could be a coincidence, just seems unlikely that it would be.

[Eleccybubb]

Mike Morhaime stepped down as CEO amidst all of the new articles we’ve been getting about Activision taking more control. Could easily be a coincidence but if you actually read the letter in the OP it seems Mike would be very against Activision taking control. So now all of a sudden we’re getting a bunch of info that Activision is bringing in some hands and has blizzard cutting costs and shifting people around meanwhile Mike steps down as ceo?

Honestly it seems kinda obvious but it certainly could be a coincidence it just seems unlikely.

Nah Mike was very against Activision getting it's hooks in supposedly.

I can't blame him.

[Thestuff1992]

Nah Mike was very against Activision getting it's hooks in supposedly.

I can't blame him.

Yeah that’s what I said. That’s why it’s unlikely the news about Activision is fake. Normally I’d be very skeptical about information like this but it’s coming from multiple sources all while Mike stepped down. Sure, he’s been with the company forever but why now? All of a sudden it was time to step down as CEO right as we hear all of this negative info about Activision?

Things are lining up too much to be coincidental.

[Mendzia]

Why don't you blame Blizzard if Activision fails to create good Call of Duty....but blaming Activision for bad WoW expansion?
Can you stop blaming Activision for Blizzards failures now?

Because i do not give a fk about CoD and other Acti games?

[Eleccybubb]

Yeah that’s what I said. That’s why it’s unlikely the news about Activision is fake.

I kind of feel bad for the guy.

I mean he started the company just to make games back then and whatnot.

Of course they had to find an investor/someone to acquire them otherwise they probably wouldn't have survived. And sadly there is little chance of them being able to buy themselves out from Activision. Pretty sure a lot of the money used to buy themselves back from Vivendi years ago came from Blizzard in the end.

And look at that OP bailed. Seems they were never interested in any real discussion....

[Thestuff1992]

I kind of feel bad for the guy.

I mean he started the company just to make games back then and whatnot.

Of course they had to find an investor/someone to acquire them otherwise they probably wouldn't have survived. And sadly there is little chance of them being able to buy themselves out from Activision. Pretty sure a lot of the money used to buy themselves back from Vivendi years ago came from Blizzard in the end.

Yeah if it’s all correct I don’t even wanna know how mike feels. It’s very obvious he was a loving passionate guy especially in the gaming community. Seeing your company get consumed by Activision (which is a company well known for doing shit like this btw, hence why everyone’s cautious and questioning) must really suck.

I’ve never met him personally but I’ve seen and heard him at blizzcon, very passionate. I really don’t think he’d be stepping down if Activision wasn’t all over this. That doesn’t prove anything of course but really it’s too much related information coming out at the same time to be coincidental or fake.

[tru]

Angry blizz interns make posts?

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Is.... is this supposed to be ironic? Are you actually insulting the people who say Activision isn't the problem?

Surely you're not actually thinking an article from 10 years ago holds any sway now.

[Thestuff1992]

Is.... is this supposed to be ironic? Are you actually insulting the people who say Activision isn't the problem?

Surely you're not actually thinking an article from 10 years ago holds any sway now.

The article further perpetuates the information about Activision honestly.

This article shows how much mike is really wary of and against Activision in terms of its reputation and the fear of corporate takeover. Why would he be stepping down if this wasn’t actually happening? He didn’t just get tired all of a sudden right around the same time we hear about Activision making moves, so it seems pretty clear it’s because he’s losing control of his company. That’s how it happens. It’s not Activisions first rodeo with takeovers either.

Seems like the “perfect storm” unfortunately. All of a sudden there’s multiple articles from multiple “inside” sources past and present that talk about Activision and the increasing hold they have on blizzard, Mike steps down at this time, certain blizzard games aren’t doing too well comparatively, etc. Plus this is something Activision is known for. We’ll see in due time (I hope not though) but this article from 2008 helps show Activision could certainly be the problem.

[Sencha]

Linking some unconfirmed "said a source within Blizzard" ..."source".

Blizzard fanboys will never admit it. @Projectmars @Eleccybubb

Nobody cares whether it is Activision or Blizzard's fault that WoW has become horrible. But you can't deny that the game has declined since the merger.

[Oftenwrongsoong]

I recently watched a press conference/Q&A where a Blizzard Employee (I think it was J. Allen Brack) stated that Blizzard has no plans in releasing Classic-style World of Warcraft servers.

I can't figure out why people keep thinking Classic is coming in 2019, I literally just watched this Q&A just now and he said they're not doing it. I think it's from a few years ago, but what does that matter? He literally said they're not doing Classic.

Edit: I did a bit more digging and can confirm Classic Servers are not happening: https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/1751857331#15

As you can see, "We realize that some of you feel that World of Warcraft was more fun in the past than it is today, and we also know that some of you would like nothing more than to go back and play the game as it was back then. The developers however prefer to see the game continuously evolve and progress, and as such we have no plans to open classic realms or limited expansion content realms."

[Deleted]

We've actually had inside information from the developers of Diablo 3 that Activision has influenced Blizzard's game design. Just look up the email that was sent out about the decision to stop development on the second Diablo 3 expansion.

[Zequill]

I like how people stick on: "This is the first year we've heard a priority being cutting costs and trying not to spend as much," said a source within Blizzard. "It was presented as, 'Don't spend money where it isn't necessary.'" but completely ignore "Blizzard has for years operated as if it were a separate company to Activision, despite the 2007 merger".

I also like they point out that Activision is releasing a COD game once a year as if it's was the reason we should be scare of Activision while omitting to say they use 3 different developer to achieve this goal...

I don't like it either but Blizzard just cannot spent like they did 10 year ago. The year of 10 millions subs while selling 25$ mount are behind them. They might want to rethink building huge statue or start huge project to axe 90% of it 1-2 years later...