The next company to go "don't you guys have...?" - NCSOFT!

[Shaetha]

The deal is that people interested in the franchise might miss something lore-related because of a game which was developed on a support it can't really fit on.

In the case of Diablo, most of the Hardcore Diablo fans will miss out what happened between II and III because 2.5 is mobile-only, while Mobile-gamers... Simply don't care about lore, they'll never be involved in the IP at all.
The good news being that Diablo 2.5 seems to suck anyway with it's cartoonish-Cinematic, so I'm pretty sure nobody will miss out any important feature.

On the long run, it's effectively an IP-killer.

Ancillary game is an IP killer. That's a new one.

Also, what world do you live in where you need to play a game to not miss the lore?

Also, also, hardcore fans are going to play it anyway. Their sound and fury literally means nothing because they won't do anything to back it up.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

I can't remember a time when NCSoft wasn't absolute shit. This actually follows the quality of most of their games.

[slime]

I don't really care about Mobile games. I only get annoyed when it is great franchises that haven't had a game in a long time getting shafted to mobile, with no view in sight of an actual console or PC type release.

I.e. Command and Conquer.

I.e. deploy your commando unit already!

[Vorkreist]

You're probably assuming that the company only works on one game at a time and the fact that they are making a mobile game takes away from making the games you want to play but that's not necessarily true.

Blizzard is totally not doing just that even though they openly said so....

[Shaetha]

Blizzard is totally not doing just that even though they openly said so....

yep, no development going on for Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone at all. It's all solely going into this mobile game they aren't even developing in house.

[Onikaroshi]

Even then, who would makes games for them? The idea is that everybody has a phone so you can mass-sell your games but if you make a game that needs a specific hardware-addon it would shrink your userbase immensely.

You don't need to require it, you just make it usable, for people who want better control schemes. You can already pair a BT controller with a bunch of games and play them on your phone.

[Deleted]

I want KSP on mobile, but don't really enjoy games which mobiles lend themselves to generally.

[Kumorii]

I don't really care about Mobile games. I only get annoyed when it is great franchises that haven't had a game in a long time getting shafted to mobile, with no view in sight of an actual console or PC type release.

I.e. Command and Conquer.

Dungeon Keeper stung the most!

[Mehrunes]

This irrational hatred of any and all things mobile is dumb. Mobile exists, developers/publishers will continue to make these games alongside their core games aimed at PC/console crowds. Doesn't it get exhausting being outraged all the time?

Irrational would imply that mobile isn't the hotbed of all the worst blights of gaming, like microtransactions or pay to win (usually both at once), utterly crap shovelware, etc. while at the same time being a huge part of the gaming market at the same time. With the latter not only shifting developers' focus away from meaningful games to that of "let's shit out another clone of the >current mobile trend< in two weeks to cash out big" but also motivating them to transplant more and more of those anti-consumer practices that mobile gamers don't care about to consoles and PCs. Mobile market is not only shit in and of itself, but spreads its disease to gaming as a whole. And your complacent attitude of "lel it exists, so let it go no matter how toxic it is for the industry" is complicit in that.

I look at it this way, if they can keep the scum of microtransactions and greed to mobile games and make tones of money there, they could give us good games with the money they make there without microtransactions. Just being optimistic.:P

More like utterly unrealistic. Because sooner or later greedy executives will ask themselves "why not both?" and force developers to transplant the newest anti-consumer crap from mobiles to other areas of gaming and pretend it's Nirvana made game system in order to swap their gold swimming pools into a diamond ones. But then again, if you don't play mobile games it totally doesn't affect you! Somehow.

[Kathandira]

In the case of Diablo, most of the Hardcore Diablo fans will miss out what happened between II and III because 2.5 is mobile-only

Diablo? Lore? Bwahahahahaha! That ship sailed long ago.

- - - Updated - - -

I can't remember a time when NCSoft wasn't absolute shit. This actually follows the quality of most of their games.

I do...City of Heroes!

My first MMO that I really got into. Fantastic Game for it's time.

[Orby]

More like utterly unrealistic. Because sooner or later greedy executives will ask themselves "why not both?" and force developers to transplant the newest anti-consumer crap from mobiles to other areas of gaming and pretend it's Nirvana made game system in order to swap their gold swimming pools into a diamond ones. But then again, if you don't play mobile games it totally doesn't affect you! Somehow.

Don't tell me there is no Santa Claus. Let me believe god dammit

[stellvia]

Even then, who would makes games for them? The idea is that everybody has a phone so you can mass-sell your games but if you make a game that needs a specific hardware-addon it would shrink your userbase immensely.

The question becomes: Are they looking to abandon producing their own hardware entirely, or are they merely looking to extend/diversify onto smartphones? They don't necessarily have to be interested in having access to literally the entire install-base of smartphones in order to release games for it. Mobile titles such as Honkai Impact are quite graphically intensive and don't run on older mobile hardware as it is. This would be a similar case.

I can envision a Switch2 which comes with a home dock/system and comes boxed with phone-compatible joycons. You then have an app installed on the phone that would run a compatible executable and transfer the save-state dynamically similar to using the Switch in the dock or on the go. The phone would play a graphically slimmed down version similar to how the Switch underclocks when not in the dock. They might even support on-screen controls when lacking the joycons.

I dunno about iOS, but for Android this would probably even get them around Google's restrictions on having your own marketplace apps: If all purchases have to be made from the console-side and executables are merely shared from that end, they aren't technically selling anything in the app.

- - - Updated - - -

yep, no development going on for Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone at all. It's all solely going into this mobile game they aren't even developing in house.

Don't worry, they said they've got a bunch of in-house mobile games being worked on for those other IPs as well. And even when they say they have non-mobile stuff being "worked on" ... the early development stages involve very few people: We're talking a few dozen at most. From the sounds of it, D4 is the one farthest along, and even that won't see the light of day until 2022-23. 11 years is an embarrassingly long time between primary PC releases for a company with the size and resources of Blizzard. Even if I'm generous and include mobile-alike Overwatch: That is still a 7 year drought. Their priorities are clearly not on the previously core PC market anymore.

[GreenJesus]

Why? Most everyone has phones, and this was an inevitable shift in the game market to reach a wider audience. People who don't have the money to spend on a gaming PC and also people who haven't tried these games can no do so easier than ever.

I don't get the big deal? If you don't like it, don't play it.

But smart phones are over $1k dollars now... They aren't "affordable"

[Edge-]

But smart phones are over $1k dollars now... They aren't "affordable"

Some do, but there are still plenty of budget smartphone options (lower specs, but can still often run plenty of mobile games) and plenty of solid mid-range options running from $4-700 or so.

[Daedius]

It being mobile isn't the issue. The fuck up Blizzard did was making Diablo Immortal their big announcement. Mobile gaming shouldn't be "big news" for such companies... but at most left as side projects.

[Shaetha]

Don't worry, they said they've got a bunch of in-house mobile games being worked on for those other IPs as well. And even when they say they have non-mobile stuff being "worked on" ... the early development stages involve very few people: We're talking a few dozen at most. From the sounds of it, D4 is the one farthest along, and even that won't see the light of day until 2022-23. 11 years is an embarrassingly long time between primary PC releases for a company with the size and resources of Blizzard. Even if I'm generous and include mobile-alike Overwatch: That is still a 7 year drought. Their priorities are clearly not on the previously core PC market anymore.

I meant patch work for existing titles. New titles are pretty irrelevant when you're still actively releasing content for the games already out.

[SinR]

Aion still exists in the West?

[Edge-]

Aion still exists in the West?

Believe it or not, yep. Just got a bit patch overhauling most of the game, especially the leveling experience late last year. It's...got mixed results, and a lot of Aion veterans and returning players aren't super happy with the changes (myself included).

[SinR]

I played for a while, actually got into it with one of their forum mods ages ago when I started pointing out the flaws in the game that "Westerners" don't like, thread got deleted for "Trolling" when it was actually well thought out and not particularly trolly. Lack of rewards from dungeons, gigantic money sinks, PVP primarily focused End-Game, among a few other things. Never really got into it and I honestly thought NCSoft pulled it from the Western Market.

[Halicia]

You are kidding, right? Are you actually arguing that the gaming market is infinite​? Do you know what that means? :P

Nope, I never made the argument that you're trying to strawman me into. You made the argument that the gaming market is finite and static, however, and the market growth in the last 3 decades easily disproves that.