Are Dev's great ideas being shut down by Blizzard?

[Deleted]

This is a theory of mine i would like to hear your opinion on.
IMO there are great minds at Blizzard's HQ having many great ideas for the game...but they are being shut down by the higher ups in game development at Blizzard.

The reasons for said great ideas being shut down could be because:
They are risky
cost more
not their target audience because they want to make the game "for everyone"
fear
etc

Why do i think this:
Because its insane to believe there arent any brilliant Devs in a company as big as Blizzard.
You are telling me there isnt a single RPG nerd out there with crazy ideas for the game?
One socially awkward 40 year old dude who played a ton of RPG's with great ideas?
Come on, i find this really hard to believe.
But its just an opinion. What do you guys think of it?

edit:
Im not trying to imply the CEO of Activision Blizzard is making ingame design decisions.
Im trying to say The "higher ups" in game development are stopping ideas from normal Dev's

[ONCHEhap]

that's absolutely possible,risks mean a chance to not get as much profit and the board doesn't want that

I mean look at Ion,he's a pretty high end raider and used to be a hardcore raider,yet "his" decisions don't reflect that,and it's probably because he doesn't have much power really,the board,the investors and the shareholders take decisions,he's just a puppet a frontman soaking all the hate for it

It's not hard to believe that others in the company are being silenced that way too

[Dead Moose Fandango]

Soon as I saw who made this topic, I knew this was a shitshow.

[The One Percent]

Soon as I saw who made this topic, I knew this was a shitshow.

You could say that for the majority of topic starters on MMOC.

[Kyphael]

Creativity is most certainly always suffocated or stifled, especially in large environments where the vision of one for a product supersedes how a creative process SHOULD go, but unfortunately, the buck stops at the top, and sometimes, the Game Director, or CEO, or what have you isn't as creative as the people working for them.

[UnluckyAmateur]

Seems more like a fact than a theory since Activision is up there with the "greats" like EA when it comes to shutting down the good ideas. I knew this for a while now, especially with the hard push for mobile games adding more fuel to the fire since they're notorious for having mind numbing monetization practices.

At the very least I can say that activision isn't as prone to use predatory practices to put studios in a position where they'd have to be shut down like EA is.

[Triceron]

This is a theory of mine i would like to hear your opinion on.
IMO there are great minds at Blizzard's HQ having many great ideas for the game...but they are being shut down by the higher ups at Blizzard.

The reasons for said great ideas being shut down could be because:
They are risky
cost more
not their target audience because they want to make the game "for everyone"
fear
etc

Why do i think this:
Because its insane to believe there arent any brilliant Devs in a company as big as Blizzard.
You are telling me there isnt a single RPG nerd out there with crazy ideas for the game?
One socially awkward 40 year old dude who played a ton of RPG's with great ideas?
Come on, i find this really hard to believe.
But its just an opinion. What do you guys think of it?

I think your opinion is wild speculation with no basis on actual game development.

Work at a game conpany as a designer. You will then know more about the difficulties of adding 'brilliant ideas'. The biggest hurdle may actually not even come from development, but by jaded gamers who played some form of the same design you spent 3 months testing and polishing and felt it was just a mediocre contribution or gave it 4 minutes of attention before moving on.

[MoanaLisa]

The implication is that ideas generated by the developers for the game have to all be submitted to Activision for approval. That's just dumb and despite the fever dreams of those on forums there is not a shred of evidence that it's true.

No ex-developer has ever said "I had a great idea for the game but Bobby Kotick said no." Jesus Christ...

[Benitora]

I do not think Activision have as much power of Blizzard as you people think.
The shitshow that is Blizzard, is in their own making, not because Bobby Kotick stepped in and said: "Make more money, but cut the quality"

[Deleted]

The implication is that ideas generated by the developers for the game have to all be submitted to Activision for approval. That's just dumb and despite the fever dreams of those on forums there is not a shred of evidence that it's true.

No ex-developer has ever said "I had a great idea for the game but Bobby Kotick said no." Jesus Christ...

Im not trying to imply the CEO of the company is making ingame design decisions.
Sorry if i didnt explain better

The "higher ups" in game development are stopping ideas from normal Dev's.

Thats the theory

[Dug]

Even if Blizzard ran solo still I think we'd end up at the same place we're at. Loss of interest in a decade old game, devs developing systems that keep players on the wheel as long as possible to stop the decline, gimmicky promotions to bring back subs, etc.

[MoanaLisa]

Im not trying to imply the CEO of the company is making ingame design decisions.
Sorry if i didnt explain better

The "higher ups" in game development are stopping ideas from normal Dev's.

Thats the theory

What higher ups in game development that report primarily to Activision? Who do you imagine these people are? Why do you imagine that we've never heard of the Approval Board of Higher Up Developers for Activision?

[Deleted]

that's absolutely possible,risks mean a chance to not get as much profit and the board doesn't want that

I mean look at Ion,he's a pretty high end raider and used to be a hardcore raider,yet "his" decisions don't reflect that,and it's probably because he doesn't have much power really,the board,the investors and the shareholders take decisions,he's just a puppet a frontman soaking all the hate for it

It's not hard to believe that others in the company are being silenced that way too

Well I would say the board and directors don't make many day to day or the detailed decisions. No board. Member likly sits in the design meets. There input usually starts and ends with "print me fucking money or your saked"

The ire should be levels at marketing and middle management who's job it is to translate that into something the motivates the employees and to police the innovation vs risk management balance.

[Zyrinx]

Even if Blizzard ran solo still I think we'd end up at the same place we're at. Loss of interest in a decade old game, devs developing systems that keep players on the wheel as long as possible to stop the decline, gimmicky promotions to bring back subs, etc.

I agree with this.

[Deleted]

What higher ups in game development that report primarily to Activision? Who do you imagine these people are? Why do you imagine that we've never heard of the Approval Board of Higher Up Developers for Activision?

I never should have used the term "Activision Blizzard"
I should have just said "Blizzard".

But i messed up and its causing confusion.

[Foolicious]

I don't think they actively try to shut down ideas. Thats just a dumb move.
I think they did this because they shuffle developers around and keep reducing the size of dev teams responsible for games.
If they are less people in a team then there are less ideas and less people who can tell the responsible person that an idea is bad.

[Deleted]

Even if Blizzard ran solo still I think we'd end up at the same place we're at. Loss of interest in a decade old game, devs developing systems that keep players on the wheel as long as possible to stop the decline, gimmicky promotions to bring back subs, etc.

Where we are now was decided at wow's release because if the philosophy wow was built upon of making a simpler mmorpg that what was then on the market.

That philosophy of simplification and accessibility as noble as it was is the reason we have such a shallow game now.

[MoanaLisa]

I never should have used the term "Activision Blizzard"
I should have just said "Blizzard".

But i messed up and its causing confusion.

Oh for fuck's sake. After all the "Is Activision Ruining Blizzard" threads we've had...

[Hyral]

I've believed this since the GC post came out in Cata telling the playerbase to step up or shut up about hard heroics and then immediately having the heroics nerfed. As if he told us what he knew would be best for the game but then some higher ups had to reel him back in to do what they thought would get more money instead. After he came out saying LFR is his biggest regret it just made me believe this even more.

I have no doubt many great ideas are being pushed aside or twisted for what the higher ups think would be more money.

[unbound]

This is a theory of mine i would like to hear your opinion on.
IMO there are great minds at Blizzard's HQ having many great ideas for the game...but they are being shut down by the higher ups at Blizzard.

The reasons for said great ideas being shut down could be because:
They are risky
cost more
not their target audience because they want to make the game "for everyone"
fear
etc

Why do i think this:
Because its insane to believe there arent any brilliant Devs in a company as big as Blizzard.
You are telling me there isnt a single RPG nerd out there with crazy ideas for the game?
One socially awkward 40 year old dude who played a ton of RPG's with great ideas?
Come on, i find this really hard to believe.
But its just an opinion. What do you guys think of it?

lol

This isn't a theory, this is how all corporations work.

Keep in mind a few extra things that complicate matters:
- It isn't as easy to identify "brilliant" Devs as most people think. Everyone thinks they are above average (Dunning Kruger), and many people think that they are brilliant. Most are not, and it isn't easy to tell a game changing idea from a poor idea that just seems different.
- There are some very good ideas that do indeed bubble up, but the corporations first job is to profits, so there will a weighing of benefits vs costs at all times. You literally learn this in any good engineering program (including software engineering) in your 1st year.
- Blizz likely is going down the correct path for their primary goal (profits) by pushing focus onto mobile gaming. It sucks for you, but is best for them.
- Great ideas, even when well implemented, doesn't always translate into great sales. This is known and people do try to account for that (tied to 2nd bullet).
- If you have a rabid enough fan base, you don't need to produce quality...that fan base will accept it and actually fight on the companies behalf. Experienced executives know this and will exploit it if available.