[Poll] Do you think todays Blizzard is equally worse as EA ?

[Socialhealer]

Corporate greed and pleasing stockholders has taken over the business decisions, and those people are only interested in profits, not quality games.

At this point the difference doesn't mean anything maybe "as bad" but so bad who really cares about the fine lines the major points are the same.

[Daedius]

Equally, no.

But they've become rather scummy since WoD, going all out with Legion onwards.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

At least Activision didn't go around buying up dozens of studios with the intent of closing them down a few years later.

[Kumorii]

Hell no. I play 0 EA games currently. I play several blizzard games still.

[kranur]

No. I'd say not even close. They've started to do scummy cash grab shit since a few years ago, but the level of scum is not at the level of what EA pulls.
At this rate though, it's not going to be very long until they are at the same level.

[Niwes]

I'd take a smaller company that's more consumer friendly, and makes actual high quality games as a measure over sociopathic AAA corporations any day.

Quality over quantity.

100% agree to that.

[Nerovar]

"The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games." - Bobby Kotick

[Aeula]

Worse imo. Actiblizz has started doing things that make EA blush.

EA cannibalise studios and try and get kids into gambling.

Actiblizz does the latter, is completely subservient to China and outright lies to get people to buy their products.

[Santti]

EA is much worse. Blizzard is fucking it up quite badly, but they aren't at EA's level. Not yet, anyway.

Square Enix is the only decent major gaming company these days

They are no saint either.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Those fucking microtransactions were just disgusting.

[VinceVega]

Relative to what? The Witcher is a best seller several times over. And Cyberpunk 2077 is the most anticipated game possibly ever.

CDPR is loved but definitly not major. Not yet at least. Their yearly earning are a fraction of EAs, Activision, etc.

And before poeple want to scream at me: Yes i know the games are well liked! I am on the internet. I have seen the witcher 3 circle jerks for a few years now.
Monkey Island (Lucas Arts) is also well liked but never was a major studio.

[tankbug]

If you think the Hong Kong thing makes Blizzard evil, try to imagine any other company in the same situation.
Forgo the set rules, forgive the player, gain favor reputation points among western gamers, but also get shut out of a huge market

OR

follow the rules, punish the player, get stains on the reputation among gamers in the west, hope that it blows over soon, and maintain access to the huge market.

That's not even in the hands of Blizzard management, really. The investors won't sacrifice billions for Blizzard to make a political statement. Grateful western gamers will never make up for that lost revenue.

[Rivex]

If you have seriously put Blizzard is worse then EA then you need to apply cream to your butts and go outside in the real world for once.

[Darththeo]

EA is worse. By miles. It is like comparing a person who is clueless to a person who actively does stupid stuff over and over.

[SirCowdog]

The problem of today's gaming industry is that the new ways of earning more money seem odd and unpleasant for old gamers, me included. It's not really that the companies are "bad" they are just completely profit driven, which is not surprising in capitalism. It's not that the companies or the industry is bad, it's the whole economic system that is wrong. In a way, the game companies are just victims of it.





If you wanted, you could find something horrible about any company. Because again, the issue is not with those companies themselves, but with the pure profit-driven economy.

SE completely abandoned what they were good at in order to pursue games that are more of a western style rpgs. They overprice their old releases, don't even make most of their old games available legally (especially in the non-japanese markets) and instead turn them into android apps. The only old school style rpg they released recently was grossly overpriced too. They are completely out of touch.

CDPR (a company from my country btw) grinds their workers to death and pays them so little they probably struggle to even pay their rent and buy food. The only reason this company is so "Gamer friendly" is because here they can get away with massive crunch and what pretty much amounts to slave labor. If you get quality, extremely polished experienced, someone else had to suffer to deliver it to you. That's how it works. 'Gamers' like to praise cdpr but what the company is doing as far as its working conditions is almost criminal. Of course no one cares, because the game is good. Instead, people cry because some customer support employees are let go by Activision

I actually wasn't aware of that. Is there documentation or other evidence? I mean, with Blizzard I can find record of their actions fairly easily. But I admit I hadn't ever looked that deeply into CDPR.

I'm not arguing one way or the other, mind you. But I've grown wary of claims on the internet without anything to back them.

- - - Updated - - -

On the topic of the thread, though: Apparently Blizzard is denying or making it very difficult to refund WC3:Reforged, and banning people who make threads about it on their forums. That's the current controversy being reported, anyway. Haven't seen any rock-solid confirmations of it yet, to be fair.

[nyc81991]

Activision Blizzard just as bad if not worse than EA at this point.

[Battlebeard]

Nope, Blizzard is much, much worse

[Viconia]

Not quite, but on its way. Activision is a monster and it has grabbed Blizzard with its tentacles more and more over time.

[Santti]

Worse imo. Actiblizz has started doing things that make EA blush.

EA cannibalise studios and try and get kids into gambling.

Actiblizz does the latter, is completely subservient to China and outright lies to get people to buy their products.

Every single studio bows down to China. It's a huge market, and the studios are all about money. There is not a thing Blizzard has done that EA hasn't.

Like, remember how Star Wars: Battlefront II was supposed to be an apology for Battlefront I? It was nothing but a big fat cock in your face.

Sims series are completely shameless.

Remember how huge Spore was supposed to be, and what they actually released? I doubt Blizzard would ever go that low. Not yet anyway, and this was 10 years a go.

Dragon Age II? Counting the times certain rooms and areas had been recycled (and sometimes reversed! Like you wouldn't notice) was all kinds of fun.

Dead Space III? Command & Conquer 4 and beyond? Anthem? Mass Effect: Andromeda? Etc...

No, EA is worse. They are definitely the ones making Blizzard blush. Blizzard pretty much popularized lootboxes (assholes), but at the very least they aren't so utterly P2W. Well, except maybe Hearthstone, but at least that has popular modes that aren't P2W in the slightest. But back in the EA's corner, they have lootboxes that are all about increasing your power, be it good characters in sports games or powerups and whatnot in Battlefront.

They are not loot boxes, they are surprise mechanics. Blizzard is probably on the same boat, though.

And then there are corpses of bought-and-disbanded, smaller studios.

[Sencha]

"Equally worse". This is funny

But yeah their games have lower quality than indie developers with a 10-man staff.

[coprax]

how can something be worse but equal at the same time?