Omar Gonzalez Leaves Blizzard and Joins Dreamhaven, New Battle.Net Avatars

[meowfurion]

Abandoning a sinking ship

[ldev]

Yea, well, Dreamhaven's first game will be a niche indie type, so that company to me, an AAA gamer, is irrelevant.

[ryanmahaffe]

Yea, well, Dreamhaven's first game will be a niche indie type, so that company to me, an AAA gamer, is irrelevant.

Calling yourself an "AAA gamer" has got to be one of the most cringe-inducing gamer statements I have ever heard.

[Stormwolf64]

I this thread people know everything by not knowing a fucking thing and keep spouting their bullshit as facts. Go on, this is just mmo champion in a nutshell.

[Relapses]

What evidence?

You have no evidence on your hands other than there being a delay on Retail.
Right now, you have made an observation, you now need to deliver evidence that explains the cause of this.

That delay was mostly down to system designers, because by their own words, the delay happened to "fine tune endgame systems", they made their own mess and had to delay the game for it.

Frankly, between Covid, the continous reports of Blizzard underpaying, people leaving the company & joining startups founded by ex-Blizzard Employees, my finger is on "low morale" - not Classic eating up Retail resources.

Blizzard seems to suffer from a serious case of brain drain, which affects the development quite heavily, especially in these times where it's even more difficult to integrate new recruits into the team.

The delay is the evidence. If you want to take the developers' words at face value and choose to believe everything they say, more power to you.

[oldgeezer]

Considering he's been at Blizzard for almost 20 years I'm surprised he didn't move on (or retire) sooner. In short: nothing to see here.

[Clozer]

Considering he's been at Blizzard for almost 20 years I'm surprised he didn't move on (or retire) sooner. In short: nothing to see here.

He didn't move or retire. He went to another gaming company doing the same things he did at Blizzard. That's a huge massive difference. It's not like he started building boats or something.

[oldgeezer]

He didn't move or retire. He went to another gaming company doing the same things he did at Blizzard. That's a huge massive difference. It's not like he started building boats or something.

A change is as good as a rest, and all that. How many people spend 20 years in the same company these days?

[Clozer]

A change is as good as a rest, and all that. How many people spend 20 years in the same company these days?

That's the point. He is still doing the same things. He wasn't bored or wanted change. He simply wasn't happy at Blizzard and that should tell you a lot.

[oldgeezer]

That's the point. He is still doing the same things. He wasn't bored or wanted change. He simply wasn't happy at Blizzard and that should tell you a lot.

Yep, it sounds like he had a pretty stagnant career. Good luck to him.

[Echeyakee]

Still no female goblin avatar >_<

[Kralljin]

The delay is the evidence.

The delay is the observation, an observation cannot be evidence in this case.

You basically make an observation, have a theory for that observation and claim the observation proves your theory correct - this a feedback loop, your observation cannot prove your theory.

If there were at least some leaks that would make such a suggestion, but not even those exist.

Putting that aside, if Blizzard actually made the intentional decision to pull resources away from Retail towards Classic - which is, going by your theory, is happening since ~SL Beta - would tell a lot about the state of Retail.

[Relapses]

The delay is the observation, an observation cannot be evidence.

You basically make an observation, have a theory for that observation and claim the observation proves your theory correct - this a feedback loop, your observation cannot prove your theory.

If there at least some leaks that would make such a suggestion, but not even those exist.

Putting that aside, if Blizzard actually made the intentional decision to pull resources away from Retail towards Classic - which is, going by your theory, is happening since ~SL Beta - would tell a lot about the state of Retail.

Please don't put words in my mouth. I'm not saying it's a 1:1, Blizzard-took-from-Column-A-and-put-it-into-Column-B scenario. (Though, to be fair, you could gleam that from my initial post. That's on me, I guess.) I'm saying that the development of Classic -- compounded by the pandemic -- has likely had unforeseen consequences within the company which has led to unprecedented delays. Also, stop asking for evidence for things you know neither I nor you can provide. I don't have any direct evidence outside of the delays themselves. It's just meaningless speculation on a fan forum.

[Santti]

Stop pretending like you actually know things about the situation. People in the industry change jobs all the time. This doesn't mean there was any maliciousness at blizzard or that there's abuse or anything like that. Get real.

Well of course I'm just guessing. No need to get so defensive about it.

But the video game industry is shit. And video game developers are abused, frequently. Crunch is especially common in the triple-A market. Like, 100 hour work weeks.

[Relapses]

Well of course I'm just guessing. No need to get so defensive about it.

But the video game industry is shit. And video game developers are abused, frequently. Crunch is especially common in the triple-A market. Like, 100 hour work weeks.

Okay, Jim Sterling. Point taken. But what does the video game industry being shit and full of crunch have to do with a vetted senior developer leaving one company for another?

[Kralljin]

Also, stop asking for evidence for things you know neither I nor you can provide. I don't have any direct evidence outside of the delays themselves. It's just meaningless speculation on a fan forum.

First off, i'd be fine already with something like a halfway legit leak or similiar suggesting this to be true, but if one presents a speculation, one should at the very least provide a modicum of indicators of it being true to support their theory outside of their initial observation.

[Relapses]

First off, i'd be fine already with something like a halfway legit leak or similiar suggesting this to be true, but if one presents a speculation, one should at the very least provide a modicum of indicators of it being true to support their theory outside of their initial observation.

Okay, and? You provided your speculation (brain drain, as you put it) and I didn't ask you to provide proof of it. Sometimes things are mentioned to be discussed, not analyzed. But that's neither here nor there.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

That's the point. He is still doing the same things. He wasn't bored or wanted change. He simply wasn't happy at Blizzard and that should tell you a lot.

Do you really think there is no change between working on wow for almost 20 years and working on something new? Just because both are still game dev doesn't mean there the same dude.

[scelero]

Calling yourself an "AAA gamer" has got to be one of the most cringe-inducing gamer statements I have ever heard.

Nah, people calling other's out for being cringe-inducing is cringe. There are plenty of people who only play games that they see advertised, thus AAA titles. It's actually pretty common. I'd be so bold to say there are more AAA gamers than niche gamers who love everything under the sun.

But grats on dividing the gaming community up in your mind. Just enjoy your games, and let others enjoy theirs. Jesus, it's not that difficult.

- - - Updated - - -

The delay is the observation, an observation cannot be evidence in this case.

You basically make an observation, have a theory for that observation and claim the observation proves your theory correct - this a feedback loop, your observation cannot prove your theory.

If there were at least some leaks that would make such a suggestion, but not even those exist.

Putting that aside, if Blizzard actually made the intentional decision to pull resources away from Retail towards Classic - which is, going by your theory, is happening since ~SL Beta - would tell a lot about the state of Retail.

Yet theories are feedback loops until someone comes along and pokes a whole in it. It's a theory, not a fact. The fact is they're seeing it happen. It's not some theory it's taking more time. You can measure it. I think what you're talking about is causation and correlation. A cop can observe you speeding, and not need a speedometer reading to know that for a fact. Get this, they use time in the equation for speed. IMAGINE THAT

So stop playing semantics if you can't swim in the deep in.

[ldev]

Calling yourself an "AAA gamer" has got to be one of the most cringe-inducing gamer statements I have ever heard.

Please do explain.

How enjoying latest graphics and tech like VR is cringe?

I'm not interested in NES levels of graphics, I was done with that even in 1994, and reason that there's only 5 people working on a game so they obviously can't produce content that's in one Battlefield map, let alone have destruction and what not, is a very valid and good reason, but that's also the reason why I don't give a shit about them. How is that cringe?

Or understanding that these games offer better story than AAA games also doesn't interest me - I never play games for story, as I read books, and even most underground story rich indie games still pale against any good book, so, again, how is me not giving a shit about story is cringe? For me no story is a plus - as it doesn't make you think about why you're just blowing shit up, otherwise if game starts pushing story - you start to think about the story and go "wow what a complete fucking bullshit". How is that cringe?

How about the soundtrack - yea MIDI was great on my Nokia 3510 in 2002, but in 2021 I listen to Halo or WoW highly produced music - how the fuck is that cringe?

Sorry for enjoying shooting a rocket into a building and watching it explode in realistic graphics. Sorry for putting on VR and sitting inside my FDL space-fucking-ship while playing Elite Dangerous. Pixelated Faster Than Light is so much DEEPER GAMEPLAY than Elite Dangerous - wooo, now that is cringe.