How fcked is Blizzard as a company?

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

When was last time you saw a legit promotion of any of their games? Outside their website/battle.net app.

Yesterday and today actually on youtube I saw life-action trailers for Diablo 2 Resurrection.

[Gimlix]

Lets go one by 1

"All their ips are going downhill faster then they ever were"

not even close to true but ok. We literally have the qauterly earning reports, overwatch has gone down but that is pretty self explanitory, people waiting for the next one.

"New players are rarely joining" where the fuck you getting your information? cause i see tons of new people all the time in guide chat asking for help learning the game.

"Blizz not even trying to promote any of their games" except you know.. .the adverts that still run on youtube and TV but sure.

"Wow is still their dominant IP" no its not, it hasent been for a long time.

"Massive decline in players" i mean of course, but thats pretty typical.

rest is just subjective shit talking.

Okay prove me this one, then i will come back on my decision that they aren't trying to promote their game. (I havent seen WoW commercials on TV since Warlords of Draenor in The Netherlands)

[Lochton]

Aren't their stock and everything in a MASSIVE decline? When was last time you saw a legit promotion of any of their games? Outside their website/battle.net app.

Of course, the stock is in decline with recent events + Kotick now under investigation, common for stocks to drop when unexpected, or in the case of investors, unexplained events happen without inclusion - people sell, I've done so, and luckily, not lost much - might buy again if it goes cheaper.

As for promotion, well, I see it on Youtube when my AdBlocker isn't doing its job, as well as a few game sites, not to mention stores still and their own at least.

[Gimlix]

"Massive decline in players" i mean of course, but thats pretty typical.

At start of Shadowlands hints were given by Blizzard that we were back at 10,000,000 active users. Right now people are argueing that there are 1-3M active users left.
If that is the case then they lost over 70% of their playerbase in months time. This is not healthy at all. And shouldn't be seen as normal.

[rhorle]

Aren't their stock and everything in a MASSIVE decline? When was last time you saw a legit promotion of any of their games? Outside their website/battle.net app.

The stock is down $10 the past month. Pretty big but also something that can be recovered once the lawsuits are back. The stock market as a whole has been having troubles though so it is hard to say how much is because of the lawsuits and how much is because of the global economy. They promote all the time. It just matters where you go or what you see.

Do you have an ad blocker? That would eliminate most of their promotions. Social media still has ads on Facebook for example. There isn't that much to promote right now because nothing new is launching. Just D2 remastered and HS expansion. Which they just did a promotion for it with WoW.

[Barzotti]

Okay prove me this one, then i will come back on my decision that they aren't trying to promote their game. (I havent seen WoW commercials on TV since Warlords of Draenor in The Netherlands)

Mate, every time I use a computer at my work (without adblockers) I have ads and pop ups for WoW because I'm browsing Wowhead.

[Lochton]

Let us be honest though Gehco, Oldskool Blizzard had this name under them. Activision has this not. It is still Activision Blizzard.
With big change it will just start over and people this time are sick of it and just leave.

One of the most popular expansions was under the name of Activision-Blizzard if I recall, and if you look at discussions, a secondary high-ranking expansion as well does. People quit the game when the drama started, and many returned again because they know that staying does not mean condoning their behavior in the company, just like quitting might make people feel that is how they show their support.

- - - Updated - - -

At start of Shadowlands hints were given by Blizzard that we were back at 10,000,000 active users. Right now people are argueing that there are 1-3M active users left.
If that is the case then they lost over 70% of their playerbase in months time. This is not healthy at all. And shouldn't be seen as normal.

The topic of speculation. We cannot confirm any of their numbers completely but according to the earnings call, it isn't going that bad.

[TheLucky1]

At start of Shadowlands hints were given by Blizzard that we were back at 10,000,000 active users. Right now people are argueing that there are 1-3M active users left.
If that is the case then they lost over 70% of their playerbase in months time. This is not healthy at all. And shouldn't be seen as normal.

I really dislike the state of the game right now (just look at my post history lmao) but can we please stop pulling numbers out of our asses? Makes discussion of ANYTHING really tiresome.

Because the only people knowing them are blizzard and they surely won't tell anyone.

[Gimlix]

One of the most popular expansions was under the name of Activision-Blizzard if I recall, and if you look at discussions, a secondary high-ranking expansion as well does. People quit the game when the drama started, and many returned again because they know that staying does not mean condoning their behavior in the company, just like quitting might make people feel that is how they show their support.

- - - Updated - - -



The topic of speculation. We cannot confirm any of their numbers completely but according to the earnings call, it isn't going that bad.

Which expansion was that if i may ask?

Also well according to the twitch viewers, WoW is doing more then fine too, beating any MMORPG in viewership even after all this negativity.

Double the views then FF14. (even though people claim FF is more active)

- - - Updated - - -

I really dislike the state of the game right now (just look at my post history lmao) but can we please stop pulling numbers out of our asses? Makes discussion of ANYTHING really tiresome.

Because the only people knowing them are blizzard and they surely won't tell anyone.

Ofc, we don't know. but we can still talk about it.

[StillMcfuu]

All their IP's are going downhill faster then they ever were. New players are rarely joining due all lawsuits and blizzard not even trying to promote any of their games.

WoW is still their dominant IP even tho it has been hit by a massive decline in players (Blizzard own fault for milking their IP's with 0 love to it) but does show that Blizzard as a company itself is not standing strong.

And it might hit a point where it either become ALOT smaller company or it will just die off.

Trust is gone, loyalty is gone, their proper developers are mostly gone.

So are we gonna see a new era where Blizzard is gonna be out the spotlight as one of the biggest game developers?

As a company, they will likely be fine. Some of their IPs are bordering on going to the ER.

Preface: My opinion is based off of what I think Activision will consider a healthy IP, I doubt Acti is going to allow Blizz to maintain WoW or any game while its active population is under a million. Blizz will likely put these titles on life support with no updates ala D2, OW, etc...

Warcraft: Not doing great, with all that's happened in the last few years, they are going to get less return players and more turnover 1 month into expansion/patches. They've burned through good will completely and unless they massively shift their current design philosophy, the game and possibly the IP are headed for an ugly place.
Outside of dropping Warcraft 4 to critical reviews and success, the day of Blizz getting a slide on Warcraft is dead.

OW: In a better place than most people assume, everyone will buy OW2. If OW2 is shit on release they could fix it and get back the player base. They likely won't get the same trick on OW3 if it makes it that far.

Hearthstone: Basically just an ATM for Blizz, minimal dev time goes in, massive profit comes out.

Diablo: D4 will be the most sold game of all time (PC), fastest selling, etc... just like D3 and D2 were. There are a bunch of POE naysayers, but the value of GGG as a whole company doesn't even equal Diablo 3's day one sales. No matter how good other ARPGs become, they are ultimately Go-bots to Diablo's Transformers. (I'm a big Last Epoch player so I'm not just saying this from a "fanboy" mindset)

HOTS: lol

Starcraft: All they have to do is make a SC3 and all of Korea will buy it.

Put it all together and Blizz are fine, some of their IPs are not however and require significant work.

[Triceron]

As long as the whales exist, it doesn't matter how many players there are.

As long as they still focus on making big AAA games, people will buy em, like every WoW expansion.

The casuals don't care about the controversies and the bullshit that most people talk about. They'll be around as long as there's games to play. Just look at how badly Reforged was and how all this sexual harassment stuff was talked about - this hasn't affected future sales of D2R at all and the D2 community is ready and waiting for this game despite all the blowback coming from all sides.

Same will be for D4 and Overwatch 2 and whatever new WoW expansion comes out in the future.

Blizzard banks on the low attention span of its fanbase.

[Gaidax]

All they need to do is release a new game like Diablo 4 or new WoW expansion and they are back in the game.

This all is a fleeting thing.

[TheLucky1]

Ofc, we don't know. but we can still talk about it.

Okay.

WoW is at 11 million active subs doing super well, you guys just play the game the wrong way and that's why you're so negative.
I'm also the new emperor of china.

Cool how this can go, huh?

[Lochton]

Which expansion was that if i may ask?

Wrath of the Lich King was released after the merger, and maintained by it, following that, you know the story, of the other expansions.

Also well according to the twitch viewers, WoW is doing more then fine too, beating any MMORPG in viewership even after all this negativity.

Double the views then FF14. (even though people claim FF is more active)

Honestly. As the experience from original FFXIV, and v2, they can't hold the numbers of Blizzard's servers, you have queue time on all days, even though cities are almost empty on some servers. They have hit was two good expansions finally but I do not believe they are more active yet. And FF is sadly also being used as a rebound by people feeling a need to get away from WoW due to the drama, but then return later again.

[Alydael]

Not fucked because none of these fake charges will stick.

I am not sure whether the charges are fake or not, but I agree- very little of this will stick. This sort of thing becomes really hard to prove fast, it quickly devolves into he said/ she said (which doesn't stand up in court).

Plus, how much physical evidence could there even be from people saying things (unless there is a recording). They will be able to prove whether or not women were paid less and passed over for promotions but the harassment stuff is hard to prove.
Plus Blizzard/ Activision basically fired these people immediately and removed all references of them from the game.

My guess is this ends in a settlement paid by Blizz to CA and some of the victims. Between 100-300 mil total, I think.

When WOTLK was at its peak, they were making 180 mil/ month off subs alone.....

The media always blows everything way out of proportion and in there desperation for views and likes, streamers are even more outrageous in the media. I would go with the opposite of what people like that say and it has always served me well. Those people have no idea what they are talking about, they are just drama queens really.

[McNeil]

My prediction: WoW will continue but produce much smaller content over time, Hearthstone will continue going for new game modes and a shit ton of skins, Overwatch will see a bit of a revival with its ‘sequel’ but I doubt that it will last long, Diablo 4 will sell extremely well but it’s probably going to be bad considering it’s troubled development, the rest (HotS, Starcraft, Warcraft RTS) will remain dead and Blizzard will pretend that these games don’t even exist.

Also a lot more mobile titles to come. So as a company they will still do fine. No doubt that they are losing a lot of players, but they will also regain (or at least attempt to) with all of their new projects to compensate.

[TheLucky1]

All they need to do is release a new game like Diablo 4 or new WoW expansion and they are back in the game.

This all is a fleeting thing.

This, the majority of players (like with most videogames to be fair, just look at fifa) are not really sensible or simply don't care about how well the quality, innovation or internal affairs go.

[Lochton]

Okay.

WoW is at 11 million active subs doing super well, you guys just play the game the wrong way and that's why you're so negative.
I'm also the new emperor of china.

Cool how this can go, huh?

Oh, how I wish we were at 11 million (then again, how I'm so happy we're not at 11 million) but I do not believe we're below 2 million either.

[Daedius]

I stopped my sub, so they're pretty fucked I'd say.

[Hitei]

What a dumb poll. They're not fucked because they're an insanely profitable company, not because of loyal fans. The average person buying video games doesn't care about what politics are going on with the company (they barely care about the company at all), they just buy games to buy games. They will pay whatever relatively small fines get ordered and then D4, 10.0, CoD and Candy Crush will earn them record profits yet again.