Activision Blizzard Q4 2022 Earnings Results

[Doombringer]

You can hate WoW and still play it. In fact, I'd surmise that's what a majority of people on this forum do. They buy a game they hate then they complain about buying a game they hate. It's really the only product I can think of where people spend money to support something they actively spend most of their time complaining is not worth their money. Then somebody like me comes in and says, "Hey, maybe don't do that?" and I'm the asshole. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

People need to unsub and even uninstall if the game pisses them off. I unsubbed when Blizzard displayed their shit behavior. That's a constant sub from 2004 uninterrupted until the shit hit the fan. I even stayed subbed for Shadowlands despite hardly playing after the first few months.

But, the changes they made as a company helped bring me back. The changes they made to Dragonflight nudged me the rest of the way and it's what's keeping me. I haven't been this happy with the game in a long while... but if anyone is UNHAPPY, then just take a break. Say your piece, ideally to Blizzard in an exit form and not on here as it would probably get lost/buried, and don't marinate in your revulsion over a product you can opt out of.

[Mustardisbad]

Funny how WoD and Shadowlands both sold crazy amounts and then flopped so hard. I remember seeing the trailers for both of them and saying "I have to play this expansion." And then quit right after I hit max level.

Dragonflight has been great though, I wasnt sure if I wanted to buy and play it, but I am glad that I did. It has been very enjoyable.

[Yakut]

I'm not arguing from a diametrically opposed end of the spectrum. If I were in here saying that this is actually great news and we need to read between the lines, I'd understand that perspective. But I'm not doing that. I'm simply asking people not to be hopelessly cynical. I'm asking for people to use their passion for hating this game to turn it into something meaningful instead of another 50+ page repository of NPCs Ctrl C + Ctrl V'ing the same vaguely negative opinion about the state of the video game.

It is possible what you say represents your beliefs and I don't really have an objection to either the belief or your statements of them. That said, it sounds as ardently pro-Blizzard as the anti-Blizzard sentiments expressed here. That is obviously being interpreted to that effect by the individuals responding to you.

It's even Newtonian in its reaction: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. But, for semantic-sake, I will say "every percieved action has an equal and opposite reaction." It comes off that way to me and I'm as neutral as it gets.

Most of the time, I tend to agree with your posts, but today has seemed especially salty and yet pro-Blizzard. I get to some degree that has to counter the sentiments you're attempting to counter. But, perhaps a little less fervently and without as much in the way of swearing. Think of it from the opposite perspective, if the people you are countering do that, are you any better or are you presenting it better?

Arguably, at the moment, it looks the same to me and I'm not pro or anti Blizzard.

[Relapses]

It is possible what you say represents your beliefs and I don't really have an objection to either the belief or your statements of them. That said, it sounds as ardently pro-Blizzard as the anti-Blizzard sentiments expressed here. That is obviously being interpreted to that effect by the individuals responding to you.

It's even Newtonian in its reaction: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. But, for semantic-sake, I will say "every percieved action has an equal and opposite reaction." It comes off that way to me and I'm as neutral as it gets.

Most of the time, I tend to agree with your posts, but today has seemed especially salty and yet pro-Blizzard. I get to some degree that has to counter the sentiments you're attempting to counter. But, perhaps a little less fervently and without as much in the way of swearing. Think of it from the opposite perspective, if the people you are countering do that, are you any better or are you presenting it better?

Arguably, at the moment, it looks the same to me and I'm not pro or anti Blizzard.

You'll have to forgive me but when I see page after page of the same vaguely negative take copied and pasted for a few dozen pages only to be told I'm "bullying" people for refusing to validate these very bad opinions, I get a bit tilted.

[Nereidaa]

Seems like yet another thread of comfortable western people who seem to have no worthwhile goals in life, and need to concern themselves with the level of failure/success of some videogame and the people who play it instead of going elsewhere to enjoy whatever it is they enjoy; even when they are, allegedly, not interested in said game anymore.

If my life becomes so miserable at some point as to have to resort to this kind of thing just to derive some semblance of self-worth, I hope some disease will kill me fast to end both my suffering, and the infection to society that I'd be.

[sto]

I'm asking for people to use their passion for hating this game to turn it into something meaningful instead of another 50+ page repository of NPCs Ctrl C + Ctrl V'ing the same vaguely negative opinion about the state of the video game.

Is this actually true? If so, then why not encourage this type of discussion?

To give you my perspective, I very much enjoy what WoW was, could have been, and could be. I'm happy to see it do poorly because people who appreciate the game similarly to myself have been told in awful ways how we are wrong in how we feel. Seeing the game struggle almost vindicates how I feel about the game in it's current state. It also gives hope that maybe one day it will be better.

In reality, I wish that the game was still being developed in a way which I would enjoy playing,

On another note, it seems that a commonly used method of proving oneself right is by being so unpleasant that people don't want to talk with you anymore, it's seen as a successful strategy. You see it on the WoW forums, on Reddit, and here as well. It's not the best demonstration of wit and if you want to prove people incorrect in their opinions then there are more effective methods of conversation you could use. If you really want to discuss the game improving then it's a huge loss that you don't bring this to your interlocutors attention and drive them away instead.

[Relapses]

Is this actually true? If so, then why not encourage this type of discussion?

To give you my perspective, I very much enjoy what WoW was, could have been, and could be. I'm happy to see it do poorly because people who appreciate the game similarly to myself have been told in awful ways how we are wrong in how we feel. Seeing the game struggle almost vindicates how I feel about the game in it's current state. It also gives hope that maybe one day it will be better.

Is it doing poorly? I'm not asking this to be the yin to the yang. I'm trying to be realistic.

We're comparing it to the best-selling expansion to date released in the middle of a pandemic when in-home entertainment was at a fever pitch. Like, is it just-too-optimistic to point out that comparing it to that then saying it didn't do that well doesn't mean that it's an objective failure? That line of reasoning doesn't sit with me which is why I take offense to it.

In reality, I wish that the game was still being developed in a way which I would enjoy playing,

...as I'm sure every individual player would like as well. Unfortunately, as infinite as Blizzard's resources are I doubt they can build and maintain 200+ million versions of WoW each suited to precisely every single WoW player's taste.

On another note, it seems that a commonly used method of proving oneself right is by being so unpleasant that people don't want to talk with you anymore, it's seen as a successful strategy. You see it on the WoW forums, on Reddit, and here as well. It's not the best demonstration of wit and if you want to prove people incorrect in their opinions then there are more effective methods of conversation you could use. If you really want to discuss the game improving then it's a huge loss that you don't bring this to your interlocutors attention and drive them away instead.

"You get more bees with honey," I'm aware of the adage. The problem is that I try to be reasonable and people balk at me and call me insane. I'm not very good at concealing my emotions but I am fairly decent at translating my thoughts to words so I suffice with simply being relentlessly myself, even if that irks moderates.

[Nereidaa]

Is this actually true? If so, then why not encourage this type of discussion?

To give you my perspective, I very much enjoy what WoW was, could have been, and could be. I'm happy to see it do poorly because people who appreciate the game similarly to myself have been told in awful ways how we are wrong in how we feel. Seeing the game struggle almost vindicates how I feel about the game in it's current state. It also gives hope that maybe one day it will be better.

A bit delusional on the "doing poorly", are we? Still the strongest western mmo, and about the only one who survived all the long trek in the "dying" mmorpg genre, in quite good health, one could say. Only one western MMO has been released in the last 7 years, The New World, and after so much hype it died out in a puff of nothingness, just like all the other mmo blips that held momentary significance to vanish in oblivion, or going ful f2p to scam the few whales that found their niche in it.

If this provides you with any sense of "I was right", you're looking at a phenomenon called "confirmation bias". You are not looking at the data and making a fair assessment to reach a conclusion, you are reaching a conclusion that suits you (ie "I was right") and then cherry-picking the data to fit your narrative, to then shout into an echo chamber of the vocal minority that thinks like you. This is why Flat Earth is a thing too, absurd as it sounds.

Delusion won't get you anywhere, but to each their own. If it helps you feel somehow that "I was right", then knoicck yourself out.

[McNeil]

Interesting that Hearthstone wasn’t mentioned and only now they announced that they scrapped their Mercenaries mode. They also struggled to get a decent viewership for their e-sport and now without China I expect the game to be doing way worse. Not a good outlook.

[Usernameforforums]

and thats your opinion, some people might think murloc sucks and other promotion mounts are cool, personaly i dont like big mounts in general so i wouldn sub for murloc mount... and honestly, i dont think ive seen anyone used it, like ever...

If you use the data from dataforazeroth.com, the rabbit mount is at 11% of the player base and the grrrloc is at 7%. At least half of the 6 month owners are grrrloc owners. Considering that the 6month mount can be bought without the sub and the grrrloc can’t, you can safely assume there are more one year subbers than 6 month right now. Even if it’s just may the one percent off.

Also, people don’t really use ground only mounts. A shit ton of people have the mythic+ mount but you never see it used.

[varren]

I'm one of those that didn't get Dragonflight. Even if what I hear of it interests me.
I'm just burned out on WoW and Shadowlands is when I quit.

I think the low numbers are less about the expansion itself and more about the years leading up to it. Considering the retention is higher it seems like it's a better expansion, but I think players have lost interest in general.

Yep. I have played every single expac of WoW, even the stinkers like WoD/BFA/SL I spent a few months in each. Just no desire to try out DF.

[Huntermyth]

You don't have to care. Not everything is specifically done to please you.

honey, i'm 43 years old and i didn't even know what non-binary is until recently. ofcourse everything isn't done to please me but since it's a forum, i guess i have a right to ask something if i didn't get the logic behind it ?

don't get me wrong tho, i couldn't care less about anyone's gender or identity. what i really wonder is, why do we need to specify it ? why me, as a man, liking woman should be relevant to you for example ?

[Relapses]

honey, i'm 43 years old and i didn't even know what non-binary is until recently. ofcourse everything isn't done to please me but since it's a forum, i guess i have a right to ask something if i didn't get the logic behind it ?

don't get me wrong tho, i couldn't care less about anyone's gender or identity. what i really wonder is, why do we need to specify it ? why me, as a man, liking woman should be relevant to you for example ?

Blizzard is still in hot shit with California lawmakers because of the whole sexual assault/bro culture work environment fiasco from a few years ago. That kind of thing shadows a company for eons and they're adding these figures to QRs to save face. I kind of think it's a bit performative myself but I'd rather live in a world where Blizzard is acting in good faith to improve its image than one where a toxic bro culture has made it a miserable place to work for anybody who isn't a straight white male.

[Rustykeyboard]

Dragonflight will end up as every expansion and slowly wither away even though it has good numbers on release. M+ havent changed since legion, raiding is still the same snooze fest just endless walking to the bosses and pvp seems fine. No catalyst on raid release, didnt uncap valor when that was released and no shared m+ score so its takes a hundred year to gear alts. Wished Blizzard realise they need to make WoW fun again, and not waiting 3 months to have everything unlocked.

[Zoura]

Yep. I have played every single expac of WoW, even the stinkers like WoD/BFA/SL I spent a few months in each. Just no desire to try out DF.

Guaranteed that you bought DF and playing it, who even THINKS of going to mmo-c not being a sub. Theres a overflow of cap in these forums it's crazy.

[Osmeric]

Guaranteed that you bought DF and playing it, who even THINKS of going to mmo-c not being a sub. Theres a overflow of cap in these forums it's crazy.

What the hell did you just say? I recognize many of these words, but I don't understand.

[sto]

A bit delusional on the "doing poorly", are we? Still the strongest western mmo, and about the only one who survived all the long trek in the "dying" mmorpg genre, in quite good health, one could say. Only one western MMO has been released in the last 7 years, The New World, and after so much hype it died out in a puff of nothingness, just like all the other mmo blips that held momentary significance to vanish in oblivion, or going ful f2p to scam the few whales that found their niche in it.

If this provides you with any sense of "I was right", you're looking at a phenomenon called "confirmation bias". You are not looking at the data and making a fair assessment to reach a conclusion, you are reaching a conclusion that suits you (ie "I was right") and then cherry-picking the data to fit your narrative, to then shout into an echo chamber of the vocal minority that thinks like you. This is why Flat Earth is a thing too, absurd as it sounds.

Delusion won't get you anywhere, but to each their own. If it helps you feel somehow that "I was right", then knoicck yourself out.

Are you actually looking for a response or is this just your way of thinking out loud? I feel like your posts are begging for attention, but one can never be too sure. I’ll be honest, I would have hoped for more coherence on your part if you wanted a response but if you wish I’m happy to oblige.

[panda040]

Why does anyone care the percentage of people they hire based on immutable factors? what's the point? stupid

[FelPlague]

I take the L on not getting that part, but that begs another question: do they ask their employees about what they identify as? Isn't that 100% personal info and not something a company should/would stick their noses into?

When you apply for a job you enter what pronouns you have, there is a "I prefer to not answer" but like, why would you not want people to know what pronouns you prefer?

[Tentim]

When you apply for a job you enter what pronouns you have, there is a "I prefer to not answer" but like, why would you not want people to know what pronouns you prefer?

Some plan to game the system later. I've gotten a government contract extended before by claiming minority status. If you are hard up claiming a different pronoun can keep you employed.