Ion on Raid Release Timing, Activision Blizzard Q3 2020 Investor Call

[Firebert]

They literally are under the same label of "consuming media content".

Eating glue is also consuming media content; doesn't make it the same.

You are trying very hard at being purposefully unreasonable. I don't think a conversation with you is something worth having.

Thanks for admitting I'm right <3

[Kralljin]

And what’s that matter? Blizzard does not publish sub numbers.

Again, they felt comfortable to talk about them when Classic came out.

I can easily flip your argument with “he didn’t outright state ‘I’m not going to talk about sub numbers,’ and instead went ‘let me talk about these other things I am allowed to talk about and mention.’”

That does not make a lick of sense.

He doesn’t need to give any reason to his response, nor do your arguments of “well, he went this other route so I’m right,” have any merit.

If you're being that willfully ignorant of the fact that he just completely dodged the question without even touching upon any point that was asked, i can't help you.

"the other route" he chose was to talk about nothing related to that question.

Let me remind you: He's not talking to some community schmuck, he's talking to people where:
1.Saying things that make Activision Blizzard look bad will call down the wrath of his superiors
2.Lying to them will bring him in legal hotwaters

[Raisei]

Considering that Blizzard refuses to release any actual sub numbers, you can figure it out yourself that WoW is getting more and more carried by MTX rather than the regular sub.

So "going strong financially" would be the more accurate statement.

You keep telling yourself that, maybe one day it will come true.

Seriously, after 15 years of the game dying every day, one would think the doomsayers get tired, but apparently that never happens. Just like the folks that declare every expansion as the worst ever. Guess everyone needs a hobby.

[ryanmahaffe]

laugh all you want it's gonna earn them scary amounts of money and make other companies go into mobile

Diablo Immortal won't be what makes companies do this, Genshin Impact already is showing it with 245M in it's first month alone

[MoanaLisa]

There is nothing wrong with the diablo game in itself but it will just always be a meme because of the hype. People were expecting diablo 4 and they got a mobile game. Therefore it will always be a meme and hopefully Blizzard see it as an example of how not to treat customers. You can also argue that they “wasted” resources on a mobile game which they could have used on the development of diablo 4.

Blizzard needs to be in mobile. Diablo is a good IP to start with. The up or down for me will be the microtransaction model that comes with it. It's liable to be somewhat different in the West than the East. I watched about an hour of video of it when it was being introduced. The game itself looks fine. It's the extraneous stuff around it that will make or break it here. Whatever they do it will be a shot in the arm for Blizzard because of sales in the Far East. Blizzard does not really have the option any longer of ignoring what has become a huge if not dominant market for video games. They have to start releasing something. For a game studio of Blizzard's size, a new non-expansion game every decade is patently ridiculous. So expand into different markets. Stretch the already stretched-too-thin IP's a bit more.

[LazuOG]

Eating glue is also consuming media content; doesn't make it the same.

You are trying very hard at being purposefully unreasonable. I don't think a conversation with you is something worth having.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Launching but delaying the raid further would ruin overall pacing

Then why do LFR players not get the entire raid until February?

LFR's release is later so players who don't enjoy LFR have time to complete the raid on a difficulty more suited to them. Most guilds will be able to finish at least one difficulty in that timeframe. This avoids the situation where people who don't really want to be there otherwise want to go and see the story. This is good for LFR. You don't want those guys in there because they hate everyone in there and the difficulty itself, so they'll be super toxic.

[Mammoon]

LFR's release is later so players who don't enjoy LFR have time to complete the raid on a difficulty more suited to them. Most guilds will be able to finish at least one difficulty in that timeframe. This avoids the situation where people who don't really want to be there otherwise want to go and see the story. This is good for LFR. You don't want those guys in there because they hate everyone in there and the difficulty itself, so they'll be super toxic.

I think LFR releases later so that those players don't unsubscribe ~1 month into the patch. People who actively raid/m+/PvP have reasons to stick around a few months (multiple months of subscription fees) to play with friends and progress the tier, but people who are just in it for the story would likely do it all in a week or two and then have nothing to do, so they would likely unsub til the next patch. This way they have to stick around for a few months (like the rest of the playerbase) and (I guess) have something to look forward to every few weeks.