Blizzard: No longer socially acceptable

[EbaumsTipster]

Now that Blizzard has been forever tainted by the sex scandals, and Bobby Kotick has been unable to be removed by anyone (the one thing that could convince the public that anything will be different), is Blizzard effectively dead now? Its no longer “ok” to be playing their games.

Even if they release a very good expansion people will still take you over the coals for supporting them, so its not safe to do publicly.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Just look at riot games they went through the same thing did next to nothing to change and had a recent 100m settlement yet not only are people still playing there games they are putting out smash hit shows kpop stuff and ever expanding.

Once blizzard puts out something good most people won’t care about the scandals.

[Eladia]

Socially unacceptable to who? The people that still suck on Riot's teat after all the harassment cases and settlements in recent years? Activision Blizzard will continue to ride out the wave of bad press in the hopes that the next game release will make up for any bad taste left in people's mouths.

[Lochton]

Now that Blizzard has been forever tainted by the sex scandals, and Bobby Kotick has been unable to be removed by anyone (the one thing that could convince the public that anything will be different), is Blizzard effectively dead now? Its no longer “ok” to be playing their games.

Even if they release a very good expansion people will still take you over the coals for supporting them, so its not safe to do publicly.

Not how it'll be.

[Darsithis]

is Blizzard effectively dead now?

No

Its no longer “ok” to be playing their games.

Yes it is. If you have that view, then you shouldn't be using sites like Facebook, ordering food using services like DoorDash or Uber Eats, or spending a penny for virtually any company as they've all had some sort of issue like this.

What matters more is how the company responds to and changes, not whether or not they had an issue in the first place.

[Lochton]

Now that Blizzard has been forever tainted by the sex scandals, and Bobby Kotick has been unable to be removed by anyone (the one thing that could convince the public that anything will be different), is Blizzard effectively dead now? Its no longer “ok” to be playing their games.

Even if they release a very good expansion people will still take you over the coals for supporting them, so its not safe to do publicly.

Not how it'll be.

And if the ones who will frown on you for enjoying a game, then move on and ignore them, chances are they are already supporting another company that should be socially unacceptable - big brands could easily be in the scope.

As for you, if you believe it is not right, then you are of course welcome to sign yourself out of such a universe and franchise, no one should blame you for doing it or not, and if they do, then they are the ones with the actual problem.

[Gorsameth]

Now that Blizzard has been forever tainted by the sex scandals, and Bobby Kotick has been unable to be removed by anyone (the one thing that could convince the public that anything will be different), is Blizzard effectively dead now? Its no longer “ok” to be playing their games.

Even if they release a very good expansion people will still take you over the coals for supporting them, so its not safe to do publicly.

oh, thank you. I needed a good laugh.

No one gives even the smallest shit about this outside of a tiny niche of forum warriors.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

People who seek to virtue police have really sad lives.


That... or they engage in a little bit of *word-that-rhymes-with-bowling*


"no longer good to play their games" gtfo of here with all that nonsense, lmao.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Tbh, so far I think they rather successfully have sat out their PR crisis into the new year, at least for bobby that is already a win. The issue for the studio is that they have no games to show which would distract their investors and customers. Their biggest issue though might be actually getting proper new hires right now, which in turn will just excasserbate their lack of output. I doubt they are dead yet, but they won't be the same ever again - if that wasn't already clear. My bet would be they become a full on "actvision" shell and lose all of their autonomy in the next few years.

[Jastall]

Man, in how much of a bubble must one be to think the vast majority of people playing games or buying products in general at all care about shit like this.

Riot had a similar scandal, LoL is still one of the most played games in the market and they've put out tons of stuff people like so very few at all care about said scandal now. Same shit with Ubisoft, and mediocre ass games like AC: Valhalla or FC6 still sold like hotcakes because the vast majority of people simply do not give a toss. Activision's CEO himself is a sex pest and it's not like that affected CoD or their mobile game division much if at all.

Hell, people are totally OK with throwing money at companies like Apple, Amazon or Samsung despite them or their direct contractors blatantly abusing their workforce. They're still buying Exxon or Total's gas even if those assholes would rather tar and burn the planet than make one less cent off it. They're still on Facebook despite them having 0 problems selling your data for ad revenue's sake. They're still buying jewels despite scandals like blood diamonds. Unless it affects them, most people don't care, and they sure won't care that a video game company has/had creeps preying on their workforce.

[Lolites]

Even if they release a very good expansion people will still take you over the coals for supporting them, so its not safe to do publicly.

oh the naivity... remember how everybody was going to boycot them after blizzchung? this will be the same

they will release wow expansion, and even if its not good at all players will flock back, and then, month(s) later get bored of it and leave again yapping about never playing again, which they will break again with next expansion or patch
actualy, it will probably happen sooner, with patch 9.2 release...

[Nathreim]

Nike, Apple and dozens of other companies use slave labor and no one cares. People will continue to play Blizzard games.

The only thing that will kill Blizz is if they keep pushing out failing games.

[StillMcfuu]

Nobody outside of the twitter mob actually cares about Blizz's issues.

Blizz is struggling right now because their current games are anywhere from stale and old to flat out bad. Their future games have nothing but question marks surrounding them. Even with a bad portfolio of games and ongoing scandals, Blizz is still making plenty of money.

[Demsi]

I dont think you realize how many people neither care nor stays up to date with these things.

[Niwes]

Now that Blizzard has been forever tainted by the sex scandals, and Bobby Kotick has been unable to be removed by anyone (the one thing that could convince the public that anything will be different), is Blizzard effectively dead now? Its no longer “ok” to be playing their games.

Even if they release a very good expansion people will still take you over the coals for supporting them, so its not safe to do publicly.

tbh: imo Blizz was dying rather fast before. since all their canceled and delayed stuff and since it became very clear they just milk the cow and get nothing great done anymore. the harassments just speeded things up a bit.

yes, i would definitely say Blizz is dead. they just dont know yet. but they are dead in the sense of a zombie slowly dying or rot more and more. the Blizz as you know it today cant repair or revival this in no way.

[Very Tired]

Just look at riot games they went through the same thing did next to nothing to change and had a recent 100m settlement yet not only are people still playing there games they are putting out smash hit shows kpop stuff and ever expanding.

Once blizzard puts out something good most people won’t care about the scandals.

Wasn't Riot's "big" scandal about giving promotion/hires to people who played their own game more for the benefit of perspective... which ended up favoring a lot of men over women? Honestly seems like a bit of a BS reason for a lawsuit to me, but regardless, it's no where near on par with what Blizzard has gotten themselves into.

[Crazozourus]

By that logic everyone should also stop using all electronics, Amazon, Google and other companies that were already mentioned in the topic. ActiBlizz is fairy-tale land compared to them. As long as product is good most people don't give to flying Fs how and in what conditions it was made.

[Dakhath]

Like it or not, the quickest way to end any sort of animosity against Blizzard is for them to make a great expansion for WoW or have OW2 come out and be a great game. 95 percent of their critics would disappear because at the end of the day, most people don't care if something doesn't impact them directly and the other 5 percent could effectively scream into the void but little would come of it.

[Gaidax]

Yeah, just like Riot you mean? Owait...

This whole thing will pass and all it will take to wash this away - them releasing a few good games/expansions over 2-3 years.

Here's what will happen - ActiBlizz will settle everything for pennies (in comparison to their $$$$), Blizz will release Diablo 4, new WoW expansion and OW2 and all will be forgotten as if never happened.

[Niwes]

Nike, Apple and dozens of other companies use slave labor and no one cares. People will continue to play Blizzard games.

The only thing that will kill Blizz is if they keep pushing out failing games.

yep, this is why i say they are dead. they simply lost the connections and get nothing done. they will get older and older, same as their games and rotten till only a handful die hard fans support them. just look at overall market and numbers and then remember they have nothing in the makes.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, just like Riot you mean? Owait...

This whole thing will pass and all it will take to wash this away - them releasing a few good games/expansions over 2-3 years.

the „few good games“ they not have in the make ? the „few good games“ they released the last few years ? the xpacs ? that sold well and no one plays 3-4 months later ? nah. Blizz is not in „straight up, the sky is the limit“ zone. they rotten. since a good while.