Blizzards strange Blizzcon reveal

Bunkerkind Anni

Bunkerkind Anni
Anyone seen that footage of the Blizzcon,
where they present a mobile only game to a horde of PC gaming enthusiasts that where waiting for a new Diablo game to play.

i have never seen a game presentation gone so wrong. :eek:

felt like the country bar scene from blues brothers
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Yeah, i've kind of read some of the threads on reddit and articles.

Seems like a major misstep by Blizaard.

I'd guess the old guard that produced the classic games have either left or been pushed aside and its now the suits and beancounters running the show, and of course, they are completely disconnected from the community and focus on the $$$.

I would expect Diablo on mobile to be a major money maker, but of course, not what the PC community want.
 

Fishy

Fishy
Yeah, it's quite funny they didn't see it coming. That said, they'll just throw a quick vague trailer, announce another rehash of one of their old games, some new overwatch skin, and everything will be fine again. For all their anger, their fans will still buy anything off Blizzard.
 

Cmdr Eagleboy

Cmdr Eagleboy
PR company organizing this got their balls handed to them. They should have seen this coming and organize event accordingly. To be fair, it's been long time I haven't played Diablo, I played Torchlight II extensively lately and realize what a snooze fest action RPGs can sometimes be - and Diablo is not exception. So I really don't know if I personally want to see new Diablo at this point. As for mobile - it is just where majority of new markets are. PC gamers might scream and shout but if companies will keep looking for biggest buck, it won't be PC. It is just math.
 

PhanttoM

PhanttoM
I found out through Jim Sterling's video - he has some clips from the event in the beginning;
https://youtu.be/HoS3KdCnbZg

It's possibly the first some time ever, that Blizzard's own fanbase has boo'ed at them.
What did they expect? Their games have been released on PC for over 20 years — only to suddenly go Mobile. (I wonder how the reaction would have been if it was console-only)
 

Snarfbuckle

S
PhanttoM said:
I found out through Jim Sterling's video - he has some clips from the event in the beginning;
https://youtu.be/HoS3KdCnbZg

It's possibly the first some time ever, that Blizzard's own fanbase has boo'ed at them.
What did they expect? Their games have been released on PC for over 20 years — only to suddenly go Mobile. (I wonder how the reaction would have been if it was console-only)
Click to expand...

This is the stupid part.

Had they gone with a PC release, and made a good demo for it, AND shown it for the fans and THEN also proclaimed that they will make a mobile version of it (ie downgrade it a bit) then this would have been avoided.

It's not like they do not have the money to create a PC game and a mobile version at the same time.
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
I dunno why anyone's surprised though. Market forces have been screwing PC gamers for years now. Yeah, none of these companies/franchises exist without PC gamers making them the juggernauts that they are but that means nothing to business when the scent of a new cash cow appears. That's just economics.
 

Caramel Clown

Caramel Clown
I've not laughed this much in a long while. Honestly, I hope it really blows up in their face and cost them millions and millions. They won't get less rich from that, but be an example to a currently rotten gaming industry. Finally, oh finally gamers don't let themselves being taken for a ride like a donkey.
 

Fishy

Fishy
metatheurgist said:
I dunno why anyone's surprised though. Market forces have been screwing PC gamers for years now. Yeah, none of these companies/franchises exist without PC gamers making them the juggernauts that they are but that means nothing to business when the scent of a new cash cow appears. That's just economics.
Click to expand...

There's no surprise that they go all-in with the mobile and microtransaction cash cows. It's where the money is, so, sure. The surprise is that they made it the showpiece of their convention reveals and didn't expect the fallout. It was always "a bit" unlikely that the target demographics of a p2w mobile game would be the kind of people that attend their convention. From a PR point-of-view, from a company as established and "polished" as Blizzard, it's quite amazing as far as I'm concerned.
 

Cmdr Eagleboy

Cmdr Eagleboy
Fishy said:
There's no surprise that they go all-in with the mobile and microtransaction cash cows. It's where the money is, so, sure. The surprise is that they made it the showpiece of their convention reveals and didn't expect the fallout. It was always "a bit" unlikely that the target demographics of a p2w mobile game would be the kind of people that attend their convention. From a PR point-of-view, from a company as established and "polished" as Blizzard, it's quite amazing as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

Yeah, PR people most likely cleared off their desks same evening. They should have seen this coming. They weren't prepared.

As for future of Blizzard, I really don't think there's much creativity left in that company. It is money printing machine for Activision, pure and simple.
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Snarfbuckle said:
This is the stupid part.

Had they gone with a PC release, and made a good demo for it, AND shown it for the fans and THEN also proclaimed that they will make a mobile version of it (ie downgrade it a bit) then this would have been avoided.

It's not like they do not have the money to create a PC game and a mobile version at the same time.
Click to expand...

Making a PC version would have cost a lot of money though and less chance to monetize progress via P2W. The mobile market is ripe for squeezing and squeezing.

Who cares what the existing fans think? The fans are replaceable with all the mobile kiddies anyway who will spend and spend. The shareholders will love it.
 

Surefoot

S
What the fans did not want is a crap reskinned chinese knock-off that's just rebranded and shovelled to them, you cannot compare that to a full fledged PC game such as Diablo... Even with a PC version that would have been a clear signal to the fans that Blizzard want to let go of them, and milk the mobile cash cow. I personally hope they crash and burn and that the managers who decided that will be raked on hot coals.
 

hunvagy

hunvagy
Snarfbuckle said:
Here's the fun part though.

I would not mind a tablet version of POE so a somewhat mobile version could be fun.
Click to expand...

Yeah, a mobile version of an ARPG is not the devil. Knowing a AAA publisher working with a skinner box making chinese mobile dev making a Diablo game, that's the problem. I saw in one of the videos some post that Blizzvision expects 300M annualy from this game. So you know it's going to nickle and dime you for EVERYTHING.
 
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