Whats the issue here? Dont you people have phones???
I gotta agree, the D3 fan crowd probably has not as much impact as it thinks it has but Blizzard could ve handled this better....MUCH better in fact. Instead they were confrontational and they are getting the bill for it. The internet and YT specifically were full of torches-and-pitchforks pieces for days afterwards painting a very negative image. I am sure a lot of people not much vested in Diablo were kinda triggered by this biased reporting.
The stock market simply reacts to insecurities when it comes to the cash cows (gamers) which are currently up in arms.
Personally I have given up on Blizzard a loooong time ago. I fell for their "we are gamers too" crap when I was younger and didnt know much but they are a full blown corporate company by now and they just produce the tools to make what they really are after. Add the fact that it has been decades since Blizzard has had an original idea of their own....yeah, the company I was a fan of 20 years ago is dead.
D3 was a good experience, but eventully very short-lived. I still dont regret purchasing it, it has been a few hundred hours of fun (and grind....) but the way Blizzard games have gone I dont put much hope into Diablo: Immortal, its going to be a typical F2P game and those bore me to tears after minutes. In the end...gamers are the lifeblood of video game companies. All the profit is based on gamers good-will and pockets. Might not be the best idea to flip em the bird or outright tell folks "we dont care what you think, we do what we want and you ll like it". The possible fall-out is something I follow with interest, mostly to see how the companies involved handle this.
After-interviews were revealing some fascinating things. Like Blizzard has anticipated negative reactions, just not to this extent. I mean we all know that companies dont really give a flip about gamers and/or good video games. They do what they have to do in order to get more mulah. And in typical Blizzard fashion they go on to copy yet another existing idea, probably better then the original and I have no doubt that the resulting product will be of high quality...it just wont be anything new or innovative because Blizz simply doesnt do those anymore. But hearing them admitting to this "we dont give a crap and we do what gives us the most money /duh" so openly is a bit shocking. I was thinking about what they could ve done instead and I didnt come up with a good answer.
After the recent Guild Wars 2 spectacle this will only add to the opinion that gamers have power if you poke em enough. Immediately backpaddling or apologizing could grant em the illusion of having more then they actually do have at which point it could be abused to try to "push" game companies around.
It seems that Blizzard is mostly trying to put a lid on things and keep silent. Apart from that hilarious concession of course.
Anyway, this will cost Blizzard a lot of nerves and maybe money, thats something they actually understand, gamers feelings be damned. Might be a good "slap" on the wrists to show video game producers that they cant be too greedy in what they do (god knows they ve been subtle long enough)
