Blizzcon Reaction to Diablo on mobile

Radegast74

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Activation\Blizzard is out of touch. I am sure a bunch of people would still play the game, but I know a ton of people were hoping for MMO.
So on the one hand, I agree with you totally.

On the other hand, I'm sure this is a conscious decision on their part (the mobile game). If you want your stock to go up, you have to tell your shareholders that you "discovered new areas of revenues" that will cause "stock growth" ... in a nutshell, no corporation seems to be losing money by taking PC gamers for granted (after all, after you've spent around $2000 on a rig, what are you going to do? *not* buy all the crap they are shoveling out? What are you going to do, read a book instead?) and going full force after the mobile market, where the sky seems to be the limit with in-game purchases (i.e., loot boxes, skins, p2w stuff).

Looking at Activision Blizzard's stock, they don't seem to be "taking a hit" or "punished" for ignoring their PC base...probably because their real audience is their stock holders:
Screen Shot 2018-11-03 at 6.36.07 AM.png


(sorry for the semi-rant...this is why I love CIG & CR, they are making Star Citizen for PC gamers, they are making it for their backers, and they listen to us. And I'm glad I am supporting Star Citizen!)
 

Radegast74

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Cause we waited on D2 remastered and/or D3 expansion and/or D4 news.

I also thought this was a joke until the q&a started and they seriously sold the audience D.I. as the next "game".

"No king reigns forever" hit the nail.
That is the impression I got --> Blizzard teased "Big News coming..." and every gamers fantasies ran wild (personally the D2 Remastered was something I would have loved), and then everybody was totally blindsided ( & felt betrayed) by the announcement that the "Big News" was actually "It's going mobile!"

I'm like, "Duh, that's why I got a Switch...wait, they mean phone? wtf?"
 
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August

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JackAvalon

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IMO the problem is not that they announced a mobile game.

The problem is that they announced a mobile game to a PC crowd.

The mobile announcement should have been made weeks before.
This. Also, this is just further proof that Blizzard exec's have lost touch with their fanbase. Another example would be the BFA expansion for WoW. I know a ton of WoW players that were excited for BFA but in the end very disappointed with the content that was provided. You can do better Blizzard.
 

Ganji

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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMDbAwBgfbU


IMO the problem is not that they announced a mobile game.

The problem is that they announced a mobile game to a PC crowd.

The mobile announcement should have been made weeks before.
It was also the final announcement of Blizzcon, you close with your best stuff, and somehow they thought that hyping ppl up and closing with shity mobile game was a great idea.
 

Radegast74

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IMO the problem is not that they announced a mobile game.

The problem is that they announced a mobile game to a PC crowd.

The mobile announcement should have been made weeks before.
I'll add to that, this isn't just any audience ... this is a Diablo (on PC) enthusiast crowd that had paid $199 for a ticket for the Convention, + all associated travel fees & food & stuff, to hear "a big announcement" that had been teased...and then to be told, "Wait, don't you all have phones?"

Tone-deaf and not understanding their core audience doesn't even begin to describe this...@Ganji, that YongYea video is pretty spot on.

I really think that most big gaming corporations are headed by sales & marketing people who see gamers as just a general group of (dumb) people who will throw money at the latest incremental game is released...and now with the mobile market being such a huge source of income (especially in Asian markets), everybody just sees that.

If I was a dev at Blizzard, or a former dev, and I wanted to do something, I'd start thinking of putting together a Kickstarter for a Diablo-esque clone on PC. Kind of what the Obsidian dev's did for Pillars of Eternity.
 
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Thalstan

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So on the one hand, I agree with you totally.

On the other hand, I'm sure this is a conscious decision on their part (the mobile game). If you want your stock to go up, you have to tell your shareholders that you "discovered new areas of revenues" that will cause "stock growth" ... in a nutshell, no corporation seems to be losing money by taking PC gamers for granted (after all, after you've spent around $2000 on a rig, what are you going to do? *not* buy all the crap they are shoveling out? What are you going to do, read a book instead?) and going full force after the mobile market, where the sky seems to be the limit with in-game purchases (i.e., loot boxes, skins, p2w stuff).

Looking at Activision Blizzard's stock, they don't seem to be "taking a hit" or "punished" for ignoring their PC base...probably because their real audience is their stock holders:
View attachment 10914

(sorry for the semi-rant...this is why I love CIG & CR, they are making Star Citizen for PC gamers, they are making it for their backers, and they listen to us. And I'm glad I am supporting Star Citizen!)
The thing is, PC games and monetizing them hit a brick wall when it came to loot boxes, etc with battlefront II. Will this be the app that does the same for the mobile market?

Oh and I agree with others, this is an announcement that should have been made to stockholders, etc, not the huge PC gaming community that comes to Blizzcon. I see nothing wrong with a mobile game, and yeah, Diablo probably has the right mechanics for it, the problem was the timing of the announcement and the expectation that fans of the PC community game could immediately switch to mobile at the drop of a hat. A few hints, teasers, etc about it being a mobile game in the weeks prior would have been good, and having this in the middle of the con instead of the end would have been nice as well. Unfortunately, the founders have left the building, and now you are seeing the bean counters running the company.

I have no doubt they will learn from this, but will it be the right lesson. Or will Blizzard go all Logan on us and learn the wrong lessons like Fox did with Deadpool.
 
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