Blizzard to restore Classics: WarIII Reforged Soon

Zek · February 12

Laying off a community manager is a pretty bad look. But of course the execs would never think about that sort of thing.

kime · February 12

Bad enough that people will stop paying for WoW subs?

No?

Then execs don't care.

Zek · February 12

kime wrote: »

Bad enough that people will stop paying for WoW subs?

No?

Then execs don't care.

In BFA? Yeah, very possibly.

Lilnoobs · February 12

Javen wrote: »

Retaliating against Blizzard seems wrong, but I don't know what other recourse I have as a consumer, since they're the only Activision products I ever purchase.

It's really the only recourse in the current system. The minute Activision consumed Blizzard, it was the beginning of the end. Unless Blizz can pull a Bungie, there's no separation between the two for the consumer.

Lucascraft · February 12

That's pretty much not possible.

Bungie was never owned by Activision. They were always a 3rd party developer, they just had exclusive publishing rights with Activision for Destiny.

Blizzard on the other hand is wholly owned and operated by ActivisionBlizzard. There can be no separation of the two.

schuss · February 12

Lilnoobs wrote: »

Javen wrote: »

Retaliating against Blizzard seems wrong, but I don't know what other recourse I have as a consumer, since they're the only Activision products I ever purchase.

It's really the only recourse in the current system. The minute Activision consumed Blizzard, it was the beginning of the end. Unless Blizz can pull a Bungie, there's no separation between the two for the consumer.

That ship just sailed. This is likely a consolidation move where stuff like community management gets more centralized across activizzard until there's no difference between the entities.
The one nice thing is this isn't a bad job market to be thrown into. 6-12 months from now? Likely much worse.

3clipse · February 12

I can't wait to watch the company ultimately fail and crater into the ground as the execs and shareholders skip away with tens of millions of dollars because that's all they care about.

Capitalism is a disease.

Lucascraft · February 12

Unsubbed from WoW. Just now. I did it.

And I didn't even get an exit survey. They don't even care why I left. Good riddance and fuck them.

Donnicton · February 12

schuss wrote: »

Lilnoobs wrote: »

Javen wrote: »

Retaliating against Blizzard seems wrong, but I don't know what other recourse I have as a consumer, since they're the only Activision products I ever purchase.

It's really the only recourse in the current system. The minute Activision consumed Blizzard, it was the beginning of the end. Unless Blizz can pull a Bungie, there's no separation between the two for the consumer.

That ship just sailed. This is likely a consolidation move where stuff like community management gets more centralized across activizzard until there's no difference between the entities.
The one nice thing is this isn't a bad job market to be thrown into. 6-12 months from now? Likely much worse.

Asmongold put it kind of bluntly but to paraphrase he basically said that prior to this event, considering all other factors working at Blizzard was still basically working your dream job in one of the best companies in the industry, and the idea that your future prospects are probably going to be working at some mobile developer who's churning out some scuffed Mario clone all because some corporate asshole who makes a living rotating between companies like a locust eating signing bonuses at the cost of employees' jobs is a reality crash that's hard to reconcile in the best of cases.

schuss · February 12

They could be walking into a 2008 level situation, but they aren't. I try to be optimistic. I also just was laid off earlier this year and the prospects were good. It's cold comfort, but you could be in what would have been your dream job watching the company you loved get hollowed out into a vague she'll while you're overworked by those same execs.
These companies will continue to flail.

Henroid · February 12

Javen wrote: »

Retaliating against Blizzard seems wrong, but I don't know what other recourse I have as a consumer, since they're the only Activision products I ever purchase.

Consumers cannot harm the employees any more than the employer currently is. Even if consumers continue to give the company business, employees aren't safe from being fired.

That is what today demonstrates.

-Loki- · February 12

3clipse wrote: »

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1095435875222241280

That's it. I'm done. No more games published by Activision, ever.

I’d say the same but other than Destiny and Overwatch I don’t know any games they publish that I follow. Bungie managed to split the Destiny rights out with themselves so unless there’s a sequel to Overwatch (increasingly seeming unlikely) I won’t be buying from them anyway.

Noggin · February 12

Don’t have a WoW sub to cancel, and mostly stopped playing hearthstone anyway, so I guess all I can do is not buy War3 reforged.

I think I mostly don’t buy their other games, but apparently they’re publishing Sekiro? Damn.

Lucascraft · February 12

I did not realize they are publishing Sekiro. But that flies in the face of what Bobby Kotik just said today on their earnings call, about how they are going to focus on "internally owned franchises." Which basically means they don't want another Destiny situation. The FromSoft games are very niche and definitely are not for everyone, but it seems odd that they'd be publishing a 3rd party game while simultaneously saying they don't want to publish 3rd party games anymore.

Dalantia · February 12

Probably means they won't make further deals to publish 3rd party games, which means they can throw their metaphorical advertising weight behind their own internal franchises.

So It Goes · February 12

Lucascraft wrote: »

Every year it gets harder and harder for me to justify buying the Blizzcon virtual ticket. Each year the show is slightly less and less interesting than the last. And not only was the 2018 the worst Blizzcon they have ever held, they also raised the ticket price by $10. So I spent more money for a less fulfilling experience.

Next year, if Blizzard even holds a Blizzcon at all, they will basically have to promise me that they are going to announce at least 3 brand new projects that aren't mobile games before I even consider buying the ticket.

And with them killing HotS eSports, that's actually another reason for me to not buy a ticket. HotS was the one game I tuned in for each year to watch the eSports competitions. I don't care about OWL, and I certainly don't care about Hearthstone and its stupid jokey card sets and obsession with Goblins.

The VODS were shit last year too. Took forever to go up.

Undead Scottsman · February 12

I ain't buying their stuff, but at this point I was probably only on the hook for old remasters and anything Starcraft related.

Guess I won't be picking up that Spyro Remaster after all...

Dhalphir · February 13

Zek wrote: »

It seems like all the cuts are aimed at non-dev roles - I wonder if Blizzcon is one of the things that could be on the chopping block. It's basically a massive marketing spend, and for the most part the fans only care about it because of the announcements that come with it (which recently have been disappointing).

Just jumping in to say this isn't true. At least two WoW encounter designers are gone.

Lucascraft · February 13

Dhalphir wrote: »

Zek wrote: »

It seems like all the cuts are aimed at non-dev roles - I wonder if Blizzcon is one of the things that could be on the chopping block. It's basically a massive marketing spend, and for the most part the fans only care about it because of the announcements that come with it (which recently have been disappointing).

Just jumping in to say this isn't true. At least two WoW encounter designers are gone.

Wow, really? They specifically said they are not cutting developer roles.

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/22887360/message-from-j-allen-brack

Blizzard Community…

Over the past few months, I’ve met with many people throughout Blizzard, talking about how we create our future. One thing that remains constant: we are committed to creating epic games and entertainment experiences.

Our development pipeline is strong, and we have the largest lineup of games that we’ve ever had. At the same time, Blizzard tries to have a level of craftsmanship and excellence in all that we do. Maintaining those standards as we continue expanding these worlds takes both time and talented developers.

With that in mind, we have plans to add to game development. We are dedicated to bringing you more content across existing game franchises and bringing our unannounced projects to life. Esports and the Overwatch League are also important priorities, and we will continue to produce great competitive content.

To better support these priorities, we need to reorganize some of our non-development teams. As a result, we will be reducing the number of non-development positions in North America and anticipate a related process in our regional offices over the coming months subject to local requirements. This was an extremely difficult decision, and we want to acknowledge the effort of everyone who has contributed to Blizzard. To assist with the transition, we are offering each impacted employee a severance package that includes additional pay, benefits continuation, and career and recruiting support to help them find their next opportunity. These people are members of the Blizzard family—they’ve cared deeply and contributed greatly to our work here and we are extremely grateful for all they’ve done.

As difficult as some of these organizational changes are, I am confident in Blizzard’s future and we will continue working hard to live up to not only our mission, but your expectations. We look forward to sharing everything with you when it’s ready.

J. Allen Brack

I bolded the relevant part of Brack's post. He claims they aren't cutting development teams. Guess Brack's a liar liarface.

Dhalphir · February 13

IDK, my only source is Maximum from Limit. He's not exactly a news outlet, but he's also got no reason to lie that I can see.

Perhaps the encounter devs have been reassigned rather than let go.

https://clips.twitch.tv/AdorableAuspiciousGazelleSMOrc

Donnicton · February 13

Lucascraft wrote: »

Guess Brack's a liar liarface.

You have to guess this?

Donnicton · February 13

Jim got on this one pretty quick.

Cantido · February 13

Everyone but the shareholders will get this message.

Henroid · February 13

Geoff Keighley is the only 3rd party major name I've seen today to not comment negatively on what Activision-Blizzard has done today. Which is earning him a lot of shit in his own right.

Lucascraft · February 13

Geoff Keighley is still relevant? I didn't realize that guy even had a job outside of hosting the VGAs once a year.

Fencingsax · February 13

I recently played Bioshock remastered, and it was... underwhelming to have Keighly doing the commentary interviews

Preacher · February 13

Keighley runs the game awards right? It's probably about making sure that activision keeps paying the bills

Undead Scottsman · February 13

Keighly has a lot of passion for the industry, but he definitely is wary of biting the hand that feeds him, which leads to a lot of cozying up to the more monied parts of the industry and a lot less critical appraisal of the more negative aspects.

I think I'll skip the game awards this year and just watch the trailers later.

Axen · February 13

Undead Scottsman wrote: »

Keighly has a lot of passion for the industry, but he definitely is wary of biting the hand that feeds him, which leads to a lot of cozying up to the more monied parts of the industry and a lot less critical appraisal of the more negative aspects.

I think I'll skip the game awards this year and just watch the trailers later.

I remember reading an article a long while back by a regular journalist who was writing about the games journalism industry. One of her assessments has always stuck with me and that was from her point of view it was hard to tell where a game company's PR team ended and the games journalist began.

While she did criticize the "journalism" side of games journalism she did also say she understand the why. Games journalists are completely at the mercy of game studios. If you want exclusives, interviews, tours, early review copies, passes to events, etc etc then you can't really be critical of those companies. You can't ask actual questions during interviews or press members of the industry on particular topics.

If you're not getting those things then your competitors are and you're losing out on clicks.

Which is largely why I just don't bother with em much anymore.

Fencingsax · February 13

It's generally enthusiast press, not actual journalism.

Undead Scottsman · February 13

You just need to know where to look.
Places like Giant Bomb and Waypoint typically aren't afraid to speak thier minds and ask hard questions, (Jeff Gerstmann grilling Phil Spencer about shipping broken ass games like MCC and Waypoint bringing up labor conditions spring to mind.)

Preacher · February 13

Game journalism has two virulent strands of suck, enthusiast press and the click bait bullshit "Super Metroid is over hyped garbage". Both suck for different reasons and can leave a discerning gamer at odds with news.

3clipse · February 13

The only person I'd call an actual games journalist still working for a major outlet is Jason Schreier, who gets away with a lot of stuff that others couldn't because he has so much experience and credibility.

Shadowfire · February 13

Oh hey, Activision is also increasing their dividends by 9%!

Eat the rich.

Fencingsax · February 13

Undead Scottsman wrote: »

You just need to know where to look.
Places like Giant Bomb and Waypoint typically aren't afraid to speak thier minds and ask hard questions, (Jeff Gerstmann grilling Phil Spencer about shipping broken ass games like MCC and Waypoint bringing up labor conditions spring to mind.)

How many articles on Gamergate did Giant Bomb publish?

Shadowfire · February 13

Fencingsax wrote: »

Undead Scottsman wrote: »

You just need to know where to look.
Places like Giant Bomb and Waypoint typically aren't afraid to speak thier minds and ask hard questions, (Jeff Gerstmann grilling Phil Spencer about shipping broken ass games like MCC and Waypoint bringing up labor conditions spring to mind.)

How many articles on Gamergate did Giant Bomb publish?

Jeff has said several times now that he regrets the site didn't wade into that and tell people to cut the shit.

Fencingsax · February 13

I'm aware. That doesn't make them retroactively better journalists.

Undead Scottsman · February 13

Fencingsax wrote: »

Undead Scottsman wrote: »

You just need to know where to look.
Places like Giant Bomb and Waypoint typically aren't afraid to speak thier minds and ask hard questions, (Jeff Gerstmann grilling Phil Spencer about shipping broken ass games like MCC and Waypoint bringing up labor conditions spring to mind.)

How many articles on Gamergate did Giant Bomb publish?

Not much, outside of Patrick and Alex taking about it on their morning show. I was more referring to Axen's statement regarding the relationship between press and the companies they cover.

Donnicton · February 13

The WoW subreddit changed the display for their subscribed/online now counts.

Dhalphir · February 13

Fencingsax wrote: »

I'm aware. That doesn't make them retroactively better journalists.

Shows that they're better journalists in the present though, which is what is relevant to the current topic

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