Diablo Immortal - MMO ARPG for mobile platforms - massive butthurt at Blizzcon

[Black]

We are not their core audience

Ok, who is and since when?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[ERYFKRAD]

just dropping by to comment how amazing turn this thread took, from who got bigger d2 dick to joy of another drama

Truly a codexian thread.

 

[Artyoan]

Activision-Blizzard had announced their intentions to delve more into the mobile gaming market in the last year. It shouldn't be a surprise that Diablo turned up there, it seems like a decent fit to me for a spin-off type game if done right. The serious questions that should be asked are these:

-Why did they not create an entirely new Diablo game for mobile that doesn't reuse D3 assets?
-Why did they think a mobile game could headline a Blizzcon audience?
-Why not drop a hint at Blizzcon that D4 or a much larger Diablo project is indeed being worked on?
-Do they understand why D3 was hated and why reusing its assets cannot possibly do the series any favors?

D3's biggest problem is that it never felt like a Diablo game. It is a saturday morning cartoon story with hammy dialogue, too much humor, and Shredder/Bebop/Rocksteady as your villains. The original Diablo was atmospheric, tension-building, and maintained a realistic gothic horror element. If the mobile game is any indicator, they still intend to Warcraft-ify it.

 

[Fedora Master]

You know what all of this is?
It's the result of a new generation of devs and publishers handling intellectual properties they had no hand in creating. Blizzard, Firaxis, Bioware and so forth are simply riding on the success of their elders and betters but those people are gone and the rest of the staff has no idea what to do. Or rather: They have zero connection to the audience those IPs originally attracted. Instead they focus on what they know, which is mobile garbage.

Blizzard killed Diablo, EA killed C&C and Simcity, Firaxis resurrected an already dead franchise. Even if you don't like the Nuxcoms, there is a huge difference.

I am long time fan of all those franchise and i think Firaxis is the lesser evil of all that, im more upset about Diablo mobile or Maxis shutdown tbh.

I wasn't thinking of NuCom in this instance but Civilization.

 

[Sykar]

What happened to Blizzard:

Ironically he's also explaining why Apple of today sucks. Marketing took over that company a long time ago now.

OT:

Top(kek) comment:

A comment I've seen somewhere: "You guys don't like anal? Do you not have asses?"

 

[Reinhardt]

Not only witch nigga. I think they made Tirael black in D3 and now he's just animated silhouette so no black skin for chinese people. But it's WE who are nazis.

 

[Cael]

Not only witch nigga. I think they made Tirael black in D3 and now he's just animated silhouette so no black skin for chinese people. But it's WE who are nazis.

Only white people can be nazis and raaaaaaayyyyyycists. Get with the program, dawg!

 

[Dexter]

Now we just need gaudaost to come in and defend and shill for it for the thread to be complete.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Lmao Blizzard has done the exact same shit than Nintendo did years ago with Metroid prime: federation force.

 

[Sykar]

Obligatory boardroom meeting meme:

 

[Zakhad]

We are not their core audience

Ok, who is and since when?

Overwatch fans. And people who will pay for similar models of gaming. Why make a Diablo 4 that's like Diablo 2 when they can make one that's a "game as service"? All the decline from D2 to D3 will only accelerate in future releases.

Overwatch earned them over a billion a quarter a few years back. Based on people buying loot-boxes. Just on that. And that was the majority of their revenue that quarter. Overwatch has been consistently gaining registered players for years. Not sure how to calculate how many of those are active, and I have other shit to do, but from this link it seems there's a pretty stable player-base even when a major competitor steps in (article title is misleading, check the graph part-way in). Diablo 3 sold really well, amazingly well, in fact, but it was six years ago and Blizzard seems to think that the landscape has changed, since their recent games are things like Hearthstone, HotS, and now this. Even Diablo 3 was shit. People say it was "hated", but it made them way more than Diablo 2 did. Decline makes money.

So why would they care what we think? We aren't the big market for them. They don't care about RPGs. They definitely don't care about the kind of gaming fan who doesn't want micro-payments, i.e. the people who post on RPGcodex.

I'm not saying they're good. I'm asking why anyone's surprised that they're bad. The only surprising things here is how they let this backlash happen and didn't plan for it. The older fans might not matter much in terms of dollars spent, but they can be loud, angry, and they like brigading youtube videos. Still won't change anything, but it leaves a bad smell for Blizzard.

 

[Jigawatt]

Gotta hand to April Fool's Joke Guy - the delivery was perfect. No grinning to give the subterfuge away, nothing smug, just deadpan cynicism.

 

[Delterius]

the delivery

i don't think its a matter of delivery when you're dead inside

and you're talking to the murderers

 

[Atlantico]

Meanwhile at Blizzard EU, their PR departments are really earning their keep, announcing the next Diablo product!

https://eu.diablo3.com/en/blog/22630729

On this, the spookiest day of the year, all the creepy creatures come out to play… and now you can join them! Celebrate the upcoming launch of Diablo III: Eternal Collection for Nintendo Switch by transforming yourself into a demonic being from the depths of Sanctuary with our special Snapchat lens.

To unlock the limited-time lens, open the Snapchat app, point your camera at the below Snapcode, and then press and hold the code on your screen to scan it!

Once the code is scanned, you’ll have access to the sinister lens for one hour. Turn the camera toward you to become a more diabolical version of yourself, and share the fright with your friends.

The comments are just beautiful... (note that you have to own Diablo 3 to be allowed to even comment)

Nemo 1 hour ago
i dont use snapchat..

MrKrane 15 minutes ago
Dig up stupid.

Sam 1 hour ago
So they're marketing to 13 year olds now?

Requiem 1 hour ago
Is this a out of season joke? cause this feels like you guys are just trolling us now.

BadGrahmmer 2 hours ago
Wow, guys. You are seriously so bad at PR now its ridiculous.

Zero 2 hours ago
No way this announcement gets posted today, are blizzard so out of touch?
"Once the code is scanned, you’ll have access to the sinister lens for one hour."
Training the cattle for the mobile time gates, paywalls and predatory systems I see...

ryowa 4 hours ago
:D This is incredible, Diablo team is doing some pro level trolling

Shawmeck 7 hours ago
Does one need a phone for this?

VergeArete 9 hours ago
One of the multiple "Diablo projects" I assume.

 

[deuxhero]

Gotta hand to April Fool's Joke Guy - the delivery was perfect. No grinning to give the subterfuge away, nothing smug, just deadpan cynicism.

I really hope that some company will actually do that soon then shit on Blizzard and other revivals of classic IPs as mobile shit.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Haha that 'but you all have phones Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrright??' *grimaces*

The utter and complete disconnect with the fanbase could not be better illustrated.

You are talking to possibly lifelong players who paid a lot and possibly traveled a great distance just so they can hear you speak about their hobby. You are not talking to investors. These guys take their games seriously. And what do you give them? A reskinned mobile only microtransaction infested cookie cutter abomination excreted out of a coding sweatshop in China.

It is probably time to fire the person who thought that was a great idea.

 

[luj1]

The Chinese mobile market is where the $$$ is. I don't care if they want to make money.

What irks me, is why couldn't they have another smaller team working on a Diablo PC game.

 

[ZeniBot]

A lot of those people have probably been customers of Blizzard's from when they were Children during the DOS era, so taking a shit on them would be the worst thing you could do. These people have built a lifetime loyalty to you, all you had to do was not fuck that up but you have now. Its hard to create and easy to destroy.

 

[Rodcocker]

The ramifications of this event cannot be under estimated. Just as we learn that RDR2 broke world wide records for not just video games but for the entertainment industry as whole, and that video games may soon become the largest entertainment industry in the world, Blizzard go and do this. A multi-million dollar costing live streaming disaster and the most negative, cringe reaction to a flagship product I've ever seen. Even when Disney release a new shit pile star wars they still have plenty of mouth breathing, long term fans to line up and worship it.

This is a big money industry now - and there is too much money at stake for the Diablo fans to fuck it up. The money men will be watching and formulating what to do next, and it ain't going to be about becoming more open with the consumers and listening to the supposed 'long-term franchise fanbase'. Micro transaction China is now the biggest gaming market in the world and the western consumer is second fiddle. Millions of kids are spending the equivalent of a full price game on gaming skins every month. The industry just isn't even going to try and pretend anymore. Expect more stage management, more paid-off shill journalists, and a total retreat from anything that resembles an opinion of a 'dude-bro old-school gamer'.

To me, this is the day that the games industry completely broke with first generation gamers. They are no longer needed. Every triple AAA game will become this never ending, game as a service, pay-2-win online drug. This is an industry that hires phycologists to understand how to get kids subconsciously addicted a gameplay loop. Mobile gaming? Kids are basically walking around with the equivalent of heroin in their pocket. They have no fucking chance resisting it. I know of real children who will never develop the required adult social skills because their entire existence is playing Fornite. Looking back, I think gaming might have been a huge fucking mistake.

 

[ZeniBot]

Gaming wasn't a huge mistake it became one. The only hope we have now is cottage industry.
You guys on the Codex need to start making your own shit, I've seen some of you already do, but more of you need to. Enlist and fight the decline.

 

[Average Manatee]

The Chinese mobile market is where the $$$ is. I don't care if they want to make money.

What irks me, is why couldn't they have another smaller team working on a Diablo PC game.

By all indications they have next to no one working on this. They gave the Diablo 3 assets to the chinese and said "let it print money" as the chinks reskinned a game they already made. What Blizzard staff are actually working full time on this, the writers? Yes, the cream of the crop of Blizzard. I guess all of the useful people are tied up in Overwatch?

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Most good games in current year come from 2-man indie teams working from a radioactive shed near ground-zero in the Ukraine anyways. I also hear good things about a sole Fin trying to make the next Jagged Alliance, but 100 times better.

I assume most of the Codex patrons dont expect anything but complete shit from "triple A" studios

(except maybe CD Project Red?).

Blizzard should have mentioned their mobile crap as a random afterthought.

O yea guys. we are making some shit mobile version of Diablo for those Chinese whales. We outsourced it naturally, because at home base we only focus on creating quality games on solid gaming platforms. Cue cool story about Diablo 4 development.

 

[ZeniBot]

CDProjekt are slowly turning into Bethesda, Whilst for now they're not part of the decline, they eventually will be.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

, Whilst for now they're not part of the decline,

what

if anything modern Blizzard is as decline as modern Bethesda

The current Blizzard portoflio on PC are: SC2 (arguably good RTS with questionable balancing, probably the only good game here), D3 (which is disappointing ARPG, Grim Dawn and PoE is much better gameplay wise), Overwatch (TF2 like shooter with endless SJW woke content), Hearthstone (shit TCG), HoTS (simplified MOBA)

Bethesda at least still do publish 3rd party game of somewhat acceptable quality, mostly by Arkane.