World of Warcraft boss says Microsoft is happy to 'let Blizzard be Blizzard,' but I'm not sure that's entirely true

Ashtear@lemm.ee to Games@lemmy.world – 125 points –
World of Warcraft boss says Microsoft is happy to 'let Blizzard be Blizzard,' but I'm not sure that's entirely true
pcgamer.com
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Blizzard has already lost it's soul to corporate greed a long time ago. Nothing to see here but empty cash grab husks.

We hear you valued customer, that's why we are happy to announce Overwatch 3! Note: overwatch 2 will be inaccessible when 3 launches.

"Coincidentally, Overwatch 3 will also be inaccessible when Overwatch 3 launches, because not enough people will have learned their lesson"

Finally, Overwatch 3 is Overwatch 2 with an extra map, and a new subscription model.

But this time we will release PvE for sure (someday)!

That's Microsoft favorite part. You don't have to keep selling it

Ok, but how much Blizzard is even left at Blizzard? lol

About 2 years ago I wondered the same, so I collected a bunch of data (of 'who worked on which game') and used D3.js to make a graph thingy:

Downside: It's up to Shadowlands, not Dragonflight; Also, the few little circles pulled more left are mentioned multiple times in the same Credits, just under different roles.

The thick green circle is Customer Support (though this was before the mass-layoff by MS).

Live version here, but it's SUPER janky - changing selections will generate a new graph lower down the page.

Raw JSON data here - I had to install Retail WoW (F2P is good enough), dig into the game files to find the .html files that contained the credits and then convert that whole pile of doodoo into JSON.

Can they please not? I'd rather not have Blizzard stay Blizzard, seeing what they did to WoW, SC2, D3, D4, DI, Overwatch and worst of all, Heroes of the Storm.

Have they done something to SC2? I quit playing that game years ago, but it seemed like they were done touching it, and it was still in its original glory.

Yeah they just stopped updating it and let all their RTS talent go to other companies to make their own games.

Overwatch

Don't worry, the person behind Overwatch 2 left in 2021 and is still held in high regard by a lot of people :)

person behind Overwatch 2

is still held in high regard

Ouff. I guess marketing earned their bonuses, sure.

The most recent expansion for WoW has been really good. Blizzard has been transparent with their changes and have been listening to the community. Recently the alpha for the next expansion has released and seems very promising with positive response from the community.

So I disagree, I'm glad microsoft is letting blizzard developers do their own thing. After the tumultuous expansion Shadowlands, a lot of the old guard for blizzard were removed and the current executive producer Holly Longdale has been doing a great job.

Oh I had not yet heard that they're turning the ship around. That's really really cool. After all this time I just stopped following stuff around it since it got so depressing over the years.

She's the one from WoWC, right?

She was working on classic before being promoted to her current position. Regardless, the entire wow dev team has been incredible these past few months. There has been such an influx of news of upcoming content these coming weeks its almost hard to keep up. Hoping that they can keep on the gas as The War Within comes out.

The most recent expansion for WoW has been really good.

Vanilla good, Wrath good, or Legion good?

Not Wrath or Legion good, if the numbers are any indication. While the community has generally been positive, Dragonflight simply hasn't sold very well.

The expansion's over, anyway. They have officially moved the expansion cadence to only two major patches from three.

Thats a disingenuous question...

I can't speak to your preferences as there are multiple different ways to play an mmo. I can, however, speak to the community's perspective and I have not seen the wow community be more positive about the current expansion since modern wow.

Not really, since those have been the most popular expansions. It's easiest to measure up to, no?

Its hard to judge community response for wrath or vanilla for a game made 16+ years ago (lots of people tend to looks things back with rose-tinted glasses).

I've been playing since MoP and started doing high end content in WoD. So from this perspective, I can say that I haven't seen a more community response for the game since then, including legion. No endless grind for power, blizz being transparent about changes, and they are also listening to feedback.

Additionally, Shadowlands did a number of Dragonflight's sales but recent reports indicate that more subscribers are coming back to retail wow and the expansion does not have the post-expansion drought of subscribers.

And also what does that mean?

A toxic workplace, almost no customer support, and plenty of micro-transactions?

It means they're okay with Blizzard launching expansions on maintenance day, so that nobody can actually play until the day after the game is released.

It reminds me of the line of defense some people have over sexual harassers - most recently Gérard Depardieu "oh it's Gérard, that's just how he is, leave him be" when he got sexually explicit in front of a 7yo

Wait, do they mean 2016 Blizzard, or 2024 Blizzard? I feel like no one is happy letting 2024 Blizzard stay…

Funny thing is, now it’s adding to the list of terrible failing games Microsoft has put out from companies that used to matter. Who remembers Redfall?

They gonna let blizz be blizz, insofar as microsoft gonna keep giving the macroshaft. They gonna fuck you, but when they're done, they let you keep your ass. Wouldn't be much use to them without it...