Decline Blizzcon 2024 November 3-4

[whydoibother]

Less than 48 hours left, and nobody cares.
What do you expect they will show? New games? Expansions and patches? Microsoft Gamepass integration? Games posted on Steam? Warcraft III for iPhones?

 

[Gandalf]

They will probably tell how cool Microsoft is.

 

[GrainWetski]

I expect great things from both Blizzard and Blizzcon!

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/24020037/join-us-at-blizzcon-s-inclusion-nexus

After four years of virtual adventures, we’re excited to announce the return of the third in-person Inclusion Nexus at this year’s BlizzCon®!

The Blizzard community is a unique group of people from around the world, united by our shared love of games. The Inclusion Nexus is an area at the show where all members of the community can meet to celebrate what connects us, and to foster open, casual conversations with each attendee that visits.

The Inclusion Nexus will be open to attendees throughout Friday and Saturday. Everyone at BlizzCon is invited to stop by, chat with Blizzard employees, listen to guest speakers, and participate in the festivities. Check out the schedule below to learn more about what we have planned for the Inclusion Nexus.

Schedule​

Friday, November 3​

12:45pm - 1:30pm — Life at Blizzard Trivia
Check out behind-the-scenes of Blizzlife.

4:15pm - 5:45pm — Leveling Up, sponsored by the Women’s Employee Network
Hear about the career journeys of Blizzard employees.

Saturday, November 4 ​

10:00am - 10:45am — Press Play
Blizzard employees share how they began their gaming careers.

11:00am - 12pm — Gamers, One and All
Explore inclusive gaming and how gaming is for everyone.

12:45pm - 1:30pm — Dare to See What Could Be!
Learn about Blizzard’s evolving journey in player dynamics.

2:30pm - 3:15pm — From Warcraft® Champion to People Champion
A conversation with J.D. Roux, Blizzard’s Chief People Officer.

3:30pm - 5:15pm — Board Games
Play the Blizzard edition of the hit party game Codenames.

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/bli...global-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-officer

MEET PAMELA BURGA, BLIZZARD’S GLOBAL DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION OFFICER​

 

[Abu Antar]

Less than 48 hours left, and nobody cares.
What do you expect they will show? New games? Expansions and patches? Microsoft Gamepass integration? Games posted on Steam? Warcraft III for iPhones?

 

[Fedora Master]

Why do you bother...with Blizzard

 

[lightbane]

"B-but don't you guys have phones??"

 

[Hellraiser]

Blizzard died when they got assimilated into Kotick's collective.

Although to be fair WoW's success and Blizzard fans becoming Blizzard developers would kill it by now anyway, the rot was already there by 2008. Blizzard was at its best when it was just some nerds mashing up shit they liked into good games, not the only studio that declined when it stopped being exactly that.

 

[Arbiter]

Less than 48 hours left, and nobody cares.
What do you expect they will show?

Free Diablo 4 trial.

 

[Ryzer]

Blizzard died when they got assimilated into Kotick's collective.

They were dead way before that. Just a daily reminder that they wanted to sell unique weapons into different discs back in 1996 for Diablo 1, a precursor of the horse armor dlc.

 

[Arbiter]

Condor planned to sell expansion floppies earlier than that, Diablo 1 was released at the end of 1996.

 

[Arbiter]

"No king rules forever"

 

[whydoibother]

Less than 48 hours left, and nobody cares.
What do you expect they will show?

Free Diablo 4 trial.

It is on Steam, and there is a Demo event going on. But they will miss it.
I think that on the publishing front they will add more of their games on Steam, and on Microsoft's subscription service.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I wonder if they are making anything new

 

[whydoibother]

Blizzard died when they got assimilated into Kotick's collective.

They were dead way before that.

Activision merged Blizzard in 2008.
A couple of years after that merger, StarCraft II came out, which is a good game.
Hearthstone revitalized the genre and created a card game boom, and came out after the merger.
Diablo III sold well, if nothing else, but it also allowed Path of Exile to take the crown in that genre.
Heroes of the Storm failed to break into the genre, DOTA2 and LoL keeping their top spots. This is also Blizzard objectively chasing a trend, rather than leading one. I'd say this was the beginning of the decline.
Overwatch 1/2 sold well, but they were chasing trends, and not innovative. I didn't get the hype at all.
Diablo Immortal was chasing a trend of mobile market growth, no idea if its a good game. Apparently its wildly profitable.
Diablo IV is a thematic return to form for the franchise, being darker and demonic again, but I don't think it will beat PoE 2. I am not sure it has beaten PoE even.

i forgot there is a warcraft mobile game

 

[Arbiter]

A couple of years after that merger, StarCraft II came out, which is a good game.

SC2 was good, but not oldBlizzard-tier good and it failed to replace SC1 as an e-sport in Korea or to revitalize the RTS genre.

Diablo III sold well, if nothing else, but it also allowed Path of Exile to take the crown in that genre.

Diablo 3 was the first objectively bad game from Blizzard with a meme-tier launch and a real money action house that had to be patched out due to the outrage of Diablo community.

 

[Morgoth]

What I hope we'll get:

Starcraft Ghost Revival
A glimpse into the Survival MMO
Something Warcraft related that isn't a WOW expansion

What we'll get:
Another WOW expansion
Diablo 4 trinkets
Apologies

 

[Gandalf]

Something Warcraft related that isn't a WOW expansion

Wish granted, it's called Warcraft Rumble.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Something Warcraft related that isn't a WOW expansion

Wish granted, it's called Warcraft Rumble.

WTF man, this thing was real!?!?!

 

[whydoibother]

SC2 was good, but not oldBlizzard-tier good and it failed to replace SC1 as an e-sport in Korea or to revitalize the RTS genre.

It was Blizzard leading, rather than following. And it did both reboot interest in RTS (Total Annihilations, AoE 3, Gray Goo, etc) and push the esports angle. Both fizzled, with esports going to Counter Strike and DOTA2/League, but both were attempts to lead.
Same with Diablo III. It tried to do a new thing with the real money auction house, which was a popular decision at the time. Diablo II already had real money auctions, they were just on third party websites. PoE has them too. The problem was that the auction house fucked the economy, because of how drop rates were. Blizzard quit on the feature, rather than balance it. I can't stress this enough, complains were about the balance, rather than the feature. There still is a real money economy for Diablo and all such games, but its outside of the game (and therefore outside of publisher protection).

Blizzard was trying to lead, until Heroes of the Storm. That was 100% them following a trend. That was 100% them doing what Activision ordered. That's when Blizzard died, when they stopped trying to lead and started to follow.

 

[Gandalf]

Total Annihilations

What do you mean by this? I thought there's only 1.

 

[whydoibother]

Total Annihilations

What do you mean by this? I thought there's only 1.

Planetary Annihilation, my bad. I am not even sure about the timeline, but I am 100% sure that there was an attempt to revive RTS surrounding Starcraft II.
Like with WoW and MMORPGs. Like with card games and Hearthstone. Blizzard used to drive that kind of stuff.
With Heroes of the Storm, they were in the passenger seat, drying to catch the MOBA craze, and failing. That was them not being themselves.

 

[Gandalf]

With Heroes of the Storm, they were in the passenger seat, drying to catch the MOBA craze, and failing. That was them not being themselves.

This is an interesting way to look at things. You're not wrong, HOTS felt like a shift in direction, but it's not like they were some kind of pioneers all the time. They've followed some trends in the past too. For example with Warcraft chasing Dune, etc.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Hots needs to be released on Steam. It has like 50 people playing worldwide. New blood would help.

 

[Arbiter]

It was Blizzard leading, rather than following. And it did both reboot interest in RTS (Total Annihilations, AoE 3, Gray Goo, etc) and push the esports angle.

SC2 was released in 2010, years after AoE 3 (2005) and Supreme Commander (2007), if this is what you meant by Total Annihilation.

Same with Diablo III. It tried to do a new thing with the real money auction house, which was a popular decision at the time. Diablo II already had real money auctions, they were just on third party websites. PoE has them too. The problem was that the auction house fucked the economy, because of how drop rates were. Blizzard quit on the feature, rather than balance it. I can't stress this enough, complains were about the balance, rather than the feature. There still is a real money economy for Diablo and all such games, but its outside of the game (and therefore outside of publisher protection).

Action House was not the only problem, the game was also criticized for departure from the original atmosphere and visual style, dated graphics, WoWification, feature removal (e.g. mostly non-random locations), botched launch (Error 37) and cringe writing.

 

[whydoibother]

SC2 was released in 2010, years after AoE 3 (2005) and Supreme Commander (2007), if this is what you meant by Total Annihilation.

Planetary Annihilation, my bad. I am not even sure about the timeline, but I am 100% sure that there was an attempt to revive RTS surrounding Starcraft II.

Action House was not the only problem...

It had a million problems, but it was widely sold, played, and even watched on streams. It was not a flop, despite everything. And it was Blizzard trying to lead, introducing a radical new feature.