Blizzard also wanted to honor the work done by the Immortal devs by letting them take center stage. Part of the reason it was held for the end, I’m sure, is because none of the other franchises had a new title or expansion to announce. Saving Diablo Immortal for the end of the opening ceremony was also a huge misstep. They are likely not, therefore, the most receptive audience for a mobile game. So Diablo fans at BlizzCon, by and large, are among the most hardcore of all hardcore PC gaming enthusiasts. Given its mature content, its infinite difficulty levels, and the fact that you can play a mode where dying basically deletes your character, it’s a very old-school type of game. Of all the PC gaming franchises out there, Diablo fans are already among the most hardcore. BlizzCon is a gathering of Blizzard’s most hardcore fans. Blizzard did that with Diablo at BlizzCon 2018.īlizzCon was not the right venue for this announcement. I wrote an old Officers’ Quarters once about how one of the worst things you can do as a guild officer is to create expectations and then fail to meet them in the minds of your members. A mobile Diablo, to fans, either further delays a Diablo 4 or means that it will never exist. The worst-case scenario in the minds of most fans was better than the actual announcement for them, because not only were they not getting a new PC Diablo game or even a remaster of an old one, but Blizzard also spent Diablo development resources on a game that they did not ask for and do not want. Expectations were mitigated, but still high going into BlizzCon. But once you announce multiple Diablo projects, that’s not a cat that can be stuffed back into an inventory slot. Then Blizzard tried to derail the hype train.įans were confused. First, Blizzard hyped us up about multiple upcoming Diablo projects, with an S. We’ve already covered this in detail, but it bears mentioning here because the seed for this moment was planted months ago. The real tragedy of the entire episode is just how easily it could have been avoided. With a poor PR plan from the outset, and poor handling of the announcement, Blizzard has to shoulder the lion’s share of the fault for this situation. Every person deserves respect.īut we can’t put all the blame on the fans here. We should always, always keep conversation civil, especially when it comes to the things that we’re passionate about. I condemn those fans and their behavior unequivocally. Plenty of sites that I won’t link to here are now attacking Blizzard’s fans for being “entitled asses.” Sure, some of them, a very vocal minority, have crossed lines that shouldn’t be crossed over a video game. The backlash to the Immortal announcement was immediate and ferocious, across social media and in person. It was spellbinding in its unmitigated awfulness. In my eleven years of writing for Blizzard Watch and its predecessor, I’ve never seen anything like what happened at BlizzCon yesterday. Principal game designer Wyatt Cheng, tasked with sharing his vision of a Diablo game that he’s assuredly worked very hard on, was almost in tears by the end of his presentation. The scene was heartbreaking for pretty much everyone involved: fans, guests developers from NetEase, and Blizzard staff alike.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |