Of course they'll say "it was a successful year, but". Activision's higher ups aren't game company managers, they're Wall Street bankers - and Blizzard's getting in on the game now too. Maybe video game development isn't simple, maybe multi-billion dollar companies aren't simple, but if it looks like a greedy pig and squeals like a greedy pig...there's a difference between "we need to make money" and this. This is greed, pure and simple.I'm not inclined to jump on the "screw it, I'm quitting" bandwagon just yet, but I fear that in their pursuit of wealth, Blizzard has lost its soul, lost the entire reason we're here in the first place. And now it feels like we don't matter to them anymore unless we sign over our savings to them, and maybe not even after that. Bobby Kotick and Activision may be an anti-fun plague, but Blizzard has been willingly infecting themselves with it. And that makes me sad.
Opulence: I'm made of everybody's WoW token gold : (
These mobile games won't be getting my money. Many of them are downright predatory.Less releases in 2019 was expected, given they had nothing to announce at Blizzcon other than Immortal.I did a Ctrl + F on this 306 page document for "classic" but didn't find anything (but perhaps it's mentioned elsewhere). Seems like it doesn't get highlighted at all in these things because it's tough to say much about the revenue stream. Anytime WoW is brought up, it's always about "more engagement with value-added services". People are certainly buying WoW tokens and race changes. Other than that though they're avoiding being upfront about much else to do with the game.Thanks for the article!
It's a constant re-occurring problem with several game developers. Sorry but no one wants FORCED diversity it simply is not marketable. Big companies do not understand that. No one wants a homogenized game play setting, complexity and depth stimulate a player's mind and it's rewarding. Big companies do not understand that. There is dignity, integrity, and honor in staying true to your beliefs and not catering to a whiny fan base that is confused about what it wants. Stick to the source material and stop stupefying designs with unrealistic, flashy, over-the-top narratives as the game evolves. Big companies do not understand that. The new generation that comes in to do art, story, plot, mechanical designs are passionless and lack vision. They do not love their products and more so focus only on the bottom line, money. The greatest games of our time were delicate, intricate and inspired stories that were adored and embraced as it was developed and grew into something bigger than just a simple experience. They shaped our childhood and young adulthood and taught us morality, romance and maturity. Those precious values have deteriorated and corrupted all of our beloved tellings. Notice how every major franchise is brought into ruin over time instead of maintaining the magic that once captivated us and any new adventure leaves us bitterly dissatisfied. It's a tragedy what has befallen this once noble media phenomenon and yet it is no mystery why it has become so. All of these downfalls are the prefects of bigotry and selfishness and it is consumers, not the creators. that suffer the most from these injustices. If only there comes a day when corporations and big business could overcome mortal greed and worse.. LAZINESS. You do not need to be the next Einstein to come up with a great game theory, you simply need to have the heart... In short. Good games are made by good people with good intentions. Big companies do not understand that.
Activision's predictions on Mobile Gaming are outright ridiculous. If there's 1.25B PC gamers, and 2.5B Smartphone users, that does not suddenly equal 1.25B Smartphone gamers. If anything, the 1.25B PC gamers are going to stick to their PCs, and instead of a market of 1.25B prospect smartphone gamers, you now have a quarter of that prospect mobile audience, if not far less than that.. No one that is a serious PC gamer is going to spend money on a predatory mobile game when AAA PC games are 60 bucks to begin with. They make be making a profit on mobile right now, but they're going to start hitting diminishing returns as phones get beefier and more capable of playing games that are on par with older console games, which will take a longer time to develop, and therefore more resources invested.Look, just because I own a smartwatch and a smart fridge, that doesn't mean I want to play games on them, and certainly not games that are Pay to Win and developed in China.Wake up Blizzard, you're investing in the wrong gaming community.
Ok this was so incredibly ignorant that I felt the urge to create an account.
I don't normally comment on opinion pieces, but as a manger within a company that's been around since 1875 with 9.25 billion in assets & a capital adequacy of 14.1% (liquidity ratio 14.74%) & a previous investor in Activision/Blizzard - I have to say the the SEC filings contain, apart from the direct financial details - nothing but powder puff crap.Without going into too much depth - lets take apart the so called 'take-aways'.
They trimmed off the fat of community managers and put the resources into more developers, so it’s hard to see why people are truly made beyond wanting to feel righteous that somebody working in a big company was laid for. Welcome to working world, kids.
I'm not a person with high knowledge over finances , as a gamer since the days of Golden Axe and Baldur's Gate I want to say that by watching only over the profit some should't forget the most important thing that kept Blizzard in high places of the gaming industry , its the heart and soul of us gamers ( costumers ) We loved the way World of Warcraft came and stayed in our life given us a a very valuable quality world of freedom, fun, happiness and relax with fantastic stories and opportunities to meet friends all over the world. As long as Blizzard will keep the quality of those things in first place I will be happy to play and so will our kids and grandchildren too. If they decide to make games for mobile or other things is not my concern nor will I ever play on my I-Phone any games, though its there right to do so. Hopping that in that process they will not forget what qualities they made them one of the best Gaming-companies in first place and do the most to keep our heart and soul in our beloved Games which is World of Warcraft for me and my family.
Removed
@AlphaO: Thanks for the informative post. Would you say that Activision Blizzard's filings are more "power puff" than other companies or is this mostly par for the course?
Yes, mobile gaming market is huge. Yes, there are a lot of money. But to take this money you need to make a game which has a lot of grind mechanics which can be avoided by spending money. Of course you must mainly target chineese, japaneese and korean markets. So a lot of fan service: breasts, kawai girls, more breasts, pants and even more breasts.In that way you will earn a lot of money, but quality of your players will be very bad. It means almost no community at all. Your game simply exists, people are playing it, but nobody cares about surroundings. All what is matter is next patch which adds something new to game. You can't build franchise, you can't be sure that players will play your next game, even if it's next part. What you can only do is developing existing game until expenses are greater than income.Moreover creating mobile spinoff of game you already have on PC/console looks bad in the eyes of your players. You are wasting long term money into short term, fast gains which please investors now, but ruining your company in the future.And it's not that hard to achieve win-win situation. Activision-blizzard own company which specialize in mobile games. Let them make some games for asian players and put there some diablo/starcraft/warcraft characters as crossovers. In that way you have a game which is boosted by popular franchise but completly different, so you can put there kawai girls with large breasts.
Don’t you guys have phones?
*Company releases a financial document*Idiots: OH MY GOD THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS BUT MENTIONS OF MONEY AND HOW THEY PLAN TO MAKE MONEY THIS IS SUCH A GREEDY COMPANY