Activision Blizzard stock is tanking. (WSJ)

[roguesquirrel]

It's fantastic and I love it, I just feel like there's some important things that separate it from its closest competitor, Fortnite. It's first person, so you can't see your guy. Skins are character specific, so even if they introduce one you love, there's a good chance it's for a character you don't. It's less playful which means probably less appeal in emotes and colourful skins... I don't know. I'm just worried that even though this game is fantastic, it won't really pay off.

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After TF2 and Overwatch, I dont get the concern over "well its first person...". People like dressing their character up regardless of the viewpoint. Even if it was a concern, your skin shows up on your character card which is blasted to every player in the game if you're on the champion team. Theres an incentive to show off.

 

[GraveRobberX]

I read somewhere here or on reddit that the people in the higher management areas for the company are more of the marketing side that are getting put into those jobs/slots

Rather than have devs or bring up those that put in time creating, they're rewarding the marketing side more, in turn the philosophy of the company has changed from the viewpoints of devs and more the business side

You can see the reception of how the new Diablo was introduced and for which platform.

The ship can be steered back in the right direction or those in new positions pulls off what made the game sells from a gaming perspective and not marketing first


Also a lot of pubs are churning out titles and overlapping each other

Look at Ubisoft, how many GaaS titles have they running concurrently, then add in those titles that are stand alone but with extended story throughout the year, the whole year the publisher itself is competing itself, yet still thriving

Activision drops one title as their many huge stay but the demographics have shifted and moved on

 

[Netherscourge]

I'm ready for change.

Blizzard has done just about every genre except the Open World, Single player Game.

Bethesda, Rockstar and CDPR have set a really high bar in that regard, among others. I'd love to see Blizzard develop a brand new IP from scratch and jump into that. But those games take years to make and if they don't have one already in development, we probably won't see one.

I personally don't care about Warcraft, Diablo or StarCraft anymore. But maybe others would like to revisit them again. Who knows.

 

[Duxxy3]

Just not a lot of good news out of ActiBlizzion land. If I had my wish, the companies would be split up again.

 

[Aztechnology]

Business is typically a bell curve. When you grow grow grow, you start implementing a lot of riskier operating procedures that can come crashing down. But they can also make a lot of money. It's nothing new.

Games companies in many areas have exhausted their growth potential, grew too fast. And Now will have to correct.

 

[Gatti-man]

Contrary to what seems to be the common insight around here, I have considered Blizzard in decline for a long time. The behemoth success that was World of Warcraft completely changed that company.
Their golden years was always before that, peaking with WoW's release. Despite pouring tons of resources into their new games, they have rarely managed to hold the same esteem as the old. They went balls deep into E-Sports, with only modest success.
HotS never registered a blimp on the gaming consciousness - but they stubbornly refused to admit that for years.

Mike Morhaime left for a reason, it seems to me. Too long had they tried to elicit gaming as "services", "sports" and "events". They forgot that their bread and butter was making good games.

There is hope on the horizon though, Allen Adham who was the principal founder - and lead designer of all their best games - is back from his retirement in 2004. Lets hope he steers the ship right.

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Legion was probably the best wow expansion ever. Overwatch is a fantastic mp shooter. Diablo 3 was good even great after expansion. Like what are you even talking about. Blizzard is still a top tier developer.

 

[Netherscourge]

I don't know much about the stock market but I would've thought losing roughly 2 years worth of gains in a single week is pretty catastrophic.

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Good time to buy ATVI imo.

 

[Deleted member 176]

Time for Sekiro to go corporate

 

[Doof]

I hope anyone effected by layoffs lands on their feet quickly.

 

[Duxxy3]

Good time to buy ATVI imo.

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Might be, depending on how they intend to fix the issues at hand.

They might have to announce Modern Warfare 4 earlier than they would otherwise want. Diablo 4 as well.

They need something to fill the Destiny hole, and they need to start putting out more games. Reliance on one or two games has put them in this position.

I hope anyone effected by layoffs lands on their feet quickly.

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That's something we can all agree on. I'm sorry for anybody about to be out of work.

 

[OldMuffin]

I hope their take away from this is to invest in new ips as well as in some of their legacy ones instead of adding more predatory micro transactions to their current slate. They have studios like high moon and vicarious vision (for now, considering that they might be laying off a lot of people I feel some studios might be scrapped altogether), they need to let them off their cod chains and let they experiment with new ideas.

 

[Kerotan]

Activision fucked up by not having Blackout be free to play. They are still stuck in the old ways of doing things and the world has moved on.

Not only that but the fact that it's ReSpawn, people that left Activision, makes it all the more funny imo.

What's not funny though are all the people who will probably get let go tomorrow. I hope they bounce back on their feet soon enough.

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Are those former COD devs finally having their revenge? It's been a long time coming.

 

[Schaffa]

Because these things rarely, if ever, effect the leadership of the companies. They always effect the people lower on the ladder.

Laying people off - less people working on a game - more crunch - more stress.

Then if that game sells/performs badly? Bye! It wasn't what the fanbase wanted, but because it didn't do very well the entire franchise is now shelved. A mobile Diablo game is not the end of the world, as some act (IV, Pt.II).

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Yeah, I get how it works. I'm just not seeing an argument for the idea that people shouldn't complain about the poor business decisions these companies are making.

Again, developers aren't being laid off because people are complaining on the internet, developers are being laid off because of those poor business decisions. These companies want to dodge responsibility, take it on their employees. I don't like this attitude of telling people not to complain, because developers will lose their jobs. Seems like kind of a hostage taking attitude.

The complaints are a symptom, not the disease.

 

[Schlorgan]

Good time to buy ATVI imo.

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Especially if this year's COD really is MW4. That announcement would send the price up right quick.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

I really, really, really wish Blizzard hadn't merged with Activision.

Really badly.

They just seem like they have wildly different styles and philosophies. One being not putting games out every FY.

This post I guess is only loosely tied to this thread, but the stock tumbling leads to layoffs down the line and that freakin' sucks.

 

[Mengy]

Time to dig into the vault and start pulling out some old, forgotten franchises. Time to bring back Pitfall, The Last Ninja, Vigilante 8, and Interstate.

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I own all of those games! :D


As for Blizzard's troubles, I feel they have been out of touch lately. Hopefully this downward spiral can wake them up and make them course correct. I have faith that Acti-Bliz will make some changes for the better soon. If not, then their decline is their own fault. Here's to hoping they can save themselves and promptly.

 

[g23]

Blizzard absolutely needs something fresh in the pipeline. Just don't know what they can do with their existing franchises that would liven things up.

 

[eathdemon]

Blizzard absolutely needs something fresh in the pipeline. Just don't know what they can do with their existing franchises that would liven things up.

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said it before, say it again, do a pve xpack for overwatch.

 

[The_Land]

I'm so glad my favorite game dev of all time Bungie is no longer part of them.

 

[Lothars]

Good, hoping the phones Diablo tanks too

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The stupidity of posts like this show how ignorant and stupid some are.

 

[Duxxy3]

Blizzard absolutely needs something fresh in the pipeline. Just don't know what they can do with their existing franchises that would liven things up.

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Blizzard fans are so die hard that they could just release sequel after sequel of their core franchises and they would sell. Blizzard core franchises are not normally the 15/20+ million sellers that Activision and shareholders want. That's not what Blizzard is great at though.

Really it's just a bad marriage.

 

[Halabane]

The most egregious thing about this article is that Fortnite, a game that started on PC, is now being referred to as a mobile game...

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my guess is that is the largest base of players and probably of revenue.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

Good, hoping the phones Diablo tanks too

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Sorry that I want the company I've previously enjoyed games from to make games I'd enjoy playing instead of shit I'd never touch in a thousand years

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And people think we're being unfair when we say posters here are childish and entitled. Jesus Christ

 

[Tahnit]

Its almost as if unlimited growth with no ceiling is impossible and unfeasible.

 

[Schaffa]

And people think we're being unfair when we say posters here are childish and entitled. Jesus Christ

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Yeah, you are.

When a company you love is going in a bad direction, I don't think its wrong to hope that direction fails. It would be nice if it would fail while they still have a chance to turn things around.

I hope the EGS fails, its blatantly anti-consumer. I'm still waiting for Unreal Tournament... Maybe you don't care about those same issues, but to call someone "childish and entitled" for expressing their concerns over the direction a company is headed is completely immature on your part.

 

[Outtrigger888]

What happens when you milk the shit out of all your franchises dry. You have nothing left in the tank but 4 studios making call of duty games. I feel sorry for blizzard getting roped into this. Besides blizzards games what franchises does activision have left?

 

[SilkySm00th]

It's strange to feel this way about Blizzard-Activision because they are such giants and their stable of output used to be so broad but like... with some of their recent stumbles and letting Destiny go and all that - it's primarily SC, WoW and COD now yea? I imagine that a board of directors or investors meeting where they compare any potential new entry into the market against their largest earning IPs must come across super doom and gloom but... how do you escape the eventual decline and dropoff of your popularity if you don't innovate and continue to produce?
And like... especially when both these companies must have fucking GIGANTIC reserves of cash just sitting - what does cutting droves of your actual TALENT do to really help anything?

Big business is fucking weird man.

 

[SimplyComplex]

Especially if this year's COD really is MW4. That announcement would send the price up right quick.

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This. Especially if MW2 remastered comes with it

 

[Anthony Hopkins]

Most Shareholders don't know shit about videogames.

 

[Deleted member 36708]

Good.

 

[Pein]

They probably should make blackout a stand alone game. They gotta really invest in some new IP too, also ifthey want infinity wards new game to sell make Modern warfare 2 remake and skip BR for that game. Go all in on Blackout, last thing they need is to fragment BR behind each paid cod.

Also get that new Starcraft and Warcraft going, overwatch is cool but overwatch don't bring the hype like Old school blizzard.

 

[DSP]

It is quite likely the lowest point for all of their service games right now. I feel the general interest has just evaporated over the last 3-4 months. They have made so many bad decisions across several titles and are so slooooow to do anything.

HS is way down apparently, the last two expansions by outside engagement metrics (such as twitch, google etc) have been complete flops, barely registered beyond two weeks.

Overwatch has put all of their eggs in OWL and the game continues to be a terrible experience for average player. Their last attempt to make it better with LFG has been a complete flop as well. We will see if OWL brings interest back into the game this week, seems very unlikely. Apex right now completely murdered whatever was left of OW twitch streamig as well as it appeals to same kind of players more than other BRs imo. I know I switched. This is the game Blizzard should have made with OW IP like a year ago but of course they are slow AF to do anything and yet this new initiative by Activision to push them make more games is somehow controversial here. They are barely putting anything out despite their large headcount. Patching old games will not get you that far in current rapidly evolving video game market, neither will releasing a game every 5 years. Supporting old games is good but you can't dedicate most of your manpower on that and they are still so sloow to update games. You gotta release new games too. Like how is a sequel to Diablo 3 is still not made after 7 years now? Their last new title was 3 years ago and they got nothing this year.

WoW BfA have been received very poorly.

HotS shot dead. SC2 has its own niche going at least. People are at least happy there.

 

[Winter-John]

I will absolutely celebrate the demise of Activision. Their endless greed and disgusting, predatory business practices have done nothing but harm to the industry. $2 for a reticle in a $60 game! $15 million dollar handshakes while they prepare to fire their lowest paid, hardest working staff! They are a vile company and I'll be opening the champagne the day they close down.

 

[CrazyDude]

It is quite likely the lowest point for all of their service games right now. I feel the general interest has just evaporated over the last 3-4 months. They have made so many bad decisions across several titles and are so slooooow to do anything.

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The new BR craze going on has probably also taken a lot of mind share off of COD.

 

[itchi]

Infinity Ward, Bungie, Blizzard

You really have to question how the upper management of Activision managed to fuck that up so badly but I'm sure they are enjoying their $15m bonuses instead.

 

[Duxxy3]

The new BR craze going on has probably also taken a lot of mind share off of COD.

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No doubt. Blackout is pretty good, but it would have been killer if it was F2P and unattached from the yearly COD. If it was just the COD version of BR, rather than the Black Ops version of BR.

 

[Akai_XIII]

Yeah, I get how it works. I'm just not seeing an argument for the idea that people shouldn't complain about the poor business decisions these companies are making.

Again, developers aren't being laid off because people are complaining on the internet, developers are being laid off because of those poor business decisions. These companies want to dodge responsibility, take it on their employees. I don't like this attitude of telling people not to complain, because developers will lose their jobs. Seems like kind of a hostage taking attitude.

The complaints are a symptom, not the disease.

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Oh I agree, but there is a difference between saying you don't like something and saying "good" when a company is going through a downturn on stock and is cutting jobs as a result.

People should be complaining that there aren't unions protecting these workers from these situations to begin with. From being used, discarded and then going through it again. It may give a voice to those that also don't agree with some of the practices that we don't like.

 

[//ARCANUM]

I don't really like this line of argument, even if I see why people make it and agree we need to support the people who actually make the games.

But Monsanto, Koch Industries, and Wal Mart employ thousands too. No one is out here defending the actions, corporate structure or corporate leadership of these companies (remember this is a topic about share holders).

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I don't disagree that there are shitty leadership practices in all the companies you mentioned, and personally I don't like many of the recent Blizzard choices / directions. But my response was to a drive by post that simply said "good" (and I see another one of those on this page too!). To me, just showing up to say "good" feels like one step removed from "let it all burn." There's a middle ground here that requires intelligence and reasoning to see. Here's an appropriate response:

"Man, I really disagree with leadership choices and practices as of late, and I hope these stocks falling will force them to make some changes for the better. But I hope that all the talented employees don't take the hit from this."

I'm sorry for getting slightly hostile, it's not my intention, I just had friends who work at Blizzard and I'm worried about them. Leadership / upper management choices are not their doing and I take offense at anyone who so flippantly disregards their well being. :/

 

[Schaffa]

Oh I agree, but there is a difference between saying you don't like something and saying "good" when a company is going through a downturn on stock and is cutting jobs as a result.

People should be complaining that there aren't unions protecting these workers from these situations to begin with. From being used, discarded and then going through it again. It may give a voice to those that also don't agree with some of the practices that we don't like.

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I think there's room for both frankly. I would love to see developer unions, but as a consumer it doesn't really feel likes there's anything I can do to make that happen. The only thing that will make a company like Activation change its business strategy, is the value of its stock price tanking.

I don't think that making a generic mobile game, in an ocean of mobile games, is going to be what turns blizzard around. In fact I think it may do very well in the short term, blizzard will chase that profit. But that game isn't going to cause blizzard to hire more developers, it may actually convince them to license out more of their franchises.

Valve is a company that used to make video games... Then became incredibly successful because of their pseudo-monopoly steam.
Epic used to make unreal tournament... I'm pretty sure that has just been completely canned now.

Its not crazy to think that a company you love might stop making the things you enjoy. The Diablo immortal thing really feels like a drop in the bucket. Heroes of the storm is on its deathbed, its been a good amount of time since we've had a new diablo, starcraft or main-line warcraft game. I can't imagine that they are secretly working on a new mmo. Activision has lost Bungie, given their new CFO a $15 million bonus and announced hundreds of layoffs. Didn't their CEO step down at Blizzcon too?

This doesn't feel like a company "going through a downturn", this feels like a company in crisis, that someone is trying gut and repackage.
It's hard for me to imagine any scenario where the success of Diablo Immortal will be good for the developers working at Blizzard. Activision is run by vultures, Blizzard will be a corpse by the end.

 

[Vinc]

Sorry that I want the company I've previously enjoyed games from to make games I'd enjoy playing instead of shit I'd never touch in a thousand years

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You have a lot to learn about the industry if you think financial failures will lead to what you want.

 

[Luminish]

They had an extremely long streak of being front and center of huge gaming trends between Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Skylanders, Hearthstone, and Overwatch. They use to never stop fishing for that new big thing with the huge money they bank from their hits, and had a pretty good nose for which direction to look in. It feels like the Activision side froze in the same place they were in 2012 outside of whatever the Destiny deal was.

On the blizzard side, I guess Overwatch was only 3 years ago, but all their games as a service updates have been very underwhelming recently across the entire board.

I don't know how much that has to do with their stock problems, but that's what I'm seeing from a gamer's point of view. Maybe the blizzard side is doing fine still if they're avoiding the cut backs.

 

[Gay Bowser]

Sorry that I want the company I've previously enjoyed games from to make games I'd enjoy playing instead of shit I'd never touch in a thousand years

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Hint: if the company is in financial trouble, they're not going to be able to make the games you enjoy playing.

 

[Strings]

Looking at the 1yr results, it's been tanking since mid October.

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Most of the tech sector has been, it's not just limited to game publishers.

 

[Luminish]

It is quite likely the lowest point for all of their service games right now. I feel the general interest has just evaporated over the last 3-4 months. They have made so many bad decisions across several titles and are so slooooow to do anything.

HS is way down apparently, the last two expansions by outside engagement metrics (such as twitch, google etc) have been complete flops, barely registered beyond two weeks.

Overwatch has put all of their eggs in OWL and the game continues to be a terrible experience for average player. Their last attempt to make it better with LFG has been a complete flop as well. We will see if OWL brings interest back into the game this week, seems very unlikely. Apex right now completely murdered whatever was left of OW twitch streamig as well as it appeals to same kind of players more than other BRs imo. I know I switched. This is the game Blizzard should have made with OW IP like a year ago but of course they are slow AF to do anything and yet this new initiative by Activision to push them make more games is somehow controversial here. They are barely putting anything out despite their large headcount. Patching old games will not get you that far in current rapidly evolving video game market, neither will releasing a game every 5 years. Supporting old games is good but you can't dedicate most of your manpower on that and they are still so sloow to update games. You gotta release new games too. Like how is a sequel to Diablo 3 is still not made after 7 years now? Their last new title was 3 years ago and they got nothing this year.

WoW BfA have been received very poorly.

HotS shot dead. SC2 has its own niche going at least. People are at least happy there.

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What happened to Hearthstone is very easy to see if it really is losing interest.

After the extremely powerful Lich King and Kobolds expansions they were faced with the choice of game breaking power creep, dozens of nerfs, or waiting a year until they rotated away on schedule, and they chose the waiting option. I'm not sure if any of those choices were good, but I think the waiting option is probably the worst business move they could have made. It seems ill advised to ever play a long term waiting game with a GAAS.

That wait is over in a couple of months anyway, so I guess we'll see what that does to it.

 

[RestEerie]

The most egregious thing about this article is that Fortnite, a game that started on PC, is now being referred to as a mobile game...

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no numbers but i'll reckoned most of the Hearthstone matches are played on phones and tablets instead of PC too...

 

[Deleted member 225]

Blizzard are up there with Nintendo in terms of quality of games they develop, but I definitely feel they have been lacking recently. In the past year I have cooled down on both Overwatch and Hearthstone, two games I was big into. The Diablo mobile game looks like I'll enjoy it, but there definitely isn't anything on the horizon I'm really excited about.

 

[Daitokuji]

Blizzard has 4 IPs, 3 of which were created in the 1990s and have been milked pretty much dry. The 4th one has been overshadowed by BR games.

 

[Startropper]

Always interesting to see single games that reach a high enough social and player cache, causes these rippling effects in the industry.

As more and more people become socially connected online, the battle for your screen time is becomming more prominent.

 

[TheDoctor]

What happens when you milk the shit out of all your franchises dry. You have nothing left in the tank but 4 studios making call of duty games. I feel sorry for blizzard getting roped into this. Besides blizzards games what franchises does activision have left?

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Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Candy Crush (if we include King).

Skylanders is also still around. The third season of the animated series 'Skylanders Academy' streamed on Netflix last fall. A new mobile game, called Skylanders: Ring of Heroes, is getting a global release soon (it's already available in Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

 

[Castor]

They've gotten all the blood out of the stone that is the gaming audience. There is no more growth to be had. Fortnite didn't bring new people into gaming it just ate other games lunch. If that isn't proof then nothing is. I don't see a drastic crash but this upcoming gen is going to be an interesting one for change.