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Blizzard Wasn't Expecting Fans To Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

dark494

dark494

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
4,553
Seattle
https://kotaku.com/blizzard-says-it-wasnt-expecting-fans-to-be-this-angry-1830204721
Speaking to Kotaku in an interview at BlizzCon, executive producer and Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham admitted that Blizzard was expecting some backlash, but "not to this degree."

"We know our audience here is passionately PC- and console-focused," he said. "We've also seen this before. We saw a similar response when we announced that we were bringing Diablo to console, and we saw a similar response to the announcement of Hearthstone."

But, of course, there's also the elephant-sized lord of darkness and torment in the room: People thought they were going to see Diablo IV. "That being said, we knew our audience here desperately wants to see and hear about one thing in particular," Adham said in reference to whatever major Diablo game is coming after Diablo III.
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Adham, though, feels like he and his team did the best they could. "At Blizzard, we don't announce things until we're ready. It's all about game quality, less about timing, all about delivering an overwhelming experience to our players," he said. "We tried to get ahead of that a little bit with the blog post to let that group know that we are working on multiple things and continue to work on multiple things. But it's pretty clear that their incredible passion for Diablo manifests in interesting ways."
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"I want to assure you that Diablo Immortal is purpose-built from the ground up," he said. He went on to further clarify the similarities between NetEase's old game and Diablo Immortal, especially the touch-based control scheme, which is basically identical to that of NetEase's previous action-RPG: "In the East, that control method is becoming ubiquitous, and it's becoming ubiquitous because it's very natural, and it feels great. Less so in the West, but we're now starting to see some games that are bringing that mechanic to the West. So it's us taking inspiration from some of the work they've done already."
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Much, much more at the link.

I know they tried, and handled it pretty poorly in general, but to be honest I'm willing to give this game a try and see if it's fun for me, I would like to see it find success with some target audience. Really should've targeted this at mobile gamers first and then try to entice PC players to give it a shot second though.

Now if they monetize the hell out of this... :(
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Dennis8K

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
It would help if they just came out and said: "We are working on Diablo 4"

But it may be too early or they may think it would come off really weak if it was forced on them to make the announcement like this.
 
Absoludacrous

Absoludacrous

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
3,184
Dennis8K said:
It would help if they just came out and said: "We are working on Diablo 4"

But it may be too early or they may think it would come off really weak if it was forced on them to make the announcement like this.
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Yea, they could have just dropped a logo and had fans go crazy and this all would have been avoided. Instead they keep wink-wink nudge-nudging it because they don't know what else to do.
 
Mendrox

Mendrox

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
9,439
Stop lieing. The mobile game is totally reskinned. They made this cause Activision loves money and wants more from the east. Activision does not give a fuck about the loyal Blizzard community as long as they get that money from the east.
 
nintendoman58

nintendoman58

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,110
Nobody goes to a big gaming event for a primarily PC-focused company to hear that the next installment of a beloved dormant franchise is a mobile app game.
 
chaobreaker

chaobreaker

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,543
They may have delivered this news in the least optimal way but they don't deserve all this vitriol. The response has been pathetic all around.
 
Samaritan

Samaritan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,696
Tacoma, Washington
There's no way there weren't people inside of Blizzard saying this was the reaction they'd get. I really don't understand why they didn't pull a Bethesda and announce the existence of Diablo IV alongside the mobile game. It would've done so much to limit the backlash.
 

itchi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,287
Then they should have done some research just look at the Artifact announcement or Command & Conquer announcements.
 
Zukkoyaki

Zukkoyaki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,284
That would be impressively oblivious if true.

Maybe they assumed gamers would react rationally. Big mistake.
 

Syf

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,204
USA
I don't know how they can be that oblivious. People have been waiting years for anything Diablo, you hype this up, and it's a mobile game not even coming to PC. How do you not see this reaction coming?
 
Trace

Trace

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,690
Canada
Just pull a Bethesda and say "Look you idiots we know you want Diablo 4. We're working on it. It's not going to be ready for a long ass time. Thank you for your money" and then leave.
 
El Bombastico

El Bombastico

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
36,048
It literally would've taken all of five minutes to go on a few forums and see their hardcore fans' opinions about mobile games.

They have no one to blame but themselves.
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,957
chaobreaker said:
They may have delivered this news in the least optimal way but they don't deserve all this vitriol. The response has been pathetic all around.
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Kewlmyc said:
Us gamers, huh...
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???

Trace said:
Just pull a Bethesda and say "Look you idiots we know you want Diablo 4. We're working on it. It's not going to be ready for a long ass time. Thank you for your money" and then leave.
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Saw a post on Reddit saying something similar to this. All they needed was a logo for Diablo IV, and to make a brief teaser showing that title or something. Now they're pretending like they don't announce games until they're ready, which is absolute bullshit.
 
Buff Beefbroth

Buff Beefbroth

Chicken Chaser
Member
Apr 12, 2018
3,012
Mendrox said:
Stop lieing. The mobile game is totally reskinned. They made this cause Activision loves money and wants more from the east. Activision does not give a fuck about the loyal Blizzard community as long as they get that money from the east.
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This is the primary point I think a lot of defenders are missing.

It's not a game developed by Blizzard. It's a reskinned version of the games NetEase is known for making, this time with recycled D3 assets slapped on top of it. It's a cynical cash grab.

They will make an incredible amount of money in its actual target market, but they will alienate the dedicated fan base they've built up over the years. It's essentially selling them out for the big bucks, which is just a continuation of the trend set by other publishers.

Money means more than anything to the corporations making this stuff, so defending this on any level is just boot licking.
 
KLoWn

KLoWn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,890
I'm having a really hard time seeing how no one at Blizzard realized how this would turn out before hand...

At the very least they should've know better than to make this their main game of this year's Blizzcon and expecting people to be happy for a downgraded version of Diablo 3.
 
-JD-

-JD-

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,472
"That's not to say that Diablo fans' fears are entirely misplaced. The world of mobile gaming is distressingly under-regulated and rife with exploitative business practices that prey on very real issues like gambling addiction. People are worried that Blizzard will end up embracing the dark side of microtransactions with its mobile game about the dark lord. On that front, Adham wasn't able to offer any concrete reassurances and instead pointed to Blizzard's track record."
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Because even he knows that the game will have exploitative MTX or was designed around that business practice.
 
SegavsCapcom

SegavsCapcom

Member
Aug 27, 2018
26
Never, never, never underestimate how petty gamers can be. These are the same people who think not get what they want, when they want it is "trolling" them.
 
Mesoian

Mesoian

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 28, 2017
26,508
Blizzard severely underestimates the ire of the gaming culture almost daily.
 
Dennis8K

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
"People are worried that Blizzard will end up embracing the dark side of microtransactions with its mobile game about the dark lord. On that front, Adham wasn't able to offer any concrete reassurances and instead pointed to Blizzard's track record."

welp
 
Andrew J

Andrew J

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,163
The Adirondacks
Should have followed Nintendo's example: Fire Emblem Heroes was announced alongside Shadows of Valentia and the announcement of FE Switch, which didn't even have a name yet. If Blizzcon had also had a Diablo I and II remaster and maybe an confirmation that IV exists, the backlash to Immortal would be much, much weaker.
 
Reddaye

Reddaye

Member
Mar 24, 2018
2,909
New Brunswick, Canada
Trace said:
Just pull a Bethesda and say "Look you idiots we know you want Diablo 4. We're working on it. It's not going to be ready for a long ass time. Thank you for your money" and then leave.
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Then people would fly off the handle that they had nothing to show, and spit in their faces by announcing something so far off they can't even show the loyal fans anything. Just another slap in the face and betrayal.

(Being mostly sarcastic btw).
 

Deleted member 29660

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
8,061
Blizzard has proven it's out of touch with it's players a lot lately, WoW BFA was a good indication of that. They're trying to right that ship in response to the negative feedback overall and tweaking quest due to what people had to say about them. Seeing them being so ill prepared for this is hardly unexpected.
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,957
-JD- said:
Because even he knows that the game will have exploitative MTX or was designed around that business practice.
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lol, does that quote not realize that the RMAH in D3 was a thing, or Overwatch loot boxes, or Hearthstone card packs?

Kewlmyc said:
This much vile hate for a mobile spinoff is silly. Games get mobile spinoffs all the time nowadays, and it's not as if Diablo 4 is never happening.
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I feel like you're on the verge of saying something dumb like, "there's people starving right now, this isn't important in comparison" or some shit.

No, let's support Blizzard's decision to reskin a Chinese mobile game designed to exploit its playerbase for microtransaction money and not say anything about a sequel to a game they fucked up 7 years ago, that hasn't received shit for support in 4 years.
 
Cipherr

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,436
LIES.


The Blizzard employees knew. Activision didn't expect the shit but there's no way Blizzard employees didn't know.

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The people behind this post knew damn well they couldn't announce a mobile game with the expectation being D4 and not get A N N I H I L A T E D.

They knew.

Someone forced this shit through. And likely AFTER being told it was a bad idea.
 
Lukar

Lukar

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,404
I think making it a big Blizzcon announcement was a mistake. A game like this (no offense) isn't something you parade as the next big thing for your series unless you want a reaction like this.

At the same time though, people really should have had their expectations in check after they implied that Diablo 4 isn't coming any time soon, and a lot of the reactions seem really overblown. Yeah, Blizzard fucked up by announcing this game the way they did, but it's also clear that Immortal isn't coming at the expense of whatever the next big Diablo game is.

There's problems on both ends. Again though, I'm not justifying the community's response to the game. It's okay to be disappointed, and expressing disappointment is fine, but being an ass when showing it is a whole other thing that isn't okay.
 
sinny

sinny

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,421
"We know our audience here is passionately PC- and console-focused," he said. "We've also seen this before. We saw a similar response when we announced that we were bringing Diablo to console, and we saw a similar response to the announcement of Hearthstone."
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I don't remember those announcements beign like this at all.
 
ASaiyan

ASaiyan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,228
Allen Adham admitted that Blizzard was expecting some backlash
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See, this is when you have to take a step back and think. Why are we doing this? Is it a profitable move? Even if this mobile app will bring in a large revenue stream (and I'm sure it will), was it the best choice to announce it at BlizzCon, to an audience that is not at all interested in this product? Could we perhaps have just said nothing about Diablo at BlizzCon, after having already tempered fan expectations, and then maybe announced this app at a separate time and place, to an audience that would be more receptive?

The most charitable thing to call this is a "miscalculation". And to be fair, the level of vitriol over this unveiling has gone well over the line. But I mean, there's complex PR decisions and then there's easy ones, guys. Lol. Someone's head will roll for this debacle, and even though they perhaps couldn't predict the scale of the reaction this is a genuine unforced error of marketing. They done goofed.
 
RF Switch

RF Switch

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,118
Only thing worse I can think to do to a PC based crowd would be to announce Half life 3 Mobile...I almost want it to happen now
 
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