It linked to some woman how have recently been saying they been treated really badly, as the linked article also links
Its all adding up. to be honest, blizzard are pretty much dead to me. They not done that well games wise. (starcraft 2 is hit and miss) and the warcraft 3 reforged (total miss)
Also not really had much to do with WOW these days, So i’m not surprised that people are leaving. maybe its high time to kill the game off and try something new. And lets face it, Blizzard lost most of their good devs a long time ago, what they have left are pale in comparison.
But I bet the executives at activision will be worried mind, but I do think they have a fair amount to answer for too.
Edit,
From the sources I have read, W3 reforged was no way near ready for release either, and yet, the company had an attitude like, “we know this game is bad, but our community will forgive us”
What is more, blizzard has basically stopped supporting the game with large updates. as for WOW, that probably been going down the tube for a long time.
The problem is, the reputation of Blizzard was built up because of Blizzard North, and all the great games they made. I think the acti / Blizzard merger was never going to be a good idea, and years later, we have a shadow of a dev studio that has pretty much all but destroyed its rep that was originally built up.
And if Blizzard aren’t that interested in doing great games anymore, (and there is a D2 remake coming still? then after the dumpster fire that is W3, I think its going to take a lot to get people to buy anymore Blizzard games from now on.
In all honesty, Blizzard should go down in flames, and a tombstone put above it its name.
WoW was once great game and not just “cash cow”. Also Blizzard was great company, past time…
Indeed, but Blizzard isn’t the same company anymore, And WOW did become a cash cow for blizzard / acti, especially over the panda expansion for WOW, (forgot the name of it) so they could cash into the Chinese market.
Certainly W3:R is a very bad apple for blizzard, and to stop supporting it, just shows that they no longer care about the community or the rep that they built up. that and the way they forced classic into the reforged, and no longer possible to really download the classic game from their servers anymore. (very bad move)
It all adds up to a company that has been over shadowed by the execs in acti.
So Blizzard is a dead company, and to be honest, I won’t be touching D2:R with a ten foot barge pole, so go to hell blizzard.
I pretty much lost faith in Bliz after WoD and really during Pandaria, when content was coming out maybe once every 16 months roughly, and the Devs were like our player base will still love us. It’s really sad but now we know why it took so long for new content, the devs were too busy harassing their female coworkers.
I had played since the end of Vanilla and I have a ton of fond memories with my guild mates and doing Kara runs or farming the Amani War Bear after weeks of getting so close but couldn’t beat the timer. I’ll be playing Grim Dawn for a long time I think. I just started playing a few weeks ago and I’m in love but I’ll be on New World once it drops.
Just my 2 cents.
Honestly, the only game from Blizzard I’ve been looking forward to since 2019 is Overwatch 2 as I really enjoyed the first during it’s early and middle eras, still enjoy the world/characters they’ve built up and enriched in side media (animated shorts, comics etc.) just as I enjoy Team Fortress 2 and was seriously impressed at the level of thought and detail going into the game on the surface with the developer diary/showcase they put out for BlizzCon earlier this year.
But every time I hear about a controversy like this from Blizzard as a whole, or that employees respond by walking out and leaving, it puts me more and more on edge.
This video goes into a bit more detail over the allegations from female staff, and that one person had placed cameras in bathrooms
seriously WTF?
All in all, this is a very bad time for both acti / blizzard, and why I think blizzard’s future might be in some doubt, the court case might do some serious damage if both companies are found guilty.
Then its a case, what will happen to Blizzard’s games? will acti still allow you to download them? I know that this is a bit in the future, but the possibility of Blizzard going down the tube, I say is very real, especailly if many people are leaving WOW, and lets face it, it Blizzard’s main money owner, if anything happens to that, what is the point of keeping blizzard afloat?
i think there are lots of fans of blizzard’s main franchises (warcraft, diablo, starcraft, overwatch) that won’t just leave them hanging in hiatus if blizzard’s going down completely in the future. there have been cases where some game series left in the dust by its defunct owner being picked by new groups and polished to modern standards. so i’m not too concerned about the fate of these blizzard titles.
harassing co workers is just nonsensical to me. that would worsen the work environment for everyone in there, which could destroy the company. if you have pent up feelings or frustrations with co-workers there’s a lot of better ways to alleviate it or distract yourself from it, especially through online means.
By and large I agree with most of your post (about the overall Blizz/Activision situation) but concerning D2 Resurrected I would say that if you do your research you will find that it’s an apples to oranges comparison.
They went into W3:R intending to remake it because supposedly European and Chinese players told them “do more with it, it doesn’t feel done”, which appears to have been a very bad call.
From what I can see very important lessons in this regard were learned by Blizz and they know that fucking up a D2 revamp would be death. Which is why 1) they aren’t removing access to the original game 2) they aren’t changing the game in any overly drastic ways. It is still the same game underneath, more or less.
Most importantly they “bought” Vicarious Visions to do this job for them - a company that is well respected for their work reviving other games - such as the Tony Hawk Pro Skater revamps.
While it’s certainly possible Blizzard could decide to get heavy-handed and force them to go ape-shit and really fuck the game up… I don’t foresee this instance being a repeat of the W3:R debacle.
It’s D2 - as long as they don’t go messing with the core of the game unnecessarily it is probably going to end up being well-received regardless. That’s literally all they have to do… avoid putting too many fingers in that pie and the hardcore fans will be content.
It is a shame mind they royally screwed up with W3:R, and to remove all access to the original game. They took away features of that, and now they basically stopped supporting it.
I know they bringing in another company to do the D2:R, and from little I know, they not really doing anything to the core game. But this to me is a big problem, D2 is far from perfect. And if its just a new skin like SC1, then I still don’t see the point of buying it. I looked at a comparison video, and while there is some difference. its nothing to write home about.
I would still preferred that they made the game a bit better, improved drop rates a bit, made some changes to some of the classes etc. I for one am not interested in buying just a skin job, and after the screwup of W3:R, then blizzard has a lot to make up for.
for me, a great D2, remake is Ram’s version using the GD engine. now that I do call quality. And the other thing that really bothers me with playing D2 after all this time, are the maps, at least act 5, the maps there were good, but acts 1 and 2, were very boring to play on.
So to me, the D2:R really doesn’t get my hopes up at all.
Edit
To be honest, I won’t replay D2 at all now, I really consider it to be very old, some of the mechanics out of date. Also some of the maps were damn boring. act 3 been the worst in my book, followed by act 2, then act 4 then act 1. Act 4 was quite short, act 3 was annoying due to the enemies. There are other issues I had with the game too, like not been able to stack potions, something that most modern ARPGs now support. Also there is the problem of the horrible droprates, which I doubt they will change in D2:R. So trying to get end game gear will be a pain. Especially if you are playing SP.
So all in all, this is why I don’t really hold much hope for this remaster, as it not going to really improve the game. The game is old, the mechanics have been surpassed by newer games in the genre. And also we are been asked to pay full price for this game. Right now, I still don’t see the price tag to be warranted, especially as its quite high.
When the scandal with Blitzchung and the Hong Kong protests erupted, people called for a boycott of Blizzard. However, after Diablo 4 was unveiled, the protests and the boycott died down. The same thing might happen when D2R will be released next September. Time will tell if the boycott gonna stick or not.
I would say there is considerably more than just “some” difference. Every single piece of art in the game has been redone - and to me it looks pretty good. The whole point of remaking old games like these is so that they look good on modern hardware, modern screens. The original looks like dog shit nowadays so I’d say they achieved the number one reason for even doing this to begin with.
Are you really surprised after the utter fail of W3:R that they are tip-toeing about doing anything that might be potentially deemed “drastic”. No matter your view, people do not like when you go and start changing shit in old games they love. It tends to piss people off.
The devs already said that for now its just the art and the other little QoL stuff they’ve done but they clearly stated that later they would certainly be open to talk and suggestions for further “surgery”. I think they are being smart not to fuck with anything too much.
As for the price, it’s Blizzard… you didn’t really expect them to do this and charge 15-20 bucks only did you? Not in this life. They’ll reduce the price later down the line anyway. Look at D3 - it started at 60 and is what, 20 bucks for the base now? Doesn’t matter anyway, people are going to buy it regardless - little you can do to stop 'em.
From what I can see they wised up and are being extra careful how they handle this one so I expect it will sell just fine for them.
Looks like things are happening over at Blizzard,
Allen Brack is stepping down as President of Blizzard and been replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra.
So the first head has rolled, also from another forum, Not just that, there is also a new class action lawsuit being filled on behalf of the shareholders that accuses Activison|Blizzard of intentionally failing to disclose its ongoing problems with sexual harassment and discrimination.
That is probably going to hurt a lot, not everyone one of those shareholders likes Bobby Kottick, so if they band together, anything could happen, and he might be toppled.
I think acti / blizzard are in for a very rough ride and it may get rougher.
and the lowly employees would get the worst consequences from that… upper managements can just bounce back in different places if they get ousted.
You might be right about that, from another forum, the law firm that been brought in is an anti-staff law firm, they do not believe that staff should have any rights and will use any means to silence staff.
If that is the case, then see the low end staff getting the sack, ad the whole thing might be brushed under the carpet. I do hope this not the case. But I also wonder if this will be the end of Blizzard, we did have a Blizzard CEO, then a president. now joint people. Blizzard is nothing but a shell now. I feel sooner or later, Blizzard may end up been no more. At the very least, they might keep the name, but I feel this is the end of the road for that studio.
Edit
An article on the second lawsuit done by kotaku.
This sounds bad, and also says that acti / blizzard top CEOs knew about the sexual harassment problems for a long time.
If that is the case, and we may see more heads rolling.
Also, one final piece, it looks like they are starting to lose sponsors now, as T-Mobile has pulled their sponsorship from the Overwatch and call of duty leagues.
I’m not sure what kind of impact that will have, considering, a lot of money will be coming from China, But loss of money from any sponsor will surely hurt acti / Blizzard, especailly if the lawsuits cost the companies big.
I guess its watch this space and see what else develops.
Some new info regarding Blizzard.
But even more interesting is this (not that anyone is surprised):
Turns out, one D2R sales pitch was spoofed
Wednesday’s employment shakeup follows bad news for the publisher’s upcoming Diablo II: Resurrected , a remake of the 2001 hit, as Blizzard confirmed an unfortunate walkback of one of the remake’s previously promised features: direct connection support for online players via the TCP/IP protocol.
In promotional interviews about the remake, recent Blizzard hire Rod Fergusson (previously of The Coalition and Gears of War ) explained that the game’s original online makeup would remain intact, telling Eurogamer:
We’re really focused on having an authentic experience. You can still connect locally through TCP/IP if you want to! That was there in D2 . It’ll be there in D2R . We’ve really focused on making sure that if there’s something about the core experience you loved, we’re bringing that over.
However, an update to the game’s official site, meant to announce an upcoming “open beta” test, confirmed that this specific part of the D2R sales pitch has been removed and will no longer appear in the game’s final PC version. The blog post, whose author isn’t named, cites “potential security risks” with TCP/IP connections and tells fans that the development team is “committed to safeguarding the player experience.” Yet this doesn’t clarify how easy it is for users to combine third-party connection services, which typically lean on TCP/IP, with firewalls and other simple protective measures—and also doesn’t acknowledge how the removal of such a core online component dampens the promise of truly faithful online Diablo II play, item-spoofing and all.
A top-level “protected” D2R online service, followed by a buried-in-menus TCP/IP option, would arguably offer the best of both worlds, and Fergusson and co were surely aware of this when TCP/IP support was originally announced. Instead, Blizzard has now guaranteed that D2R can no longer deliver a truly faithful version of the original game, and my original endorsement of the game on a technical and faithful-code level, helped by the masterful steering of new Blizzard Classic support studio Vicarious Visions, is now in question.
I can understand why they would remove TCP/IP protocol. But it would have been better if they had said, that the protocol wasn’t going to be included, due to security concerns.
As for the staff leaving, I wonder if they jumped before they got pushed? I had a feeling that the shareholders would have been behind the leavings, and I’m sure that the shareholders are getting rattled.
This isn’t a good time for the companies, I’m sure that D2:R will still sell, but I feel there is still nothing in that game that I want to play.
Maybe it would be better if someone else buys the IPs for the blizzard games and takes over, but I doubt Acti will sell, but on the other hand, if the lawsuits kick them in the shins, they may need extra cash, wishful thinking, but pigs may fly one day!!!
The removal of TCP/IP is what gonna murder D2:R on the long run. Brother Laz, the original Median XL mod, at first planned to recreate the mod for the remaster. After this news hit he declares that he will not remake the mod, as there is not many point if you can’t play the mod together with friends. Another reason is due to Blizzard stance on private server that may ban user who tried to connect to server others than blizzard, and we know private server are what keep those big diablo 2 mod running.
Sometimes I wonder if D2:R will sell as much as Blizzard Entertainment think it will.
I mean they’re aiming for a Remaster, for the die-hard d2 fans, not changing things too much. But many d2 fans moved away for the game a long time ago.
Then I wonder what a modern gamer will feel when he’ll notice some of the old mechanics, like the character inventory size (I’m not talking about the new expanded stash): a frigging “4x10” grid! I’ve played d2 for 10+ years, but there’s no way I’m going through that kind of antiquated gameplay mechanics ever again. Even though you can hold a few items more with the Horadric Cube, it’s still a pain of inventory management. I suppose the developers had multiplayer balance in mind (PVP, charms and all that), but still.
Trying to reclaim your corpse when you die, deprived of all you’re equipped items, is a fun thing too. ^^
I even scratched my head when I read an article from pcgamesn_com with a developer saying “we’re not trying to fix Diablo 2”. I mean they’re not even trying to fix the Skills that didn’t work as intended. The Druid being my main, I remember how “Arctic Blast” only did 1/3 of it’s listed damage, a well-known bug. And it’s not even fixed in the Beta currently.
No lie I see a lot of work is going into D2:R, but behind the new coat of paint and the noticeable QoL additions, it will still be the same game. Yes, a “Remaster” by definition. After 21 years, d2 needs much more than that to be competitive.
well, after d2 is getting modernized into d2r, i’m sure a few years later many d2 fans will demand d2r to be fixed and given new content/features to keep up with the features of similar games.