Gamers didn't expect shit for free until companies started the predatory practice of luring players into a game by not charging an entry or monthly fee, but instead finding away to get some people to pay exorbitant prices for the same, or in some cases, even less game features then they had before. Not because it was good for consumers but because these foolish companies had flooded the market with too many similar games and could not get a stable customer base the old fashioned way. And thus the idea of the whale player was born. That is all on the industry not the consumer.
Exactly.
I get tired of hearing all these apologists inventing a narrative to try to dump blame on the players. They, the companies, created this F2P thing.
I ain't buying those cliched argument about entitled gamers wanting it all for free. That is utter horseshit and has nothing to do with the mess the AAA behemoths are finding themselves in.
It's quite simple really: infinite growth does not exist no matter how they contrive to try to make it so.
As a consumer, when you're bombarded with full game titles completely for free... Why wouldn't you start expecting this?
It's a mess of their own making. None of them considered what microtransactions and F2P might do to the collective psyche of consumers. They just saw the bottom line it presented for the end of this next fiscal year and jumped right in. Too metric-driven to stop and consider the human element like they should've.
But that isn't even unique to video games, really. At least, not here in America. I've worked (and left) a company before turning 30 because they literally couldn't see the people for the metrics (to co-opt the old trees/forest saying). They didn't realize that the very real effects their poor management policies were having on the people wouldn't immediately be reflected on the metrics because there was a lag time between losing good people, burning out the ones that stayed, and the effects trickling down into the work being completed, THEN into the metrics measured off that work.
That office is now in a downward spiral of hiring and losing people (while those metrics are now also in a downward spiral themselves) to the point they can't keep a semi-fully staffed office. They hire as quickly as they can, but then bury those folks in mountains of work they can't hope to adequately complete (due in no small part to lack of manpower), so the people leave the company as fast as they can hire on new folks.
Yet, the director whose policies were the root cause? Still chugging along ignorantly trying to figure out why things are going sideways, and completely failing (along with the company itself) to realize it's because of her own terrible performance in the first place.
Thing is that the company probably made a decent profit, just not enough to please the stock holders and people are going to be laid off because of that.
Shitty when job one is to keep the stock holders happy rather than the paying customers.
As far as creative innovation and agility - 100% agree.
The problem is financial success drives growth and as companies get bigger this often equates to bloat. Inevitably this stifles creativity and innovation - and for a game studios that thrive on open creativity this is terrible.
I think what makes me the saddest in all this is that they offered the new CFO up to $15 MILLION in bonuses. Couldn't that have better been spent to keep the folks in the trenches employed instead of lining already rich people's pockets?
Oh wait....that's big business, isn't it?
It's sad but this is what always happens. The boots on the ground get the axe and the former CEO gets a parting bonus and goes on to be a CEO someplace else, while the new CEO get a huge incoming bonus. Once you become a CEO you never stop being one, you just move on to bigger companies when you do go and smaller when you do bad. But it's the Joe's and Bob's and Mary's that get the real shaft.
Blizzards future, isn't mobile, thats just a fast track to the bottom. The only way they can begin to save themselves now is probably WoW Classic, but thats only a stopgap at best, they either need to fix WoW itself, or create something that players actually want, on PC. Way things are going, then it will only mean more layoffs are inevitable.
The future isn't mobile as we experience it now, but the future also isn't in the past which is where most PC gamers are looking. Maybe this is an indicator that PC gaming is heading for a huge permanent decline and we'll gaming in other ways on other platforms than Windows. Because really when we say "PC gaming" it's implied that means "Windows gaming". I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'll be very surprised if we end back at square 1 starting over from the same starting point. How long can Windows gaming, as we know it, last?
except statistics are showing a market increase for all forms of gaming. its more then likely showing a paradigm shift in genre popularity or payment model....or just market saturation in general
Let's hope when they make people redundant that they start at the top and get rid of some of the people who were decision makers and are responsible for the decline of Activision Blizzard . They probably won't it will probably be the minions and not the masters .
For well over a decade now there have been many people who have said Activision Blizzard pursued short term profit over long term gain . I tend to agree somewhat with that sentiment because the streamlining/dumbing down of WoW to appeal to a casual and younger demographic could backfire once tastes and gaming habits changed .Which is what is happening now .
Strangely it might be a 14 year old version of WoW that might turn things around for them this year . I am still a bit dubious about playing WoW classic because I think eventually they might mess up world pvp again by putting in a looking for a group tool on PVP servers .
Honestly, I think that Classic WoW isn't going to be enough for three reasons: 1) Purists won't like any changes they make; 2) they simply can't please everyone because everyone has a different notion of what "classic" is; and 3) it will never, ever be able to replicate the original feelings and experiences of 14 years ago simply because players are older, distance puts rose colored glasses on remembrance and so on.
Honestly, I think that Classic WoW isn't going to be enough for three reasons: 1) Purists won't like any changes they make; 2) they simply can't please everyone because everyone has a different notion of what "classic" is; and 3) it will never, ever be able to replicate the original feelings and experiences of 14 years ago simply because players are older, distance puts rose colored glasses on remembrance and so on.
They need NEW, not rehashed OLD.
Method is going to crush all the content in about 15 mins and no one will care anymore.
Honestly, I think that Classic WoW isn't going to be enough for three reasons: 1) Purists won't like any changes they make; 2) they simply can't please everyone because everyone has a different notion of what "classic" is; and 3) it will never, ever be able to replicate the original feelings and experiences of 14 years ago simply because players are older, distance puts rose colored glasses on remembrance and so on.
They need NEW, not rehashed OLD.
I agree and kind of disagree. To me, Classic is about having the slower pace game, a character I can build how I want to, not how Blizzard decides (The plethora of skills and talents) and the feeling that everything you do matters because titanforging does not exist.
Yea, Blizzard is "trying" to keep things are close as possible, and I accept some things are going to change, hopefully for the better (Honestly, I hope summon stones are in outside of dungeons). WoW has evolved over the year, as it should, but there still things about the older versions that feel right compared to right now, and things right now that feel better than the older versions.
I do miss my original guild from Classic+ and some of why I might want classic can be attributed to those rose colored glasses. But, I also miss the gameplay and feeling of difficulty in even the smallest of things. When I was testing Classic over Blizzcon, killing 2 mobs on my rogue back to back was a chore. I had to use food and bandages just to stay alive and keep killing at an OK rate. That is the type of play I miss, the rewarding feeling when you do things and not just have them handed to you.
Honestly, I think that Classic WoW isn't going to be enough for three reasons: 1) Purists won't like any changes they make; 2) they simply can't please everyone because everyone has a different notion of what "classic" is; and 3) it will never, ever be able to replicate the original feelings and experiences of 14 years ago simply because players are older, distance puts rose colored glasses on remembrance and so on.
They need NEW, not rehashed OLD.
I think all your points are spot on but I still think they should do it. There is an audience for it and an audience that will like like it.
however, "sure" they do need something new.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
OMG I'm so sick of the meme....but but but....this was too good to pass up.
You may be sick of the meme, but the reason it endures is because it perfectly encapsulates the problems with the modern gaming industry and the level of customer contempt plagueing it right now. And the fact that it came from one of the most beloved developers and in regards to one of the most beloved IPs in the industry makes it that much more perfect.
I can't even begin to conceive of a better rallying cry against corporate greed in this industry.
OMG I'm so sick of the meme....but but but....this was too good to pass up.
You may be sick of the meme, but the reason it endures is because it perfectly encapsulates the problems with the modern gaming industry and the level of customer contempt plagueing it right now. And the fact that it came from one of the most beloved developers and in regards to one of the most beloved IPs in the industry makes it that much more perfect.
I can't even begin to conceive of a better rallying cry against corporate greed in this industry.
They don't pitch games to players anymore. They pitch them to investors and shove money into marketing hoping mainstream consumers who buy on impulse will generate short term income enough to keep them going.
amazing how long it took to show how self destructive that behavior is.
Did anyone ever pitch games to players? Well, I suppose kickstarter and the like is pitching games to players. Yet there seem to be a vocal group of players who don't like that.
Otherwise, devs just made games and sold them. How those games got funded were probably people who had the games pitched to them and then invested.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
OMG I'm so sick of the meme....but but but....this was too good to pass up.
You may be sick of the meme, but the reason it endures is because it perfectly encapsulates the problems with the modern gaming industry and the level of customer contempt plagueing it right now. And the fact that it came from one of the most beloved developers and in regards to one of the most beloved IPs in the industry makes it that much more perfect.
I can't even begin to conceive of a better rallying cry against corporate greed in this industry.
They don't pitch games to players anymore. They pitch them to investors and shove money into marketing hoping mainstream consumers who buy on impulse will generate short term income enough to keep them going.
amazing how long it took to show how self destructive that behavior is.
Did anyone ever pitch games to players? Well, I suppose kickstarter and the like is pitching games to players. Yet there seem to be a vocal group of players who don't like that.
Otherwise, devs just made games and sold them. How those games got funded were probably people who had the games pitched to them and then invested.
I think the difference now is gaming has gotten large enough and cost enough to develop that it's a majority about money, whereas before (while they still wanted money) games had a lot of passion projects, or things devs actually cared about. I'm sure they still care, but the people above absolutely do not which causes the mess we are in now with a lot of companies.
..mm...reminds me much of Mythic getting acquired by Bioware, and my game Warhammer died years later. But I am comparing apples to oranges here, totally different, but weirdly the same in some aspects.
One could also compare all the games Sony acquired, which are gone now.
Again, this is a apples to oranges thing, WoW is not going any wear for a very long time.
OMG I'm so sick of the meme....but but but....this was too good to pass up.
You may be sick of the meme, but the reason it endures is because it perfectly encapsulates the problems with the modern gaming industry and the level of customer contempt plagueing it right now. And the fact that it came from one of the most beloved developers and in regards to one of the most beloved IPs in the industry makes it that much more perfect.
I can't even begin to conceive of a better rallying cry against corporate greed in this industry.
They don't pitch games to players anymore. They pitch them to investors and shove money into marketing hoping mainstream consumers who buy on impulse will generate short term income enough to keep them going.
amazing how long it took to show how self destructive that behavior is.
Did anyone ever pitch games to players? Well, I suppose kickstarter and the like is pitching games to players. Yet there seem to be a vocal group of players who don't like that.
Otherwise, devs just made games and sold them. How those games got funded were probably people who had the games pitched to them and then invested.
I think the difference now is gaming has gotten large enough and cost enough to develop that it's a majority about money, whereas before (while they still wanted money) games had a lot of passion projects, or things devs actually cared about. I'm sure they still care, but the people above absolutely do not which causes the mess we are in now with a lot of companies.
While today it's a huge industry, I wouldn't say that people who work for these large game companies don't have people caring about their work.
I've mostly worked in large, multi-national corporations and "sure" there is a bottom line to be looked at but everyone I knew/know, in multiple offices, cares about their work.
Sure, they might have to go for the largest audience but I'm pretty sure the developers put their all into these games and are proud of their work. It might have to make x amount of dollars and they have to put up with disenfranchised gamers who long to work in the industry but who I suspect have no place in an industry where job security, low pay and dealing with an angry audience is part of the package.
There are games being made by smaller studios. Case in point "Praey for the Gods" which I've been playing, has 3 developers.
And I think it's a good game. But smaller studios can only do so much. And one constantly hears complaints about smaller studio work.
Then the smaller studios decide to "go retro" with graphics so they can concentrate on game play and the bulk of the players scoff at it.
It's a no win situation.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
It's the minecraft phenomenon all over again. It's not that they can't turn a profit, it is that their competitors are turning a bigger profit. Everyone currently is looking at Epic's FortNite and comparing their company to it. The money and development is going into trying to dethrone the latest king.
If they kept to themselves and not worried about what is on top they would be humming along fine. Lost money on failed projects trying to be the next king is what is making the money bleed.
Bungie left because they seen this attitude in the higher ups, they knew going forward they would be significantly held back by "bad sales" because the executives heads are in the cloud. They are much better off because being told to add X in your game because that's the cool thing these days does not make the game good.
The stock tanked, much to do with the market itself taking a hit but also cause these executives keep bashing their own sales instead of actually being happy with a profit.
This wave of firings are not needed to keep this company going, in fact it won't even save them money, it is going to cost them more. It is a tactic to try to shake up things up for the investors to regain confidence. A turning a new leaf stance on things.
If the attitude doesn't change nothing at this place will.
[[ DEAD ]] - Funny - I deleted my account on the site using the cancel account button. Forum user is separate and still exists with no way of deleting it. Delete it admins. Do it, this ends now.
Its called trimming the "fat". Too many people have been living off the "fat" and why pay 3 people to do a job 1 person can do. It make take a bit longer to achieve but it will still get done. Like it or not it is a business....businesses are in the business of making money.
Vanilla WoW ..... with cash shop mounts? Wouldn't be good.
If they're unsatisfied with the currently level of ugly outrage this would be the way forward to new levels. Then again, gamers just might think it's the best thing ever and demand they be put in lootboxes.
I think cash shop mounts and other stuff would be met with fury by vanilla purists. If the "adaptation" is well done though I suspect people could live with it. I am sure the question will have been asked and I would be surprised if new-vanilla does not have them.
I'm not sure though that new-vanilla will "save the day" for WoW - let alone for Activision Blizzard's financials. Could be wrong of course.
After everything that has happened in the last few months I'm starting to think classic will not be released. Either for limited financial return reasons or just flat out spite and hatred of their customers lol.
I can see the statement now "We decided that we couldn't recreate the content to match our fans expectations" or some gobbledygook like that similar to Titan's "game isn't fun" line.
Blizzard has been a disappointment for me for the past few years. Everything from the WOW expac disappointment to putting out toys at Target over content in their games. One questionable decision after another that did not improve the content in their games one bit. Skins in HotS doesn't count as content IMO.
It really looks like they are digging in and will milk WoW as long as possible vs trying anything new. I want Blizzard to amaze me again but I've been waiting so long that I don't think it'll ever happen.
After everything that has happened in the last few months I'm starting to think classic will not be released. Either for limited financial return reasons or just flat out spite and hatred of their customers lol.
I can see the statement now "We decided that we couldn't recreate the content to match our fans expectations" or some gobbledygook like that similar to Titan's "game isn't fun" line.
Blizzard has been a disappointment for me for the past few years. Everything from the WOW expac disappointment to putting out toys at Target over content in their games. One questionable decision after another that did not improve the content in their games one bit. Skins in HotS doesn't count as content IMO.
It really looks like they are digging in and will milk WoW as long as possible vs trying anything new. I want Blizzard to amaze me again but I've been waiting so long that I don't think it'll ever happen.
You may still get classic, but just not that "classic". LOTRO's for example was a sort of half way house.
After everything that has happened in the last few months I'm starting to think classic will not be released. Either for limited financial return reasons or just flat out spite and hatred of their customers lol.
I can see the statement now "We decided that we couldn't recreate the content to match our fans expectations" or some gobbledygook like that similar to Titan's "game isn't fun" line.
Blizzard has been a disappointment for me for the past few years. Everything from the WOW expac disappointment to putting out toys at Target over content in their games. One questionable decision after another that did not improve the content in their games one bit. Skins in HotS doesn't count as content IMO.
It really looks like they are digging in and will milk WoW as long as possible vs trying anything new. I want Blizzard to amaze me again but I've been waiting so long that I don't think it'll ever happen.
You may still get classic, but just not that "classic". LOTRO's for example was a sort of half way house.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
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Comments
It's a mess of their own making. None of them considered what microtransactions and F2P might do to the collective psyche of consumers. They just saw the bottom line it presented for the end of this next fiscal year and jumped right in. Too metric-driven to stop and consider the human element like they should've.
But that isn't even unique to video games, really. At least, not here in America. I've worked (and left) a company before turning 30 because they literally couldn't see the people for the metrics (to co-opt the old trees/forest saying). They didn't realize that the very real effects their poor management policies were having on the people wouldn't immediately be reflected on the metrics because there was a lag time between losing good people, burning out the ones that stayed, and the effects trickling down into the work being completed, THEN into the metrics measured off that work.
That office is now in a downward spiral of hiring and losing people (while those metrics are now also in a downward spiral themselves) to the point they can't keep a semi-fully staffed office. They hire as quickly as they can, but then bury those folks in mountains of work they can't hope to adequately complete (due in no small part to lack of manpower), so the people leave the company as fast as they can hire on new folks.
Yet, the director whose policies were the root cause? Still chugging along ignorantly trying to figure out why things are going sideways, and completely failing (along with the company itself) to realize it's because of her own terrible performance in the first place.
Shitty when job one is to keep the stock holders happy rather than the paying customers.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Bloat is such an understatement for Blizzard.
It's sad but this is what always happens. The boots on the ground get the axe and the former CEO gets a parting bonus and goes on to be a CEO someplace else, while the new CEO get a huge incoming bonus. Once you become a CEO you never stop being one, you just move on to bigger companies when you do go and smaller when you do bad. But it's the Joe's and Bob's and Mary's that get the real shaft.
For well over a decade now there have been many people who have said Activision Blizzard pursued short term profit over long term gain . I tend to agree somewhat with that sentiment because the streamlining/dumbing down of WoW to appeal to a casual and younger demographic could backfire once tastes and gaming habits changed .Which is what is happening now .
Strangely it might be a 14 year old version of WoW that might turn things around for them this year . I am still a bit dubious about playing WoW classic because I think eventually they might mess up world pvp again by putting in a looking for a group tool on PVP servers .
They need NEW, not rehashed OLD.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yea, Blizzard is "trying" to keep things are close as possible, and I accept some things are going to change, hopefully for the better (Honestly, I hope summon stones are in outside of dungeons). WoW has evolved over the year, as it should, but there still things about the older versions that feel right compared to right now, and things right now that feel better than the older versions.
I do miss my original guild from Classic+ and some of why I might want classic can be attributed to those rose colored glasses. But, I also miss the gameplay and feeling of difficulty in even the smallest of things. When I was testing Classic over Blizzcon, killing 2 mobs on my rogue back to back was a chore. I had to use food and bandages just to stay alive and keep killing at an OK rate. That is the type of play I miss, the rewarding feeling when you do things and not just have them handed to you.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I can't even begin to conceive of a better rallying cry against corporate greed in this industry.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
If they kept to themselves and not worried about what is on top they would be humming along fine. Lost money on failed projects trying to be the next king is what is making the money bleed.
Bungie left because they seen this attitude in the higher ups, they knew going forward they would be significantly held back by "bad sales" because the executives heads are in the cloud. They are much better off because being told to add X in your game because that's the cool thing these days does not make the game good.
The stock tanked, much to do with the market itself taking a hit but also cause these executives keep bashing their own sales instead of actually being happy with a profit.
This wave of firings are not needed to keep this company going, in fact it won't even save them money, it is going to cost them more. It is a tactic to try to shake up things up for the investors to regain confidence. A turning a new leaf stance on things.
If the attitude doesn't change nothing at this place will.
I really wish for them to find their way and give as a good diablo 4 mmo.. beacuse my phone sux
I'm not sure though that new-vanilla will "save the day" for WoW - let alone for Activision Blizzard's financials. Could be wrong of course.
I can see the statement now "We decided that we couldn't recreate the content to match our fans expectations" or some gobbledygook like that similar to Titan's "game isn't fun" line.
Blizzard has been a disappointment for me for the past few years. Everything from the WOW expac disappointment to putting out toys at Target over content in their games. One questionable decision after another that did not improve the content in their games one bit. Skins in HotS doesn't count as content IMO.
It really looks like they are digging in and will milk WoW as long as possible vs trying anything new. I want Blizzard to amaze me again but I've been waiting so long that I don't think it'll ever happen.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon