Poll: Activision destroying Blizzard?

[KiKiweaky]

Cant remember what it was called but one of the reporters here did a report on the return on investment for games. The programmers etc are highly payed professionals not to mention everybody else thats involved. I'm surprised we aren't paying more for them.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I know what you mean look how much COD6 is on Steam, it was 40 pounds what's up with that, most PC games are 30 pounds.

Ninja'd but basically this. Activision and Bobby Kotick have destoryed everything they touch and will continue to do so. They have ruined the CoD series for me and other PC users who like thier mod support. I can see them doing this to Blizzard's games as well.

 

[aemroth]

Where is the "Blizzard was already milking the money cow with WoW anyway, i don't really see what has changed" option? 'Cause that's what i'd vote for, to be honest...

 

[Dyp100]

I don't really care much for Blizzard, the only thing I enjoyed off there was Diablo II. (Though I have some found memories of WIII.) I wish they would have just got on with making Diablo III, I don't want to wait another 3 years for it to be done.

I must admit, I don't follow too closely to them either, even if they are so popular, but to me they seem the same. Activision doesn't get any of there profits (to my knowledge, anyway, but I'm not sure) so any decision to raise the price must be there own thing, Video Games cost a lot more to make these days.

 

[phYnc]

Slightly OT but I just though I should point out the "extras" that have recently been addded to gain even more money from WoW - over priced character cutomization / faction changes / race chanages etc and even the pet store selling in-game NPC pets at i think £10 each ?

Erm free money for blizz

 

[loremazd]

Considering that Blizzard makes for 60% of the companies total revenue, I don't really think they want to play poke the bear anytime soon.

 

[Uszi]

I started crying this when I heard they were releasing SCII as three different games.
Money hoarding bastards.

Activision and Blizzard must have gone to the Scrouge McDuck [http://jimberkin.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/scrooge-mcduck-make-it-rain.jpg] school of business.

 

[loremazd]

I started crying this when I heard they were releasing SCII as three different games.
Money hoarding bastards.

Yeah, I was mad about that too, except that each of those three are twice the length of any RTS that has ever been released. So in total you'll be getting 6 starcraft 1s. If it bothers you so much just wait for the battle chest.

 

[Slycne]

There is a bit of confusion floating around in this thread. Both Blizzard Entertainment and Activision exists as independent subsidiaries of the holding company Activision-Blizzard which is owned by the French conglomerate Vivendi. The company merger only happened on a holding company level to list them in a single NASDAQ stock, among other advantages. Activision exists as the parent company of all of Vivendi's previous gaming holding with the exception of Blizzard Entertainment which maintains automny and corporate structure/personnel.

So no, Activision is not destroying Blizzard.

 

[Uszi]

I started crying this when I heard they were releasing SCII as three different games.
Money hoarding bastards.

Yeah, I was mad about that too, except that each of those three are twice the length of any RTS that has ever been released. So in total you'll be getting 6 starcraft 1s. If it bothers you so much just wait for the battle chest.

Meh. It will still be expensive as hell.
We'll see. But unless I go gaga over the single player, I will be mad. I feel like 90% of the player base plays for multiplayer and not the campaign mode.

 

[Dexiro]

Activision eventually subdue and destroy everything they're involved with.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

I'm just bolding the parts that I *know* for a fact are false. There is offline play for the singleplayer (you just don't get f-list, stat tracking, cooperative play, achievements or decals), and there will be free maps. Mapmakers have the option to put theirs on the store (for high quality stuff like DotA) or just release theirs for free.

There is no Offline play without previously creating a Battle.Net 2.0 Account, creating a character and then logging into B.Net 2.0 with said character, if you are in the Beta you'd know that there isn't even any other way to get to the "SinglePlayer" button in the first place. After that you can play Offline, although without Achievements and all that other crap.

The Blizzard Marketplace is fact and will come (after launch):
http://kotaku.com/5343006/blizzard-you-may-sell-your-starcraft-2-maps-on-battlenet-eventually
http://virtualgameplanet.com/2009/08/31/blizzard-to-launch-battlenet-marketplace-service-after-starcraft-ii-launch-supports-map-makers/ ,
I didn't make that up and there's talks of an ItemShop for Diablo 2, but nothing concrete with unmistakable quotes from Blizzard directly yet.

Bzzzt, wrong. Sorry.

There will be a "Guest" button in the full game so that you don't have to log in and can play *Gasp* completely offline.

Also, I didn't say that there wouldn't be a map store, just that it wasn't going to be NECESSARY. Map makers can make theirs for free as usual, but the high quality makers who want to make the next DotA can get some money from it.

Glad to know the sort of person I'm arguing with here totally checks his facts. You're just an intellectual titan, aren't you?

 

[Cody211282]

There is a bit of confusion floating around in this thread. Both Blizzard Entertainment and Activision exists as independent subsidiaries of the holding company Activision-Blizzard which is owned by the French conglomerate Vivendi. The company merger only happened on a holding company level to list them in a single NASDAQ stock, among other advantages. Activision exists as the parent company of all of Vivendi's previous gaming holding with the exception of Blizzard Entertainment which maintains automny and corporate structure/personnel.

So no, Activision is not destroying Blizzard.

Ah well in that case then, the fact they sold warcarft 3 and diablo 2 for $60(I didn't know that I got the games as gifts about a year after they came out), and that they are spiting one game into tree I have lost a lot of respect for them

 

[Cody211282]

There is a bit of confusion floating around in this thread. Both Blizzard Entertainment and Activision exists as independent subsidiaries of the holding company Activision-Blizzard which is owned by the French conglomerate Vivendi. The company merger only happened on a holding company level to list them in a single NASDAQ stock, among other advantages. Activision exists as the parent company of all of Vivendi's previous gaming holding with the exception of Blizzard Entertainment which maintains automny and corporate structure/personnel.

So no, Activision is not destroying Blizzard.

Yes, they're completely "independent".

Kotick mentioned several times that he spent 7 billion $ to buy Blizzard:
http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/01/18/news-Kotick_3A00_-Activision-Could-Have-Bought-Blizzard-For-_2400_7-Million.aspx
http://www.geek.com/articles/games/blizzard-sold-for-7-million-in-95-kotick-paid-7-billion-in-07-20100119/
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/19/activision-missed-opportunity-to-buy-blizzard-for-7-million/
Including in his DICE speech: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702673/dice-2010-activision-ceo-bobby-kotick-presentation.html

Kotick is CEO of Activision Blizzard, they both have to please the same investors and both companies (in the end) have to answer to the same board of directors: http://www.activisionblizzard.com/corp/ml/aboutUs/boardOfDirectors.html , they're sitting at the same table when there's decisions to be made according economics and adopting a similar corporate culture and even spend time together otherwise cause they also share the same Corporate Management http://www.activisionblizzard.com/corp/ml/aboutUs/corporateManagement.html , but everyone knows that they're independent and have no influence whatever on each other, cause that's technically true and the inner fanboy says it is...

Further explanations in an article I've found, so aptly named "The Destruction of Blizzard" from August 2009, if anyone cares to read it: http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/the-destruction-of-blizzard/

I'm just bolding the parts that I *know* for a fact are false. There is offline play for the singleplayer (you just don't get f-list, stat tracking, cooperative play, achievements or decals), and there will be free maps. Mapmakers have the option to put theirs on the store (for high quality stuff like DotA) or just release theirs for free.

There is no Offline play without previously creating a Battle.Net 2.0 Account, creating a character and then logging into B.Net 2.0 with said character, if you are in the Beta you'd know that there isn't even any other way to get to the "SinglePlayer" button in the first place. After that you can play Offline, although without Achievements and all that other crap.

The Blizzard Marketplace is fact and will come (after launch):
http://kotaku.com/5343006/blizzard-you-may-sell-your-starcraft-2-maps-on-battlenet-eventually
http://virtualgameplanet.com/2009/08/31/blizzard-to-launch-battlenet-marketplace-service-after-starcraft-ii-launch-supports-map-makers/ ,
I didn't make that up and there's talks of an ItemShop for Diablo 2, but nothing concrete with unmistakable quotes from Blizzard directly yet.

- Matchmaking:

True there's matchmaking, but there's also the option to create your own games, these games doesn't rank you for obvious reasons(exploits fx)

At the moment "creating your own games" is rather worthless, in the original B.Net you had Chat channels to meet up and there was a Server Browser to pick your Custom games/maps/mods from, which would refresh every few seconds. As it stands right now B.Net 2.0 lost almost everything that made B.Net 1.0 great and included invasive bloatware and an overkill of Stats instead. The only way to join Custom Games (right now) is clicking the "Join Game" button and taking a map with a large green bar. The "Matchmaking" part of the game in the Beta is also broken/non-working in so far that it Expands Search after 3-5 seconds and lets you play against people from completely different leagues above/below you a lot... This part might change after release with a considerably larger player pool though, true...
Also what are those magical exploits you are talking about, which couldn't be used in Ladder Matches, but would work in Custom/Random games? xD

- More ads (thanks to contract with Massive - company for commercials owned by Microsoft), they also collect your IP and "standard information":

I am in the SC2 beta, and I've seen no adds at all on Bnet 2.0

It's Beta, they probably didn't deem it necessary to "test" Ads yet, you'll see those soon enough.
http://community.microsoftadvertising.com/blogs/analytics/archive/2009/08/25/massive-s-in-game-advertising-season-kick-off.aspx

And there's more. Massive continues to work closely with our other key publisher partners including Ubisoft, 2K Sports, and Blizzard Entertainment with several titles slated for release in 2010.
Through an agreement with Blizzard Entertainment, Massive is the exclusive advertising service provider for the World of Warcraft community web sites as well as the Battle.net online gaming service. A newly redesigned Battle.net platform will launch with StarCraft II in 2010, for which Massive will also be the exclusive advertising service provider.

- Facebook like "ID-page" so you can "distinguish" yourself, includes your Real Name if you put it in for Payment Details, which is awesome for Phishers and Hackers alike...:

Only real life friends you agree to add can see your name

Yes, only "Real ID Friends" can see your name (or the name you used in your details rather... I'm surely not gonna use my real name, it'll be required for payments after launch though).
That won't stop those pesky people you've seen in Diablo 2/WarCraft 3, B.Net forums or via Mail from trying to trick people into giving them Account Details (Phishers) or other people trying to Hack Accounts (like for World of Warcraft, now even possible with that pay-to-use security tool)

- No LAN or playing with friends anymore, everyone HAS to be logged in to the great Overlord hivemind B.Net and every person HAS to have a key of the game (and every following Add-On) to be able to play with friends or family.:

You have to authenticate with Bnet 2.0 yes. I don't see how it's a problem that you have to have a unique key to play with other keys, we're not living in the "Don't copy that floppy" days anymore afterall.

To play the full multiplayer (with all units and buildings etc.) and play competively you will have to buy all 3 and register all 3 CD-keys.:

Source plz, I have heard the exact opposite. You only have to have Wings of Liberty to play online competitively.

The expansions are only extensions for single player.

If you only played StarCraft with friends or family (brother/sister/whatever) over LAN every now and then, it was completely possible... they could have prevented it then too, but then they believed in something called "customer friendliness" back in the day (like when the grip faded from the shell of my mouse (Logitech G9) and I wrote em an E-Mail if I could buy another one, and they sent me one free of charge... didn't even have to pay for mailing, it's small things like those that will make me stay faithful to certain companies/brands and even order larger quantities of their products at work)... Blizzard has lost that, and every single one of your brothers/sisters/friends that only want to play a few rounds of StarCraft 2 with you locally will have to have an Original key + all Add-Ons and an unique B.Net 2.0 account to be able to...

Source for the 2nd part: http://www.starcraft2.com/faq.xml

If I buy StarCraft II but don't buy any of the expansion sets, will I still be able to play online?

Yes. This will work similarly to Warcraft III and the original StarCraft, which maintained separate online gaming lobbies and ladders for expansion set players and players with the base Warcraft III or StarCraft.

I'm not pulling any of this stuff out of my ass xD

Holy crap man you did some serious homework here, kudos on the best put together argument on ether side so far, that's going to take me a bit to read all the links

 

[darthal]

I really dislike blizz, but even i can see that activision is just killing them horribly, with hot metal rods of unpleasantness

EDIT: sorry, Vivendi are doing it, i really hope they don't get there hands on rebellion

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

Holy crap man you did some serious homework here, kudos on the best put together argument on ether side so far, that's going to take me a bit to read all the links

It's not a well put-together argument at all. He's blatantly wrong at points, he quotes a horribly written WAHHH BLIZZARD SUCKS BOBBY KOTICK IS THE EVILIST EVIL EVER blog that gets approximately no readers, and it's just paranoia.

How can you say that you dislike Blizzard for "splitting a game into 3" but then say you liked Mass Effect 2? It's the same goddamn thing BioWare is doing: It's one large story, told from three different points of view in a trilogy. Each game is three times as long as the original campaigns in SC1.

If you're going to bash Blizzard for it then you better not be planning on buying ME3, or that's just blatant hypocrisy on your part. Because unlike the SC2 expansions, ME2 (and ME3) WERE full price. So you paid $150 for the full game. Where's the "BioWare is evil!!!" talk there?