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Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

kotaku.com

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Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#21

Post by kowdermeister »

pcwalton wrote: post #14
bdz wrote: post #12

And Kotaku once again spins the wheel against the players >The explosion of outrage has many on social media discussing the extent to which video game culture enables entitlement. It’s not surprising, after all, that there’s been some pushback on the idea of a mobile Diablo game. What’s shocking here is the sheer amount of molten vitriol that’s pouring in over what seems to be a pretty cut-and-dry situation: A proper…

> And people wonder how the hell do they get away with p2w and gambling mechanics in games. Because that business model is profitable, and entertainment is a business like any other. If you don't like it, you are free not to play it. Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities wh…

This is all fine, but I help demystify the problem here. They marketed the new game to a completely detached audience as the highlight of the event. And when real questions came in, like "maybe a PC version comes later?" The reaction is: "You guys not have phones?"[1] I can see people snapping to rage mode.

And then the gaming 'media' calls theys guys out as assholes, which really shows how strings are really pulled behind the curtains.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjVdPtB9lU

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#22

Post by malvosenior »

pcwalton wrote: post #19
malvosenior wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vitriol expressed by the gaming press against fans far exceeds the gamers anger. Gamers: "Is this a joke? We don't want mobile Diablo" Game Press: "Gamers are whiny, entitled, toxic babies" You can see it here for yourself: https://i.redd.it/6mgpttba94w11.jpg It's been this way for a long time and was the reason Gamergate became a thing (see "Gamers are Dead"). The worst part is that because the journalists in th…

"GamerGate" was "a thing" because of disgusting, and deeply held, misogyny within the gaming community. The reason why every legitimate press outlet covered "GamerGate" from the standpoint of a harassment campaign against women is because that is precisely what it was.

As I said:

"In the end, people who don't have time to research the topic themselves, believe the narrative they're told thus empowering the journalists to continue to attack their audience."

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#23

Post by erik_landerholm »

bdz wrote: post #12

And Kotaku once again spins the wheel against the players >The explosion of outrage has many on social media discussing the extent to which video game culture enables entitlement. It’s not surprising, after all, that there’s been some pushback on the idea of a mobile Diablo game. What’s shocking here is the sheer amount of molten vitriol that’s pouring in over what seems to be a pretty cut-and-dry situation: A proper…

Or...people could chill out and realize it doesn’t matter...like at all.

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#24

Post by jasonlotito »

The game journalists defending Blizzard seem to be missing the issue here. The issue isn't the mobile game. The issue is where it was announced and to which audience.

Let me paint a picture. You buy tickets to see Rage Again the Machine perform, and RATM come out, and instead of performing their set, the do a mime act and that's it. They are done.

You'd be pissed. Now, let's realize for a second, they performed for you, and they're performance might be something some people are interested in. Just not the audience that paid to see them. So yeah, people are going to be insulted.

People don't care that Blizzard is making a mobile game. What they are upset with is that the audience they are presenting to, the fans they are reaching out to that still play Diablo, that were literally present, were completely ignored.

Finally, let's not ignore the fact that this is really just a cash grab at a Chinese market. That's fine if that's what they want to do, but it's being driven by that market (this is clear because they are adopting patterns popular in China and not the West). Just don't pretend that another audience is going to cheer for the fact that they are being ignored.

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#25

Post by pier25 »

d0m wrote: post #13

Fans aren't angry about the diablo mobile game. They're angry because they were expecting a Diablo4 announcement and blizzard announced a diablo mobile game.. this is very different. IMHO the problem was in the way it was communicated, not with the game itself. It would have been very different if blizzard said: A) We've hired amazing people and we're working super hard on the next big Diablo title on PC, and here's…

Exactly.

Instead of saying "don't you have phones?" they should have said "We are working on a new Diablo PC title but we aren't ready to talk about it yet".

Would have been a very different reaction.

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#27

Post by pier25 »

jasonlotito wrote: post #24

The game journalists defending Blizzard seem to be missing the issue here. The issue isn't the mobile game. The issue is where it was announced and to which audience. Let me paint a picture. You buy tickets to see Rage Again the Machine perform, and RATM come out, and instead of performing their set, the do a mime act and that's it. They are done. You'd be pissed. Now, let's realize for a second, they performed for y…

Yep.

IIRC fans paid $200 tickets and I imagine even some traveled to go to the conf because there was so much hype around a new Diablo game.

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#28

Post by _2d30 »

bdz wrote: post #12

And Kotaku once again spins the wheel against the players >The explosion of outrage has many on social media discussing the extent to which video game culture enables entitlement. It’s not surprising, after all, that there’s been some pushback on the idea of a mobile Diablo game. What’s shocking here is the sheer amount of molten vitriol that’s pouring in over what seems to be a pretty cut-and-dry situation: A proper…

So while I agree the Twitter post about toxic masculinity is both a HUGELY weird leap and a further sign of the times, Kotaku's take on the situation seems (at least the quoted bit, I didn't read the whole article) a perfectly reasonable and even the "proper" take on the situation. Perhaps barring the "video game culture enables entitlement" bit.

It's a shame watching the quite literal rage that has come about from a company announcing a product decision that wasn't the one that some portion, however large, of the community wanted. Assuming Kotaku is correct and there is still a new Diablo separate from this in the works, then it's a societal disgrace to watch grown adults raging out over a mobile game being announced ESPECIALLY in the context of the game that they actually want is ALSO in the works.

I find it odd that you demand some sort of standard from the game journalism community but find no need to expect a reasonable standard from the gamer community.

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#29

Post by sharpneli »

bdz wrote: post #12

And Kotaku once again spins the wheel against the players >The explosion of outrage has many on social media discussing the extent to which video game culture enables entitlement. It’s not surprising, after all, that there’s been some pushback on the idea of a mobile Diablo game. What’s shocking here is the sheer amount of molten vitriol that’s pouring in over what seems to be a pretty cut-and-dry situation: A proper…

It was a massive gaffe by Blizzard almost perfectly designed to cause an outrage which the gaming press can then use to bash gamers.

Compare this to Fallout Shelter. No-one minded as it was not made to be the prime of a show, especially one not focused on mobile gaming.

Even announcing it before wc3 remastered would have produced way less outrage.

It’s like having a classical music festival suddenly change into heavy rock and then whining about how the audience is entitled. There is nothing wrong with either music style. It’s just the sudden switch from what the audience expected that’s jarring.

Re: Blizzard Says It Wasn't Expecting Fans to Be This Angry About Diablo Immortal

#30

Post by mrweasel »

d0m wrote: post #13

Fans aren't angry about the diablo mobile game. They're angry because they were expecting a Diablo4 announcement and blizzard announced a diablo mobile game.. this is very different. IMHO the problem was in the way it was communicated, not with the game itself. It would have been very different if blizzard said: A) We've hired amazing people and we're working super hard on the next big Diablo title on PC, and here's…

The venue is just weird, why would they even announce a Diablo mobile game at BlizzCon? The people who care enough about Blizzards games to attend or follow BlizzCon DO NOT CARE about mobile games, at all.

The people handling marketing and products at Blizzard, and EA, and Bethesda aren't in touch with their most loyal fans. I can only imagine how much money there must be in in-game transactions, given that all three companies continue to upset fans that don't mind paying $60 for a new release.

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