10 ms·

Looks like being / going "mobile" is the new thing @ Blizzard.

by lapnitnelav 8y ago

seattle_spring 8y ago
I mean... don't you guy have phones?
- Shivetya 8y ago
  Many of us know the meme, the important take from it is how tone deaf Activision and Blizzard have been with regards to their fans across different franchises and platforms. The don't you guys have phones meme is direct response to the Blizzcon announcement that the next Diablo was going to be a mobile game not even produced by Blizzard. The reaction of the product team at Blizzard really came off as aghast followed by incredulous that the fans reacted so negatively and harshly as a whole. They so missed the boat with what the fans were expecting it makes you wonder, just who were they listening too? Activision's problem was taking the loot box and in game transaction model too far and embedding too deeply into franchises that were not accustomed to it if not openly hostile to it. that many of the purchases looked like or were portrayed as pay to win did not help. Where is the industry going? I certainly don't know and not knowing I don't have an opinion to offer on that subject. The opinion I do offer is that perhaps it doesn't know where its fans think it should be going and some franchises are at cult levels of fandom
  - duskwuff 8y ago
    > The don't you guys have phones meme is direct response to the Blizzcon announcement that the next Diablo was going to be a mobile game not even produced by Blizzard. I mean, it isn't just a meme. A Blizzard representative literally said "Do you guys not have phones?" during a Q&A session, after someone asked whether the new Diablo game would be available on PC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5QRgpjfarY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5QRgpjfarY Fans were going to be disappointed either way, but this dismissive response is what really set off the reaction.
- jrockway 8y ago
  In some sense, this is reasonable. If you want people to spend money on your game, preventing that by requiring they first buy a $1500 PC seems sub-optmial when everyone does in fact have a phone. For everyone that won't play mobile games (like me), there are probably 100 people that will. And they only have $5 for an add-on, not $60 for the entire game. That's the economic reality these days. Computer ownership is becoming an obscure niche thing.
  - Dirlewanger 8y ago
    From a business sense the shift is unsurprising. Yet how they handled the reveal was a seismic PR disaster that could have been avoided. You don't announce a new product designed for the casual crowd (and by extension, the start of a shift toward focusing on said market) at a convention mostly attended (and closely watched online) by the hardcore crowd. Blizzard would have been wise to fire their PR firm after this.
  - Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
    > If you want people to spend money on your game, preventing that by requiring they first buy a $1500 PC seems sub-optmial when everyone does in fact have a phone. This is a strange way to look at it considering that Blizzard is primarily a PC game developer, and the extreme majority of their customers are PC gamers. They will already have the PC. Blizzard is a AAA developer. Mobile games don't exactly have a reputation for being AAA quality. PC gamers often scoff at mobile gaming, and the Blizzard fan base has been hoping for a Diablo 4, so for them to announce a mobile Diablo feels like a slap in the face. It feels like they're abandoning their core audience in favor of the mobile world, which is frequently ridden with microtransactions.
fritzball 8y ago
Maybe they should learn to code
- sctb 8y ago
  Let's please comment thoughtfully and informatively and not like this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
dageshi 8y ago
That's where the money is, they won't stay a big publisher if they ignore it.

Looks like being / going "mobile" is the new thing @ Blizzard.

seattle_spring 8y ago

I mean... don't you guy have phones?

Shivetya 8y ago
Many of us know the meme, the important take from it is how tone deaf Activision and Blizzard have been with regards to their fans across different franchises and platforms. The don't you guys have phones meme is direct response to the Blizzcon announcement that the next Diablo was going to be a mobile game not even produced by Blizzard. The reaction of the product team at Blizzard really came off as aghast followed by incredulous that the fans reacted so negatively and harshly as a whole. They so missed the boat with what the fans were expecting it makes you wonder, just who were they listening too? Activision's problem was taking the loot box and in game transaction model too far and embedding too deeply into franchises that were not accustomed to it if not openly hostile to it. that many of the purchases looked like or were portrayed as pay to win did not help. Where is the industry going? I certainly don't know and not knowing I don't have an opinion to offer on that subject. The opinion I do offer is that perhaps it doesn't know where its fans think it should be going and some franchises are at cult levels of fandom
- duskwuff 8y ago
  > The don't you guys have phones meme is direct response to the Blizzcon announcement that the next Diablo was going to be a mobile game not even produced by Blizzard. I mean, it isn't just a meme. A Blizzard representative literally said "Do you guys not have phones?" during a Q&A session, after someone asked whether the new Diablo game would be available on PC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5QRgpjfarY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5QRgpjfarY Fans were going to be disappointed either way, but this dismissive response is what really set off the reaction.
jrockway 8y ago
In some sense, this is reasonable. If you want people to spend money on your game, preventing that by requiring they first buy a $1500 PC seems sub-optmial when everyone does in fact have a phone. For everyone that won't play mobile games (like me), there are probably 100 people that will. And they only have $5 for an add-on, not $60 for the entire game. That's the economic reality these days. Computer ownership is becoming an obscure niche thing.
- Dirlewanger 8y ago
  From a business sense the shift is unsurprising. Yet how they handled the reveal was a seismic PR disaster that could have been avoided. You don't announce a new product designed for the casual crowd (and by extension, the start of a shift toward focusing on said market) at a convention mostly attended (and closely watched online) by the hardcore crowd. Blizzard would have been wise to fire their PR firm after this.
- Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
  > If you want people to spend money on your game, preventing that by requiring they first buy a $1500 PC seems sub-optmial when everyone does in fact have a phone. This is a strange way to look at it considering that Blizzard is primarily a PC game developer, and the extreme majority of their customers are PC gamers. They will already have the PC. Blizzard is a AAA developer. Mobile games don't exactly have a reputation for being AAA quality. PC gamers often scoff at mobile gaming, and the Blizzard fan base has been hoping for a Diablo 4, so for them to announce a mobile Diablo feels like a slap in the face. It feels like they're abandoning their core audience in favor of the mobile world, which is frequently ridden with microtransactions.

fritzball 8y ago

Maybe they should learn to code

sctb 8y ago
Let's please comment thoughtfully and informatively and not like this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dageshi 8y ago

That's where the money is, they won't stay a big publisher if they ignore it.