4 ms·
When a company has a mission statement, that mission statement's core purpose is to define when you leave money on the table. It defines how you plan to achieve
by hayst4ck 3y ago
When a company has a mission statement, that mission statement's core purpose is to define when you leave money on the table. It defines how you plan to achieve long term success, otherwise every single company would have one mission statement: "Increase shareholder value by maximizing next quarters profits" or "extract as much revenue from customers as possible, while minimizing investment into that extraction."
Here is blizzards:
We create the most epic interactive gaming and entertainment experiences
on earth immersing players in new, unimagined worlds. Our products help
build community and create social platforms that bring people together.
Blizzard did that for years. Blizzard was an unstoppable gaming behemoth. WoW was culturally significant. Starcraft birthed, or at least popularized eSports. MOBA's came first from starcraft's "use map settings" maps, and later more directly from Warcraft 3's. Diablo 2 is still considered a better game than any of it's sequels.
It's quite hard to understate just how influential blizzard was to the gaming industry.
When blizzard was "leaving money on the table," they were arguably the leading game developer in the world. Lots of kids grew up dreaming about working for blizzard. I would bet money a large number of current day game devs were inspired by blizzards offerings. How many gaming companies have their own conventions?
Blizzard wasn't a company that just made money. They altered the industry. They defined the industry, and they did it by "leaving money on the table." They made fun games first, and money second. Now they make money first and games second, and it shows.
- WaxProlix 3y agoOkay, I agree, and they left a lot of money on the table. Any modern gaming company (well, publisher) with reach would see that fact towards the forefront of all Blizzard facts.
- EchoChamberMan 3y agoHow exactly did they leave money on the table? What more could they have done?
- sdenton4 3y agoPaid loot boxes, obviously. /s
- EchoChamberMan 3y agoI think you're right - loot boxes, rent, aka subscriptions, micro transactions, etc.. That's the only way they could have milked it for more.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- hayst4ck 3y agoIntentional artificial feeling time wasting mechanics, XP weekends, increased drop rate weekends, etc. All of these things knock a person right out of immersion. Frequently they also damage social behavior. "Pay for power" is at odds with "work together for power." "Pay to look cool" is at odds with "work together to look cool." "Use our market place to trade" and "most items are bound" directly damage the social nature of trading. Money incentives anti-social behavior. Time wasting and artificial mechanics damage immersion. So blizzard spends time on features that are directly at odds with their mission. At some point the diablo franchise went from "we're going to make an action rpg about killing demons" to "what's the best way to skin this slot machine". Diablo 3 feels like a completely artificial experience, while diablo 2 feels organic. It all comes down to the who is given power in an organization. Boeing, Intel, Blizzard, etc. They have all made one critical error, which is to put MBA's and accountants in charge instead of engineers and creatives. Short term that's fine and benefits everyone but customers. Long term it kills the egg laying goose.
- EchoChamberMan 3y agoWell said! Ahhh working together to get cool stuff - fond memories of that!