Will Activision kill Blizzard?

[Erik_Twice]

This is an important question here. Activision is burning down every single profitable franchise they own. They killed Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk and Need for Speed. Sooner or later it seems that the precious independence of Blizzard will have to be brought into question.

Some say it already happened with the SC2 LAN fiasco and the incoming two expansions packs. Let's hope for the best.

What do you think?

[MrPopo]

Anyone still complaining about the two expansion packs hasn't actually played the campaign of SC2. It is just as big as the three campaigns of SC1.

Personally, I'm not worried. It's very clear that Blizzard is able to maintain its stance of "it'll launch when it's good and read", whereas the aforementioned titles were Activision releasing yearly games in an attempt to replicate the steady cash flow of sports franchises. The problem is that sports games cater to the type of person who needs the latest stats to really feel like they're fully into the game. Tony Hawk definitely can't support it; it should be more like Zelda releases. And with Guitar Hero they massively fucked up by not allowing song export. If I want to play Metallica I need one disc, Aerosmith I need another, and the group of more general music I need a third. That severely lowers my incentive to keep purchasing Guitar Hero games. Plus, Neversoft has no idea how to chart a song well.

[ZenErik]

Not a chance.

[BoringSupreez]

I chose yes. It hasn't happened yet, but it's a distinct possibility, given Activision's track record.

[Inazuma]

They already did kill Blizzard. Real ID in Starcraft II and WoW, and the in-game real money auction house in Diablo III. Blizzard is dead to me.

[MrPopo]

They already did kill Blizzard. Real ID in Starcraft II and WoW, and the in-game real money auction house in Diablo III. Blizzard is dead to me.

We already discussed the auction house. Explain to me how the optional in-game feature of the Real ID is a problem.

[Xeogred]

Activision blows chunks but the things I've seen in articles suggest that Blizzard is one of the only developers within the company that still has a bit more leeway than anyone else, which is probably due to how big and successful they are.

That said, Blizzard is overrated anyways.

[Inazuma]

They already did kill Blizzard. Real ID in Starcraft II and WoW, and the in-game real money auction house in Diablo III. Blizzard is dead to me.

We already discussed the auction house. Explain to me how the optional in-game feature of the Real ID is a problem.

It's not really optional. I bought Starcraft II, signed up and then saw that my real name was being used for cross game chat. I mailed them to complain, and asked if they could change the name to something else. They completely refused. I was forced to use my real name.

So I had no choice but to never play Starcraft II again. Blizzard didn't give a flying fuck about me and my privacy concerns. Fuck that bullshit. I won't support such a horrible company like that.

I made a post about it on the Battle net forums and all of the idiots there bashed on me like crazy! It was really disgusting. They really insulted me for caring about real names and privacy. I felt like I was the only sane man in a room full of raving lunatics.

*edit*
Oh by the way, because of this whole ordeal, I stopped using my real name whenever I sign up for stuff like this. I can't trust today's gaming companies.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

They already did kill Blizzard. Real ID in Starcraft II and WoW, and the in-game real money auction house in Diablo III. Blizzard is dead to me.

Same.

Also, I thought Activision was killing Blizzard before it was cool to think Activision was killing Blizzard

[J T]

Blizzard is a strong developer. Activision is good at screwing things up. I'm not sure what to think.