World of Warcraft boss says Microsoft is happy to 'let Blizzard be Blizzard,' but I'm not sure that's entirely true
World of Warcraft boss says Microsoft is happy to 'let Blizzard be Blizzard,' but I'm not sure that's entirely true
Microsoft has already made some pretty high-profile changes since acquiring Blizzard in 2023.
Blizzard has already lost it's soul to corporate greed a long time ago. Nothing to see here but empty cash grab husks.
That's Microsoft favorite part. You don't have to keep selling it
Ok, but how much Blizzard is even left at Blizzard? lol
About 2 years ago I wondered the same, so I collected a bunch of data (of 'who worked on which game') and used D3.js to make a graph thingy:
Downside: It's up to Shadowlands, not Dragonflight; Also, the few little circles pulled more left are mentioned multiple times in the same Credits, just under different roles.
The thick green circle is Customer Support (though this was before the mass-layoff by MS).
Live version here, but it's SUPER janky - changing selections will generate a new graph lower down the page.
Raw JSON data here - I had to install Retail WoW (F2P is good enough), dig into the game files to find the .html files that contained the credits and then convert that whole pile of doodoo into JSON.
Around tree fiddy.
Can they please not? I'd rather not have Blizzard stay Blizzard, seeing what they did to WoW, SC2, D3, D4, DI, Overwatch and worst of all, Heroes of the Storm.
And to their employees
The most recent expansion for WoW has been really good. Blizzard has been transparent with their changes and have been listening to the community. Recently the alpha for the next expansion has released and seems very promising with positive response from the community.
So I disagree, I'm glad microsoft is letting blizzard developers do their own thing. After the tumultuous expansion Shadowlands, a lot of the old guard for blizzard were removed and the current executive producer Holly Longdale has been doing a great job.
Have they done something to SC2? I quit playing that game years ago, but it seemed like they were done touching it, and it was still in its original glory.
Yeah they just stopped updating it and let all their RTS talent go to other companies to make their own games.
Overwatch
Don't worry, the person behind Overwatch 2 left in 2021 and is still held in high regard by a lot of people :)
The age of empire remasters was pretty so probably nah
I want the old Blizzard back. The one that didn't release a game until it was finished. And then kept fine tuning. The one that was ducking great
And also what does that mean?
A toxic workplace, almost no customer support, and plenty of micro-transactions?
It means they're okay with Blizzard launching expansions on maintenance day, so that nobody can actually play until the day after the game is released.
Article didn't really have any purpose to it.
It reminds me of the line of defense some people have over sexual harassers - most recently Gérard Depardieu "oh it's Gérard, that's just how he is, leave him be" when he got sexually explicit in front of a 7yo
Wait, do they mean 2016 Blizzard, or 2024 Blizzard? I feel like no one is happy letting 2024 Blizzard stay…
Funny thing is, now it’s adding to the list of terrible failing games Microsoft has put out from companies that used to matter. Who remembers Redfall?
They gonna let blizz be blizz, insofar as microsoft gonna keep giving the macroshaft. They gonna fuck you, but when they're done, they let you keep your ass. Wouldn't be much use to them without it...