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by delduca1 days ago |
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upvoteby datakan1 days ago|
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Considering how bad Blizzard has gotten the last 10 or so years, I would expect a bloodbath there. I don't know how they avoid it.
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upvoteby lenerdenator1 days ago|
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Blizzard's golden goose is WoW, and WoW is an ideal IP for a software company: you have people who have been playing it for two decades who will continue to pay a subscription no matter what. The hard work was done decades ago. id, on the other hand, has to keep making better and better new games every couple of years, and each one is a risk.

There's a reason game companies want to move towards the digital-only subscription model, and Xbox has been going that way for some time. As "bad" as Blizzard is, it's got the right model. That's what they care about, not about workplace culture or innovation.

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upvoteby tyfon1 days ago|
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For me they are killing the goose.

WoW has become quite soulless after the changes where everyone gets the same end game equipment but you have to grind upgrade currency to improve it.

My wife and I used to play quite a bit but it doesn't really engage anymore. Perhaps we are getting too old, but we should be in the correct customer segment (mid 40 years old).

Now I have spun up a local wotlk server with player bots powered by ollama which is actually a bit fun again.

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upvoteby lenerdenator21 hours ago|
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I agree, that approach to game development is soulless. I don't really play any new video games anymore. In the rare instance I do play games, it's something from 15+ years ago. The games were designed to be played, beaten, and that was it. It wasn't an effort to keep you locked in forever. It became that. Then it became a soulless effort to keep you locked in forever.

Unfortunately, soul doesn't matter. The quarterly statement does.

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upvoteby kcb1 days ago|
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Why? What unsuccessful game does Blizzard have?
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upvoteby datakan1 days ago|
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All of them. Diablo is dead. They can't capitalize on StarCraft. All they have left with WoW is micro transactions for old users. Overwatch has been a disaster for years. Blizzard hasn't had a win in a very long time.
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upvoteby crims0n1 days ago|
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Diablo is currently in a bit of a resurgence, the latest expansion was quite good.
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upvoteby datakan1 days ago|
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I'm sure both players love it
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upvoteby Someone12341 days ago|
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Blizzard is such a shell now, that I doubt we'd notice.
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upvoteby CuriouslyC1 days ago|
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A big chunks of Blizzard has already pre-emptively unionized for this exact reason.
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upvoteby oreally1 days ago|
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I think it's their first big test of a layoff? Am interested to see how this plays out.

In any case, WoW has been stagnating for quite some time even before the merger. The devs act as though everything is slow because it needs to be. Classic+ could've been much better.

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upvoteby xienze1 days ago|
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Do you think having a union means the entire organization can't get shitcanned? Ask all those auto workers whose jobs got shipped to Mexico over the years how much being unionized helped.
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