• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

If Activision Blizzard were to suddenly disappear from the gaming industry and all their franchises, would you miss them?

If Activision Blizzard were to suddenly disappear from the gaming industry and all their franchises,

  • Yes, their games and franchises are integral to the gaming industry.

    Votes: 94 29.4%
  • No, let the company die, none of their franchises are valuable to me anymore.

    Votes: 123 38.4%
  • Indifferent, I don't care what happens to them either way.

    Votes: 103 32.2%

  • Total voters
    320

bender

What time is it?
The THPS1-2 remake they did was amazing. I think Daiblo 3 is a wonderful console game ARPG so I'm still interested in D4.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Naw, Blizzard is an organisation of thousands of people. Punishing everyone for the mistakes of a small percentage is something a nazi would do.

If someone rocked up at your job and fired you on the spot, destroyed all your work and denied you any positive work history for your resume because of something someone in a distant department or level of management did that you had no knowledge of or hand in, how would you take it? you'd call it fair?
 

Konnor

Member
I didn't care about Activision's bullshit even before I started mainly playing indie games. The vast majority of their games resemble factory made products instead of something unique or interesting.
 
I find Acitvision in large responsible for why we're in this current creatively bankrupt state of the AAA industry. Kotick seemingly used his "weight" of influence to steer platformholders and the like to his advantage. Not to mention the proven success of Activision's annual factory produced shlock made the rest realise there is profit in copying their approach. They also ruthlessly reduced a lot of legacy and creative studios into shells of their former selves. Their visionary talents have and did go to waste. Plus, they're one of the key drivers that lead us to this monetary plague that we see today.

So, no, despite the fact what Activision used to contribute, I don't see them favourably from a gamer pov. Kotick would be a great fit in managing or owning a casino in Vegas.
 
Last edited:

Ellery

Member
I would lie if I said that I don't care at all. Inside me I know how much fun and joy the old Blizzard games have brought me. I have spent a lot of time in those games, but it seems like Blizzard has changed so much, and so many of the original passionate talented people that created those franchises left, so at this point it feels like not much would be lost. Capitalism played a huge part in destroying Blizzard. The day Activision had a foot in the door the first microtransactions items were added to the store. The focus went from great games to cheap games that can make money. Content was strategically placed to have people play for a long time so they have to pay sub cost each month (WoW).

A lot of time between game releases, cancelled products, a shift towards games that are very easy to monetize (hearthstone etc.) and a shift away from the true classics that made Blizzard the #1 US PC name for many many years. When I thought about amazing PC exclusive games the first thing that came to mind were the games Blizzard created.

So right now it is pretty easy to not miss Blizzard. Diablo 4 would be the only game that hurts, but at this point what can we even expect? The dudes in charge of D4 also left Blizzard. It was internally delayed and bleeding talent and going down a radical path they are doing now to help restore their reputation will be way too late and probably affect game development negatively for the near term future.

They used to be really special. People that experienced their games when they came out 15-20 years ago know exactly what I am talking about. Blizzard wasn't just good, they were special.

Those times are over and I am not sure I see a chance they could ever come back. Hopefully the new studios that were formed by people leaving Blizzard can release some decent games here and there.
 

Braag

Member
I still enjoy some of Blizzard games but I don't care for the CoD machine which Activions has become.
 

Lunarorbit

Member
Yeah I don't play any of those games. Kinda amazing.

Played hearthstone when it first came out but besides the first crash and modern warfare 2 on ps3 ive never played any of their games.

Diablo I would miss cause I've been meaning to play the new one with a friend
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Point's moot as they aren't going anywhere, and honestly they don't seem any less competent than their rivals in the AAA space.
 

Fluo

Member
Blizzard has been busy running their franchises into the ground for quite some time now.

Diablo: Immortal fiasco showed they don't understand their playerbase.
WC3: Reforged showed how little they care about their legacy.
BfA and Shadowlands showed how incapable they are in maintaining their biggest product.

So they don't respect everything that made them great, they lack the talent to maintain whatever success they had and they lack the vision to create something new.
So yeah, I don't think it's gonna work out for them.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
I'm still owed a Spyro 4. Activision made sure that didn't happen.
 

Rambotito

Member
Let them wither and eventually die off. I can't wait to see all of their half-page resumés on LinkedIn, with most of the page filled with pronouns.
 
  • LOL
Reactions: Fuz

Razvedka

Banned
Blizzard being bought out by Activision is similar to when MS acquired Bungie. It's not immediate, but big business interests will eventually corrode and rot a studio out to the core. All of the key talent/creatives will eventually depart until all that's left is a hollowed out shell of the company and the IP itself.

Activision, Microsoft, EA- every time. This is how it works. I remember thinking this years ago when these acquisitions happened "They're dead. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon."

The ballooning costs of game development and the temptation ($$$) are why these things happen. I'm not sure there's anything to be done about it, but I would reform the law where IP and such are handled so that it 'rots within the grasp' of these mega corporations and are therefore forced to innovate vs mindlessly acquire and assimilate.
 
Last edited:

HF2014

Member
Constant patching, change to characters is a fucking gimming that need to stop. As example, they litteraly destroyed my interest playing the necromancer in D3. I want to play a summon damaging class, and they burn it by changing the Rathma so its now only ties to one skill Army of the Dead. My summons no longer do fucking damage by themselves. Whats the fucking point lf having a summon class that is no longer a summon dps class? 😤
 
Let them die.

Not a single IP on that list is anywhere close to what it used to be. Every single game has got worse, remasters have been disgraceful , starcraft is a dead franchise, WoW is becoming a joke of the industry and COD going quiet for a few years can only be a good thing for the industry as a whole.

That's just based on thier current stretch of trash quality games before we even mention the scummy work culture they have.
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
Blizzard was dead to me after StarCraft Brood War and Diablo 2. Warcraft 3 was a disappointment, and Metzen’s writing slid downhill as he climbed further up the ranks of Blizzard. When he became senior Vice President, there was no stopping him from inflicting all that horrible prose upon the world.
 
Some of you guys need some soul searching or some thing.... let them die means making all those workers who have nothing to do with the actions of the other scumbags lose their jobs. I mean is not like other companies are going to hire them all. Holy shit imagine the company you work for closes because the scumbag leader is a predator. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be happy.

With that said I only play WoW.
 

Impotaku

Member
Ahahahahahaha bye, they wouldn't be missed. Don't buy their games & have no intention of doing so in the future either. Like quite a few western devs i couldn't give a toss if all of them folded, the gaming landscape would be way better off without so many shit mtx ridden & half finished games on the market.
 

jaysius

Banned
Blizzard is a dinosaur that’s never evolved, Diablo style games have been better than Diablo itself and that genre feels out of place in 2021 anyway.

Goodbye Blizzard, who cares.
 

Aion002

Member
I never really cared about Blizzard and Activision. I used to play Starcraft, but Total Annihilation and Age of Empires were always better for me.


Overwatch, Call of Duty and Diablo were fun once, but that's it.

So...

New Blood Whatever GIF by Dexter
 

MiguelItUp

Member
I think it'd be sad knowing a lot of beloved IPs got buried. But I'd get passed it just fine. I don't really know how they can actually bounce back from all this successfully. But I guess we'll see how it pans out.
 
StarCraft and Warcraft are such huge IPs. The lore is also awesome… still, I don’t think we’d loose a lot if the company disappeared.
 

dezzy8

Member
As much flack as they get for milking their games, the Call of Duty series is still pretty great. I don’t really care for anything else from them.
 

CuNi

Member
I picked the first option, even when I don't think they are "Integral" to the gaming Industry. It's just that those IPs have a long lineage and fleshed out, established world that could be used to be expanded upon with other games and many people have fond memories of the "better days" with those games. Warcraft and StarCraft for example alone have such huge worlds that multiple games of different genres could easily be developed and play out if ActiBlizz were to vanish and their IPs would be auctioned off. FPS StarCraft? Another RTS Warcraft? There is much potential in those franchises.
 

Laptop1991

Member
No, the last game of theirs i played was Modern Warfare back in 07, i played the original Singleplayer Starcraft and Warcraft's back in the day and the original COD's, 20 years ago now, i've never played any of their games since Modern Warfare 1, so it wouldn't bother me personally.
 
Last edited:

DarkestHour

Banned
They don't make anything I personally enjoy anymore. Diablo is probably the closest thing but there's so many other developers making better games and not taking so long to do so.
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
Some of you guys need some soul searching or some thing.... let them die means making all those workers who have nothing to do with the actions of the other scumbags lose their jobs. I mean is not like other companies are going to hire them all. Holy shit imagine the company you work for closes because the scumbag leader is a predator. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be happy.

With that said I only play WoW.

This isn't about that, they are shit now. They make shit games. So companies that create bad products need to stick around because of the poor workers? You sound like a commie!
 
Top Bottom