Well I hope she lets Blizzard do their thing with WoW and doesn't get too Activision. She definitely is no Kotick, which is a good thing.

Kxmode wrote on Jan 29, 2024, 22:29:

Blizzard was dead and gone under Activision's leadership. However, Microsoft is reorganizing the three companies into separate studios, answering to Microsoft's Xbox division. This move levels the playing field, with Activision no longer influencing Blizzard. Key individuals like Bobby Kotick and the board of directors who contributed to Blizzard's issues are no longer in control. It's a new era for Blizzard. 👍

Will we see another Warcraft movie? Anime series? TV series? Warcraft 4? Better and more creative games? Cross-studio efforts (a Bethesda-Blizzard RPG)? Time will tell.

100% my take as well. It might not be the way we envisioned improving Blizzard, but its not Bobby K and thats a huge thing.

Darks wrote on Jan 30, 2024, 00:38:

Kxmode wrote on Jan 29, 2024, 22:29:

Darks wrote on Jan 29, 2024, 20:35:
When she starts pointing out how unique and special we all are. That lost me right there. I don't need to be told I'm special. Only those who think they need to beat that drum do that shit. Plus she comes from COD. that pretty much sums it up.

She's speaking to employees at Activision, Blizzard, and King. She emphasizes that each studio has its unique approach to game development, and her goal is not to disrupt but to nurture and preserve each studio's culture to maximize its future potential under Microsoft's umbrella.

We will see dude, but I think like what Monk said, that Blizz is dead and gone.

Blizzard was dead and gone under Activision's leadership. However, Microsoft is reorganizing the three companies into separate studios, answering to Microsoft's Xbox division. This move levels the playing field, with Activision no longer influencing Blizzard. Key individuals like Bobby Kotick and the board of directors who contributed to Blizzard's issues are no longer in control. It's a new era for Blizzard. 👍

Will we see another Warcraft movie? Anime series? TV series? Warcraft 4? Better and more creative games? Cross-studio efforts (a Bethesda-Blizzard RPG)? Time will tell.

I don't play modern COD save for a brief interlude when I was playing their F2P game with a friend, so I don't have any previous context for her past performance. But does anyone expect anything, really? It's not that she isn't capable, but she is answering to overlords who don't exactly do a bangup job managing their own stuff. They are undoubtedly better than Activision and Blizzard, but that isn't saying much. They were already too big to properly manage before this acquisition. My personal feelings is that companies need to be getting smaller, not bigger.

Despite my skepticism I would love to be wrong.

I wonder if there is a correlation between toxic COD players and people who react negatively to this news. They will probably make up some excuse as to why the next COD is bad and stop playing, thus improving the COD community as whole.

Now THAT is business strategy.

She will have to clean up Augeas' stable - no less.
How can small teams come up with games like currently e.g. Enshrouded or Palworld? How can they pull if off without the games looking like sh1t or being buggier than a kitchen in a Holiday Inn that has been closed for more than a decade? How can they woo gamers into constantly playing? Why are there more diverse and interesting game mechanics in indie games than in those of multi-billion companies? And - I know now many will hate me but I don't care - how can AI be used to make games cheaper and quicker in development without giving up on quality and diversity (RE: game mechanics etc.)? Because this IS the future of the entertainment industry, of administrations, and so on.

She has experience but she is taking over the care for a so to say badly aged T-Rex in a time where mammals are taking over the planet. I hope she can pull it off because despite the horrible Diablo 4 gaming experience, I still like Blizzard for the gaming fun they gave to the world in the past. And despite pretty much all those guys behind Diablo 1 and 2 or the Warcraft games having moved on, I would love to see Blizzard come back big time.

People whined about the same kind of thing when MS bought Minecraft, and that doomsday never materialized.

I just want MS to incorporate WOW into GeForceNow and Gamepass (or at least a Gamepass discount)

Yeah I tend to agree Agent, Microsoft is really bad at managing it's first party studios and IP catalog in general. Halo: Infinite was a disaster and permanently tarnished the IP due to their lack of follow through post release. They've got Turn 10 churning out quality and very little other consistency. Obsidian is doing a lot of AA stuff which is fine but not really helping their larger problem. They keep insisting Sea of Thieves is a big success based on engagement but I don't see it reflected in streaming or money. Crazy how they basically passed on Insomniac too who are now churning out hits for Sony.

That said they mostly did the ActiBlizz acquisition to get King for the mobile IP as they are supposedly launching another app store soon.

I mean, what is MS's track record when acquiring game companies?
Let's see...Fable, surely they've had a hit Fable game since...oh, nope. They actually closed the studio who made those games and shit out a Fable game for their terrible "motion" control: Kinect.
Rare...yeah, ugh.
Halo...Microsoft managed to take Halo and make it worse. Not that Bungie is doing anything good at the moment either.
Oh, Gears of War, surely we got a new game coming for this hit franchi...oh, nothing?
Inxile, Double Fine? Nothing?

So, out of the dozens of studios MS purchased, most have shut down, and Obsidian and Ninja Theory seem to be the only ones putting out content that people seem to like. Mojang is just sitting on their Minecraft income.

Zenimax seems to be at least maintaining some of their own IPs. ESO is still chugging along. I wouldn't say anything has really changed for better or worse here. The studios they owned are still either doing good games or shitting out sequels.

Actiblizz - Can we even say this is bad? I mean, they have been in "shit out sequels" mode for a decade or more. COD every year for a long time. WoW has not really done anything great in a decade. They desperately need to make a sequel with improved gameplay mechanics and graphics, but they won't, because it's easier to just shit out expansions. DIII was pretty good, but I can't even make myself play DIV. And Toys for Bob is pretty much done for. I don't think MS is even capable of making this company worse than it was.

So who cares? Blizzard is not the company making the games we all loved from decades past. They're in maintenance mode, chugging along, shitting out sequels that barely increment on the franchise, with no innovation. Nobody can screw it up worse than they already did. Hell, I hear MS is even bringing back development to Heroes of the Storm, so they can have another revenue stream again. Whoo. Hoo.

Very nervous due to her background with the NFL and Call of Duty, but I'm willing to give this a chance and be hopeful. I'm sadly not surprised to see hatred bubbling over from this announcement though.

They hired a qualified person that has experience in the industry.
News at 11

Yeah, like every other CEO it's more of the same bullshit, as if the suits on top ever get into the nitty gritty of actual game design. This person is not going to be making the next Diablo, or the next Starcraft, or whatever Blizzard ends up making, and even if she is.....who cares? Seriously. Who gives a shit? What was the last really great game that Blizzard released? (That wasn't a remaster or a remake)

After the 15 year height of Blizzard circa 1995-2010 (D2, SC2, WoW, etc.), they have pretty much hit rock bottom. A fresh from the top is definitely a good thing and a welcome change.

Choosing someone from COD though is... not good. COD is one of the most braindead franchises in all of gaming, so spammy and arcadey in design it has no respect for the vast array of deadly firearms it portrays, but who knows, maybe she'll do well here.

Cant wait for the great idea to create a Blizz Meta Universe shooter and market it as the next big esport thing in an attempt to mitigate current state CoD and Overwatch.

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This comment was deleted on Jan 30, 2024, 08:52. Reason: Let's get this back on topic

Blizzard or whoever it was finally turned WoW around and made it fun again. I hope this person keeps the trend going there. WoW doesn’t need another Shadowlands…

She was good for CDL. There were mistakes made during her time overseeing CoD, but how many of those were inherited and how many were hers, is a different question.

I wouldn't want to guess how she'll be on overwatch for the lot. CoD is pretty much fucked under M$, anyway, and since that was the only thing Acti Blizzard made worth talking about, I'm not sure it matters, anyway.

Quake and Doom, Halo without Bungie, and CoD... all owned by that idiotic company. Twenty-year-old me would have shit his boots, laughing, if I'd told him this is how it was going to end.

Cutter wrote on Jan 30, 2024, 00:50:
So pointing out objective facts in an wholly objective manner is intolerant? Intolerant much?

Putting aside the fact that your manner of stating "facts" was not actually "wholly objective," but rather a snide derisive shitpost...

What was your source for your "objective fact" that she "never played a video game in her life"?

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This comment was deleted on Jan 30, 2024, 08:51. Reason: Thinnest of ice - knock it off

Kxmode wrote on Jan 29, 2024, 22:29:

Darks wrote on Jan 29, 2024, 20:35:
When she starts pointing out how unique and special we all are. That lost me right there. I don't need to be told I'm special. Only those who think they need to beat that drum do that shit. Plus she comes from COD. that pretty much sums it up.

She's speaking to employees at Activision, Blizzard, and King. She emphasizes that each studio has its unique approach to game development, and her goal is not to disrupt but to nurture and preserve each studio's culture to maximize its future potential under Microsoft's umbrella.

We will see dude, but I think like what Monk said, that Blizz is dead and gone.

Look at the mess D4 is. Rinse and repeat Seasons. Then strip all that you acquired at the end of it. Screw all that, what incentive is there to play that when they just remove all the special stuff you get.

Thankfully Last Epoch is around the corner. Then POE 2