Breakfast Topic: Has WoW broken Blizzard?
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 15th 2006 at 8:46AM
Lots of players have cried, at one point or another, that Blizzard, the company, has somehow irrevocably broken WoW, the game, and that they'll never come back, ever. But this morning, I'd like to take a look at the opposite question: has WoW, the game, broken Blizzard, the company?Look at Blizzard before World of Warcraft: They were undoubtedly the king of RTS, with not one but two classic, timeless series under their belts (StarCraft, which is still considered the RTS standard by some, and Warcraft, the third of which is still just as popular). They made Diablo and Diablo 2, two of the biggest, if not the biggest, PC RPGs ever. They came from console roots, and were thinking about reentering them with a 3rd person stealther called StarCraft: Ghost that had earned tons of hype already. And then along comes this game called World of Warcraft. I worked at a game store when word first dropped about this game, and we were confused-- a 3D MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe? How do you do that? But Blizzard had a reputation for spit, polish, and quality by the spades-- while they didn't make many games, the few they made were the best of the best.
Cut to now: World of Warcraft is Blizzard's one and only game for the forseeable future. StarCraft: Ghost has been canceled, along with any thoughts Blizzard ever had of reentering the console field. They're now longer a small, powerful games boutique-- now they're the 800 lb gorilla of the gaming world, making deals to put their game in stores, on television, and in movies. And while their game does still have a heck of a lot of spit and polish (they do still have seven million players), they're not so much in the business of cultivating multiple powerful franchises, but instead have gotten very much into the business of hotfixes, bugfixes, and patching.
So has WoW broken Blizzard? At this point, it's very hard to imagine Blizzard having or making the resources to do another game (they're tied up as it is with the expansion). WoW has made a lot of players very happy, but it's also tarnished Blizzard's reputation with their playerbase in a way that Diablo and StarCraft never did. And while there's no question that Blizzard is still respected in the game industry, there is a question as to why: is it because they're reeling in the cash, or is it because of the quality of their product? Back in the days of StarCraft and Diablo, the latter was the case. Is it still?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
guest Dec 15th 2006 8:54AM
Honestly, Blizzard has only come under attack in the last couple of months. If I had to guess, I'd guess the genius that is Blizzard is primarily focused on the expansion. The patch may have been buggy, but I have every reason to believe blizzard will address balance, sort out all the bugs, and get their act together right around mid-January. 7 million players... some of them are going to be little emo children. If there weren't official Blizzard forums, I bet 99% of us wouldn't even be hearing all the crying, QQing, and "I'm a quit this game".
Sylythn Dec 15th 2006 9:33AM
I don't understand how developing the best game of the year in years, profiting like mad and attracting and keeping 7 million players can be considered tarnishing a reputation. That sounds more like bolstering an existing one, or building a new one.
As for the patch bugs, and server difficulties...hasn't anyone stopped and wondered - we deal with this $*#% from Microsoft weekly, and they don't even bother to apologize, make up for it, or minimize it the next time around anymore. With an infrastructure this big and complex there will NEVER be a bug-free patch, there will NEVER be an end to server restarts, maintenance, and hotfixes. Every IT professional who manages a network should know this, as should every user of a major network. Blizzard can't guarantee us 100% problem-free service, and they've never claimed to.
0.01% of the population are complaining - and just like in all other aspects of our world, they're the ones that get the voice in media (mainstream or not).
Honestly, I'm glad Blizzard went this route - I liked the concepts and stories they had, but I've never been good at RTS, and I've never been a fan of pure hack 'n slash. So until WoW, I never bought or played Blizzard games (besides a few odd times with friends at lan parties). I do think it'll be another few years before we see something else come out of Blizzard though - WoW is pretty much eating up all their resources.
Brim Dec 15th 2006 9:46AM
Frankly from 7 million players with a forum to vent EVERY single little bloody thing that buggs em, I find the ammount of whining very little.
I mean for every whiner on the forum your have about 10.000 people playing the game and being content. But those you do not see , cause they do not feel the need to blow off steam on a forum. They'd rather spend their time playing.
So yes some peolpe might be thinking less of Blizzard but there will be so much more people thinking only good stuff about them.
Dave Dec 15th 2006 10:04AM
I'm perfectly content with WoW at this point. It's a fun game, and I'ma keep on playing it. so yah, if you're gonna be so picky about bugs and stuff that you don't want to play anymore...then stop playing. nobody cares.
Theadrick Dec 15th 2006 10:13AM
Blizzard also has three games in development. No word on what those games might be, but we can guess at further entries into the Diablo and Starcraft franchises, and maybe even another Warcraft RTS.
CordableTuna Dec 15th 2006 10:16AM
I guess Blizzard just grew up. They found a winning formula and they're going to stick to it as long as possible. There's no need to develop new franchises or warm old ones, since the perfect choice is already here and it's pumping in money. The shareholders are happy, the board of directors is happy. Now the point is to stay on top as long as possible.
EA started small you know. They did amazing games in the old days, Archon for example. Then they found their winning formula and grew up.
Apocolipto Dec 15th 2006 10:24AM
Iv been playing Blizzards titles sence lost Vik's.. And even then they were great games. Diablo and starcraft were the start of an Addiction to Blizzard games for me and I played starcraft up untill the day diablo 2 Came to shelves and I still play them both. But I heard of Wow and decided hm that sounds pretty cool sence I had started playing MMORPG's So i went out Upgraded my computer and got WOW. I was amazed this game was alot of fun. But it didint strike me the same as i was hoping after playing D2 Into the ground The massive amounts of damage and huge Mobs of demonic monsters you would fight in a single hour was deminished to a tiny amount. But, Still i would not complane about wow just for the fact that, Its not Diablo and its not ment to be Massive damage on Huge groups of monsters. As for all the complaints. You need a few to keep things moving forward as for patching and things like that. But people that cheat and get banned and complane and "quit the game" to bad you already payed Blizzard the 100$ to play the game "game+time" so they dont really care to much if you do leave. Stop complainning about everything and just be happy that they build this game for all of us to play and interact with a world we thought we would only see in Overhead view.
Bunkai Dec 15th 2006 10:20AM
I would say that, undoubtedly, WoW has CHANGED Blizzard, but I wouldn't say the it has BROKEN Blizzard.
Change and Evolution is a good thing, because if you can't change and evolve with the market, then you get pushed out of it.
Take a look at these two published statements and then try to argue that there is a problem with Blizzard.
"At present, WoW is one of the most played games in North America, and the most played MMORPG worldwide, with a total of over 7.5 million customers. A total of approximately 97.5 million dollars a month is being made by Blizzard in subscription costs."
"The current MMORPG market has World of Warcraft in a position similar to the position of Dungeons & Dragons in the tabletop RPG market, with both games' market share being greater than 50% of the overall market."
I've been playing Blizz games since the original Warcraft and Diablo, even Starcraft(though I didn't care for it in comparison with the other two), and I have every faith in their ability to make a great game and maintain it. You can't please everyone all of the time, but there's no drastic decline in subscriptions.
They know what they're doing, and they're doing it very well.
Joe Dec 15th 2006 10:23AM
8,000,000 subscribers, times $13.00 a month (if you figure discounts on prepaid cards/time, etc) is $104 million a MONTH in income just from World of Warcraft. $1.2 Billion a year. You run a serious risk of cannibalizing your userbase if you release a new game. I'd think they'd be content with keeping their existing userbase happy and subscribing as long as possible.
(As a note, I'd give $2 to have a comment preview function here...)
Mike Schramm Dec 15th 2006 11:14AM
I always feel like I'm playing devil's advocate with you guys. :)
CordableTuna, do you really want Blizzard to end up like EA? Sure, EA started off quality, but now they churn out the same moneymakers year after year. They're really, really popular, but their games haven't really been innovative since the PS1 first showed up.
To answer the topic's question, I think you guys are right-- WoW might not have broken Blizzard, but it definitely has changed it.
Kahja Dec 15th 2006 11:03AM
I have more respect for Blizzard now than I did when Diablo was the big thing.
Tarnished rep with the userbase?
Maybe the players that don't understand that development for a billion-dollar-a-year-7-million-person-userbase is not as easy as they think.
For every one person with a bad opinion there are 100 more with praise.
In addition: I don't like to hear people rag on the company that made them the game that they've been playing for years. I mean really. If you had that big a problem with the company or game you wouldn't be playing it long enough to QQ about something IN the game.
Blizzard is a powerhouse. Always have been always will be. Even when WoW is gone, they will be the company with the next cult classic. And you can bet I'll be there.
I'd roll Protoss btw. lol
Matt Dec 15th 2006 11:07AM
I've only been playing WoW for a couple months now but I am consistently blown away at the quality of the game. I've been playing blizzard games since the warcraft 2 and I am always come away from their games more than satisfied.
But I have to agree with some of the comments above about the emo kids that play the game. Another thing that consistently blows me away about this game is the vocal minority of the community that does nothing but complain. Blizzard has not broken WoW and WoW hasn't tarnished Blizzards rep, its the constant complaining by people that gives Blizzard its bad rep.
I avoid the Forums like I avoid that local nightly news...and the plague...If I want pump myself full of Bull crap I'll watch Oprah rather then suffer the likes of many in the forums.
Prauche Dec 15th 2006 11:36AM
I would like to remind folks that you can't just ride one title forever. EVENTUALLY, people will want something other than World of Warcraft. If you put ALL of your eggs into that basket, eventually MMORPGs and even other RTS games will pass you by.
If they don't have the resources to work on WoW and at least release something new from time to time, perhaps they should take a little of that ungodly profit and invest it in expanding; hiring some new creative talent and focusing on a new direction for when the inevitable day WoW subscribers start to leave.
All good things come to an end eventually.
joey Dec 15th 2006 11:50AM
The assesssment that wow has somehow tarnished it's reputation for making high quality games with WoW is preposterous.
Please... name a higher quality MMORPG on the market today. Oh wait... you can't think of any? I didn't think so.
Donner Dec 15th 2006 12:20PM
Well to tell the truth I dont think WoW has ruined blizz at all and anyways wow is basically the BEST mmo at the moment.
Also adressing the creation of other games Ive heard a few rumors about a StarCarft 2. Im not saying that this is true or not, Ive just heard about it.
Donner Dec 19th 2006 1:52AM
Well to tell the truth I dont think WoW has ruined blizz at all and anyways wow is basically the BEST mmo at the moment.
Also adressing the creation of other games Ive heard a few rumors about a StarCarft 2. Im not saying that this is true or not, Ive just heard about it.
Blech71 Dec 15th 2006 5:14PM
It's funny to have played a bunch of characters to 60 do everything in the game and still have to return to Diablo2(LOD) a game that has been abandoned pretty much to get my gaming fix; Magic-Find Boss runs.
Is it broken, no but what they have done does not suffice for every type of gamer that they pull in hopes of getting a lil bit of what they will be leaving behind in other games when they cross over; especially for the D2 player that graduated to WOW. Having to see little Easter eggs like "Wirts third leg", refferences to "No cow level" just breaks my heart, simply cause they make reference but can't tie into because of the two Lore lines. Oh to be so close but so far away.....In regards to posters above, hell yeah if they made D3 in a world that looks like WOW I would be so gone so fast; But they would still be getting my money so why don't they? LOL WOW is a pacifist game until I really find something that captures me like D2 did and still does to this day.
Thomas Dec 17th 2006 9:17AM
Blizz has a couple games working through development, but yes, they're focusing now on the TBC mostly. I remember how disappointed I was originally to hear that Blizz was going to make a 3rd person RPG based on a young orc named Thrall. Then, I remember how excited I was to hear they canceled that project and were instead focusing on an MMORPG. I've never played an online RPG before other than a quick dabble in UO - which I didn't like all that much. But WoW - that was seriously a game I could get into. Two years later, it's all I play and pretty much what I spend 95% of my gaming time on. But if they created Starcraft MMO? ZOMG...I'd have to play another game full-time, best win the lottery.
Metaphyzxx Dec 18th 2006 5:19PM
To Blech 71, it's actually possible for them TO integrate the two IP's, as the burning crusade patch allows them to jump to different worlds. Who's to say that Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal aren't members of the BC themselves... they sure look the part. Or that the Naaru aren't remnants of the Xel'Naga from Starcraft.
As for the original question, I don't think it's so much TARNISHED blizzard's rep as much as changed who they get it from. Blizzard was a boutique that made few games, usually behind the technology of the time, that obliterated everything else in direct competition. In regards to MMO's, WoW is FABULOUS, but it seems to have sucked up so much of their development schedule that we miss out on the other things they're known for. They still make great product, but now it's just one product... not so great for the only company in the industry that can say "it's done when it's done", and no one questions them.
Personally, I'd love to see a Guild Wars-esque version of Diablo, or have them complete Starcraft2 with all of the things they originally wanted for WC3. Blizzard creates mythology, and I'd like to see more story development in all of their IP's... after all, Kerrigan can't stay evil forever, can she?