"We talk about, all the time, how we can do something cool for our players that's going to benefit them, benefit us, and that they'll feel is a give-back of sorts," he said. "That's where this started. There's a variety of benefits that come from it. Certainly the players get DIII, which is pretty exciting. That doesn't mean they get the expansion sets, it means that they get DIII, right? So we get people excited about playing that … they get to touch it, feel it, experience it. And then from our perspective, it also is a situation where they aren't necessarily going to leave WoW to play our own game."
In the interview, Sams admitted that the offer was to prevent Diablo III from cannibalizing its World of Warcraft player base.
"We don't want to take players from our universe and shift them over from World of Warcraft. There's a lot of players playing WoW that have huge amounts of friends and family that they play World of Warcraft with, so [giving Annual Pass subscribers Diablo III] says, enjoy both of them. You don't have to pay any more than you already do for WoW."
Why? I don't see a problem with Blizzard revealing this. It makes perfect sense that they would try not to force existing customers to choose between WoW and Diablo 3.
For a commited WoW player who wants to play Diablo 3, or for someone who might have had to chose between WoW or Diablo 3, this is awesome.
Don't ignore the other part of the article, which clearly states that Blizzard is trying to benefit both the company and the customer: win-win.
What bothers me is that they're giving the game away like a party favor, and purposefully restricting both the revenue and community potential of D3 by doing so.. Why? Apparently only to keep people ultimately hooked on wow. What does that say about how they view D3 in comparison to WoW? Any perhaps more importantly, what does that say about how they view people? As 'revenue resources' to be manipulated?
Look I know we've been over this topic, but I have not heard one a single argument that puts this past a shrewd money grab to the detriment of gaming ethics.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
The way I am viewing it as, I am playing a game (wow) to keep the RPG skills, MATH, in good working order till D3 comes out. At that point its a roughly 6-7 month delayed payment plan for D3 itself. The key and mount are bonuses.
With TOR, and everyone knowing all the hardcore players would leave WoW the instant D3 came out, this is not at all surprising...
Strange with how big this really is on Blizzs side. Have we out grow Blizz's decisions, or just see through them more and more now...?
What bothers me is that they're purposefully restricting both the revenue and community potential of D3 by giving it away. What does that say about how they view D3 in comparison to WoW? That is a rhetorical question.
Is it a rhetorical question because you don't want anyone to disagree with you?
World of Warcraft is a major source of revenue for Blizzard; a proven source. Diablo III, while it obviously has a large fan base already, is unproven. It makes a lot of sense that Blizzard is still going to focus on WoW, and to try keep existing players there. Sounds like wise business decisions to me.
If players are trying to decide between WoW (at up to $180 a year) and Diablo 3 ($60 one time fee), it is easy to see that it's worth it to give the player Diablo 3 for free if they're going to keep forking over $180 a year. Revenue for Blizzard is revenue for Blizzard, regardless of the source. Blizzard has been using revenue from World of Warcraft to fund all sorts of non-WoW projects, Diablo III included.
How exactly does giving away Diablo 3 for free diminish the community? It sounds to me like it would grow the community, since it's another user.
World of Warcraft is a major source of revenue for Blizzard; a proven source. Diablo III, while it obviously has a large fan base already, is unproven. It makes a lot of sense that Blizzard is still going to focus on WoW, and to try keep existing players there. Sounds like wise business decisions to me.
So your "wise business plan" is to sacrifice the potential of your next gen of releases in favor of an aged, dying product that is seeing demand plummet? A company that refuses to innovate and take risks is in big trouble. Now, I'm not saying Blizzard is in big trouble, but moves like this make Bliz look weak, and very insecure about their new products and revenue projections.
If players are trying to decide between WoW (at up to $180 a year) and Diablo 3 ($60 one time fee), it is easy to see that it's worth it to give the player Diablo 3 for free if they're going to keep forking over $180 a year.
And I'm sorry dude, but saying D3 will be a 1-time fee of 60 bucks is either purposefully deceptive or extremely ignorant. We will have the RMAH which will bring in non-trivial amounts of money, plus expansions. Come on, get your head in the game.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
I see no problem with that at all, I would have that all over the press, it shows good on Blizzard. I mean, duh wow is their money maker, and they want to keep players playing. But they know people will want to play diablo 3, so why not give their brand new game FREE to wow players if they sign up for a year more?
World of Warcraft is a major source of revenue for Blizzard; a proven source. Diablo III, while it obviously has a large fan base already, is unproven. It makes a lot of sense that Blizzard is still going to focus on WoW, and to try keep existing players there. Sounds like wise business decisions to me.
So your "wise business plan" is to sacrifice the potential of your next gen of releases in favor of an aged, dying product that is seeing demand plummet? A company that refuses to innovate and take risks is in big trouble. Now, I'm not saying Blizzard is in big trouble, but moves like this make Bliz look weak, and very insecure about their new products and revenue projections.
If players are trying to decide between WoW (at up to $180 a year) and Diablo 3 ($60 one time fee), it is easy to see that it's worth it to give the player Diablo 3 for free if they're going to keep forking over $180 a year.
And I'm sorry dude, but saying D3 will be a 1-time fee of 60 bucks is either purposefully deceptive or extremely ignorant. We will have the RMAH which will bring in non-trivial amounts of money, plus expansions. Come on, get your head in the game.
I see the exact opposite. A move like this makes those who are teetering on trying anything else then the game they have played for 6 years actually try Blizz's new product. If they like it, they keep playing, and will buy the exp packs to D3, or any of the paid services they will offer on battle net. It's a smart idea.
I see no problem with that at all, I would have that all over the press, it shows good on Blizzard. I mean, duh wow is their money maker, and they want to keep players playing. But they know people will want to play diablo 3, so why not give their brand new game FREE to wow players if they sign up for a year more?
Seriously, it's an awesome idea, and so what?
You know what my problem with it is? It's the fact that Blizzard has shown they have no intention of actually committing to a new generation of games. I was very underwhelmed with SC2 in terms of innovation. It's a great game, but I want Blizzard to start taking some CHANCES again, that's how they got to the top. WoW doesn't have a lot of steam left, and the fact that they keep DESPERATELY begging people to stay with that dying franchise speaks volumes to me about the state of their innovation engine.
I see the exact opposite. A move like this makes those who are teetering on trying anything else then the game they have played for 6 years actually try Blizz's new product. If they like it, they keep playing, and will buy the exp packs to D3, or any of the paid services they will offer on battle net. It's a smart idea.
That's a good point there.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions."
-Thomas Jefferson
I see no problem with that at all, I would have that all over the press, it shows good on Blizzard. I mean, duh wow is their money maker, and they want to keep players playing. But they know people will want to play diablo 3, so why not give their brand new game FREE to wow players if they sign up for a year more?
Seriously, it's an awesome idea, and so what?
You know what my problem with it is? It's the fact that Blizzard has shown they have no intention of actually committing to a new generation of games. I was very underwhelmed with SC2 in terms of innovation. It's a great game, but I want Blizzard to start taking some CHANCES again, that's how they got to the top. WoW doesn't have a lot of steam left, and the fact that they keep DESPERATELY begging people to stay with that dying franchise speaks volumes to me about the state of their innovation engine.
I see the exact opposite. A move like this makes those who are teetering on trying anything else then the game they have played for 6 years actually try Blizz's new product. If they like it, they keep playing, and will buy the exp packs to D3, or any of the paid services they will offer on battle net. It's a smart idea.
That's a good point there.
Very true, they do need to start taking some chances, and it's my belief that they will take that chance with w/e the hell Titan is going to be. From that leaked chart of expected release dates they are thinking titan in late 2014 (of course it could all change) and their track record is a 3 year period after announcement until release.
There really isn't much else they can announce at next blizzcon. The only thing I can think of would be plans for the first D3 exp pack, possibly early plans on the last WoW exp pack, and i'm not even sure if there is going to be anymore to Starcraft. With their franchises well grounded but defiantly old news, in steps w/e Titan is to yet again take top =D
What does that say about how they view D3 in comparison to WoW?
That they plan to make more post-box profit on WoW subs than D3 RMAH fees.
Any perhaps more importantly, what does that say about how they view people? As 'revenue resources' to be manipulated?
That is exactly how a COO of one of the most profitable game companies views their consumers. Any other approach would not keep shareholders too happy.
Blizzard is not super original these days but you have to realize that SC2 is a bit of an anomaly. It was created because SC1 had more staying power and esport capability than WC3. When you try to evolve the genre and people disregard it, what are you going to do.
I honestly can't imagine Diablo3 having that kind of effect on wow. Most of the people I know who play wow really have no interest in Diablo3. The wow hardcore's are a totally different breed of gamer than us hardcore diablo fans imo. The thing that will sell subs the most in the 12 month sub promotion is not diablo 3 itself, but the mount, and access to the panda beta.
"I don't know about you, but if I were COO, I wouldn't be outright saying this to the media.."
Meh, who didnt already know this anyways? It was pretty obvious what was going on.
Of course, he didnt mention other games about to release before D3, which I think is also a large factor for this decision.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
Suppose even a medium-small fraction of players from WoW have not tried Diablo but will no as a result of this offer.
Let's say 1 million (of 10-11 million) WoW players have never played Diablo and don't have much interest, but with this offer they get it for free and decide to give it a whirl when they run of out things to do in WoW:
Now, let's say fully half of these people just hate Diablo 3 but the other half enjoy it:
Of the remaining 500k how many do you think will buy expansions for Diablo 3? How many will spend money on the RMAH?
This is good business through and through. The only people complaining are the ones looking at it and saying "Well, that guy over there got something for free, why not me?"
Well, that in itself isn't even true - 12 months of WoW isn't terribly cheap as far as video games go and you can be damn sure a lot of the revenue generated by WoW went into developing Diablo 3, not to mention the experiences and lessons learned by the WoW Development team.
"We talk about, all the time, how we can do something cool for our players that's going to benefit them, benefit us, and that they'll feel is a give-back of sorts," he said. "That's where this started. There's a variety of benefits that come from it. Certainly the players get DIII, which is pretty exciting. That doesn't mean they get the expansion sets, it means that they get DIII, right? So we get people excited about playing that … they get to touch it, feel it, experience it. And then from our perspective, it also is a situation where they aren't necessarily going to leave WoW to play our own game."
In the interview, Sams admitted that the offer was to prevent Diablo III from cannibalizing its World of Warcraft player base.
"We don't want to take players from our universe and shift them over from World of Warcraft. There's a lot of players playing WoW that have huge amounts of friends and family that they play World of Warcraft with, so [giving Annual Pass subscribers Diablo III] says, enjoy both of them. You don't have to pay any more than you already do for WoW."
http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/3434/article/blizzard-admits-wow-annual-pass-is-to-prevent-diablo-iii-from-cannibalizing-player-base/
I don't know about you, but if I were COO, I wouldn't be outright saying this to the media...
-Thomas Jefferson
For a commited WoW player who wants to play Diablo 3, or for someone who might have had to chose between WoW or Diablo 3, this is awesome.
Don't ignore the other part of the article, which clearly states that Blizzard is trying to benefit both the company and the customer: win-win.
Look I know we've been over this topic, but I have not heard one a single argument that puts this past a shrewd money grab to the detriment of gaming ethics.
-Thomas Jefferson
With TOR, and everyone knowing all the hardcore players would leave WoW the instant D3 came out, this is not at all surprising...
Strange with how big this really is on Blizzs side. Have we out grow Blizz's decisions, or just see through them more and more now...?
Is it a rhetorical question because you don't want anyone to disagree with you?
World of Warcraft is a major source of revenue for Blizzard; a proven source. Diablo III, while it obviously has a large fan base already, is unproven. It makes a lot of sense that Blizzard is still going to focus on WoW, and to try keep existing players there. Sounds like wise business decisions to me.
If players are trying to decide between WoW (at up to $180 a year) and Diablo 3 ($60 one time fee), it is easy to see that it's worth it to give the player Diablo 3 for free if they're going to keep forking over $180 a year. Revenue for Blizzard is revenue for Blizzard, regardless of the source. Blizzard has been using revenue from World of Warcraft to fund all sorts of non-WoW projects, Diablo III included.
How exactly does giving away Diablo 3 for free diminish the community? It sounds to me like it would grow the community, since it's another user.
So your "wise business plan" is to sacrifice the potential of your next gen of releases in favor of an aged, dying product that is seeing demand plummet? A company that refuses to innovate and take risks is in big trouble. Now, I'm not saying Blizzard is in big trouble, but moves like this make Bliz look weak, and very insecure about their new products and revenue projections.
And I'm sorry dude, but saying D3 will be a 1-time fee of 60 bucks is either purposefully deceptive or extremely ignorant. We will have the RMAH which will bring in non-trivial amounts of money, plus expansions. Come on, get your head in the game.
-Thomas Jefferson
Seriously, it's an awesome idea, and so what?
I see the exact opposite. A move like this makes those who are teetering on trying anything else then the game they have played for 6 years actually try Blizz's new product. If they like it, they keep playing, and will buy the exp packs to D3, or any of the paid services they will offer on battle net. It's a smart idea.
You know what my problem with it is? It's the fact that Blizzard has shown they have no intention of actually committing to a new generation of games. I was very underwhelmed with SC2 in terms of innovation. It's a great game, but I want Blizzard to start taking some CHANCES again, that's how they got to the top. WoW doesn't have a lot of steam left, and the fact that they keep DESPERATELY begging people to stay with that dying franchise speaks volumes to me about the state of their innovation engine.
That's a good point there.
-Thomas Jefferson
Very true, they do need to start taking some chances, and it's my belief that they will take that chance with w/e the hell Titan is going to be. From that leaked chart of expected release dates they are thinking titan in late 2014 (of course it could all change) and their track record is a 3 year period after announcement until release.
There really isn't much else they can announce at next blizzcon. The only thing I can think of would be plans for the first D3 exp pack, possibly early plans on the last WoW exp pack, and i'm not even sure if there is going to be anymore to Starcraft. With their franchises well grounded but defiantly old news, in steps w/e Titan is to yet again take top =D
That they plan to make more post-box profit on WoW subs than D3 RMAH fees.
That is exactly how a COO of one of the most profitable game companies views their consumers. Any other approach would not keep shareholders too happy.
Blizzard is not super original these days but you have to realize that SC2 is a bit of an anomaly. It was created because SC1 had more staying power and esport capability than WC3. When you try to evolve the genre and people disregard it, what are you going to do.
Meh, who didnt already know this anyways? It was pretty obvious what was going on.
Of course, he didnt mention other games about to release before D3, which I think is also a large factor for this decision.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
Suppose even a medium-small fraction of players from WoW have not tried Diablo but will no as a result of this offer.
Let's say 1 million (of 10-11 million) WoW players have never played Diablo and don't have much interest, but with this offer they get it for free and decide to give it a whirl when they run of out things to do in WoW:
Now, let's say fully half of these people just hate Diablo 3 but the other half enjoy it:
Of the remaining 500k how many do you think will buy expansions for Diablo 3? How many will spend money on the RMAH?
This is good business through and through. The only people complaining are the ones looking at it and saying "Well, that guy over there got something for free, why not me?"
Well, that in itself isn't even true - 12 months of WoW isn't terribly cheap as far as video games go and you can be damn sure a lot of the revenue generated by WoW went into developing Diablo 3, not to mention the experiences and lessons learned by the WoW Development team.
Next Race Chipmunks with a attitude or better yet Little furrballs name fluffies.
.. which was weird, to say the least.