To say that Blizzard is postponing, slacking, reducing, or not working hard on Diablo because of WoW is just ridiculous. The Diablo development team is completely separated from the WoW development team. They are also not worried about loosing millions of players to Diablo.
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Scyber, I'm not implying any of that. Nor should anyone think that R&D isn't a worthy goal.
I'll make it simple for you. You're the village milkman, that owns a dozen cows. You know that some of your customers will always be too lazy to milk their own cows, but some won't. You make $10,000 a month in revenue selling your milk. Would it make sense to sell most of your cows for $40,000, if it meant that revenue might drop to $5000 month?
Lol, Gheed, it feels like you don't want D3 to come out at all...
Nah, if it comes out, I'm sure I'll get it after the first significant patch and finish it with the Sorcerer and the range character they're about to announce. The other characters, meh.
It's pure economics, Akuma. It has nothing to do with hard work, commitment, etc. Race horses work hard, too.
What do you want Jay to say? "We're probably spinning our wheels for another year, but our technique with nerf weaponry and video game skills have become extra-sharp!"
Scyber, I'm not implying any of that. Nor should anyone think that R&D isn't a worthy goal.
I'll make it simple for you. You're the village milkman, that owns a dozen cows. You know that some of your customers will always be too lazy to milk their own cows, but some won't. You make $10,000 a month in revenue selling your milk. Would it make sense to sell most of your cows for $40,000, if it meant that revenue might drop to $5000 month?
there are some major flaws in your analogy. First, video games are not cowsin the sense that owning one is all you need. People can buy two video games and play both. It is not like every wow player who sill buy d3 will all cancel their wow subscriptions.
Secondly, I'm sure blizzard is not looking at diablo as a overall loss of money. As you said, they are a company and it comes down to money. They see the sells of diablo 3 as a profit and supplemental income to their cash cow.
Thirdly, you can always breed new cows and find new people who want milk or people who stopped drinking milk but is interested in drinking it again.
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Sure, it's an imperfect analogy. But it is hard to communicate just how sweet the business model of WoW is and the degree to which they monopolize their space, and how foolish it would be to permanently damage it for the equivalent of a few months' revenue. Sorry if my metaphor skills fail.
Sorry if I come across as smug or trolling - but dozens of people professionally follow a major listed public company like this and millions have followed Blizz as a game company (remember when they made games that weren't sequels?) since the 90s. I'm just one of them, not anyone with any special knowledge, nor do I claim to be. I think a little more of that kind of objectivity and a little less fanboyism would help most folks see the light.
Sure, it's an imperfect analogy. But it is hard to communicate just how sweet the business model of WoW is and the degree to which they monopolize their space, and how foolish it would be to permanently damage it for the equivalent of a few months' revenue. Sorry if my metaphor skills fail.
Sorry if I come across as smug or trolling - but dozens of people professionally follow a major listed public company like this and millions have followed Blizz as a game company (remember when they made games that weren't sequels?) since the 90s. I'm just one of them, not anyone with any special knowledge, nor do I claim to be. I think a little more of that kind of objectivity and a little less fanboyism would help most folks see the light.
it's not your metaphor I have a problem with. It's your idea that diablo sales impact wow sales which impacts diablo's production. The fact that you estimated half of the wow players will cancel their subscriptions to play diablo is way out there. If wow players buy/play diablo they will probably not cancel their wow becuase they will play it as well. If there are some who are planning on quitting wow when diablo comes out, I'm sire diablo's sales will make up for the few people who do.
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If there are some who are planning on quitting wow when diablo comes out, I'm sire diablo's sales will make up for the few people who do.
Well, I don't have a crystal ball, and if D3 comes out in 2012, WoW will be an eight-year old title whose sub #s had substantively peaked in '07. No one will know if fatigue from the game will be the cause, or D3 will take that space. But could it help push an aging game over, and could there be a cascading effect, much like what happens when social sites begin to lose their following (see myspace, etc)? Perhaps. The one thing that's certain, and I'm honestly confused as to why this is hard for folks to accept - is that subs are way, way better than box sales on a business level, and that even the absolute best scenario for D3 sales in the first year is maybe four months of WoW revenue at best.
I get how continual income is betterthan one time sales. What I don't get is people who think everyone will be quitting wow to play d3. Go ahead and create a thread and ask how many diablofans even play wow and how many will cancel their subscriptions when D3 comes out. Ask on Amy site and tell me your results because I bet it is not many.
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Do you? Do you understand just how much better it is? A steady $200/year when annualizing XP boxes versus one-time $60, with maybe a $40 box a year later?
Of course not everyone will quit - some people still play EQ. And your poll idea is hardly the most scientific methodology.
Trust me, the folks paying to develop this game are very much aware of the fact that a WoW junkie is worth a big multiple of $$$ to a D3 buyer, whether or not you are, and that helping turn the former into the latter - even to a small chunk of the sub base - is a business disaster.
Then why is Blizzard making D3? Accordingto you, they know they will loose a significant amount of money doing so and they still want to do it. Even I the game doesn't come out for two years, according to you, thy will still be loosing a lot of money. K find it hard to believe that Blizzard would knowngly and willing hurt their own business.
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K find it hard to believe that Blizzard would knowngly and willing hurt their own business.
My point is that they may well hurt it more by releasing it.
To repost:
- Keep fans on the hook, instead of angry (hopefully playing WoW all the while)
- Have a "farm team" for the new MMO
- Get some fresh ideas from a different genre in-house
- Attract talent that loves the D series
- Keep that talent from working for the competition
There's nothing that is even remotely substantial in your analysis. D3 would not even have been in production if it was the case and certainly not for the amount of time it has been in development- which is quite long for a game and constitutes months and months of salaries for different professionals.
constitutes months and months of salaries for different professionals.
Sure, let's guess that that's on the high side, and the payroll for that team is 20 mil a year. That's one week of WoW revenue. A small price to pay to keep that kind of talent in-house, developing new skills, and not working for the competition.
Big companies spend billions on research all the time. It's a cost of doing business.
By the way, you could save IBM, sony, samsung, microsoft, apple, northrup, boeing, etc, billions and billions of dollars - just let them know that all research and prototyping is a waste of $. Go for it, save the economy, be a hero.
Oh, yes, you didn't answer my question - if you are so anti-Diablo 3, then what are you doing here?
I'm not anti-D3 in the slightest - I look forward to playing it, whether or not my grandchild is on my lap at the time. I apologize if my posts seem like trolling. Santa, the easter bunny and the great pumpkin are all looking forward to playing D3 next summer, and who am I to second-guess them.
the problem with "in house competition" is getting solved through the new battle.net, stop argueing about it.
with the new battle.net people from Diablo 3, Starcraft II and WoW will be able to talk to each other without having to change games. this has some pretty positive results for Blizzard:
1. people that prefer say Diablo 3 from WoW will stay in touch with friends that still play WoW - ending up playing WoW sometimes to help them with X dungeon or Y raid.
2. enthusiastic friends tend to talk alot. and when there's epic gameplay moments, they'll talk to their friends that play another Blizzard game - that's like advertising.
now even though Diablo III is a RPG its way different than WoW (not MMORPG - faster paced etc etc) in many ways and what's really the danger for WoW is its age only. Blizzard (in some interviews i read over the summer) said that if some "real" competition shows, they have plans to make it free to play with microtransactions to make money from (they do have a plan with the coming of Star Wars MMO).
and as a final point - many people that dont even play games at the moment are waiting for Diablo III. a little hype like Blizzard knows it and there's gonna be a new record in sales again. and they can always use good publicity about (another) bestseller they made.
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I'll make it simple for you. You're the village milkman, that owns a dozen cows. You know that some of your customers will always be too lazy to milk their own cows, but some won't. You make $10,000 a month in revenue selling your milk. Would it make sense to sell most of your cows for $40,000, if it meant that revenue might drop to $5000 month?
Nah, if it comes out, I'm sure I'll get it after the first significant patch and finish it with the Sorcerer and the range character they're about to announce. The other characters, meh.
What do you want Jay to say? "We're probably spinning our wheels for another year, but our technique with nerf weaponry and video game skills have become extra-sharp!"
there are some major flaws in your analogy. First, video games are not cowsin the sense that owning one is all you need. People can buy two video games and play both. It is not like every wow player who sill buy d3 will all cancel their wow subscriptions.
Secondly, I'm sure blizzard is not looking at diablo as a overall loss of money. As you said, they are a company and it comes down to money. They see the sells of diablo 3 as a profit and supplemental income to their cash cow.
Thirdly, you can always breed new cows and find new people who want milk or people who stopped drinking milk but is interested in drinking it again.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
Sorry if I come across as smug or trolling - but dozens of people professionally follow a major listed public company like this and millions have followed Blizz as a game company (remember when they made games that weren't sequels?) since the 90s. I'm just one of them, not anyone with any special knowledge, nor do I claim to be. I think a little more of that kind of objectivity and a little less fanboyism would help most folks see the light.
it's not your metaphor I have a problem with. It's your idea that diablo sales impact wow sales which impacts diablo's production. The fact that you estimated half of the wow players will cancel their subscriptions to play diablo is way out there. If wow players buy/play diablo they will probably not cancel their wow becuase they will play it as well. If there are some who are planning on quitting wow when diablo comes out, I'm sire diablo's sales will make up for the few people who do.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
Well, I don't have a crystal ball, and if D3 comes out in 2012, WoW will be an eight-year old title whose sub #s had substantively peaked in '07. No one will know if fatigue from the game will be the cause, or D3 will take that space. But could it help push an aging game over, and could there be a cascading effect, much like what happens when social sites begin to lose their following (see myspace, etc)? Perhaps. The one thing that's certain, and I'm honestly confused as to why this is hard for folks to accept - is that subs are way, way better than box sales on a business level, and that even the absolute best scenario for D3 sales in the first year is maybe four months of WoW revenue at best.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
Of course not everyone will quit - some people still play EQ. And your poll idea is hardly the most scientific methodology.
Trust me, the folks paying to develop this game are very much aware of the fact that a WoW junkie is worth a big multiple of $$$ to a D3 buyer, whether or not you are, and that helping turn the former into the latter - even to a small chunk of the sub base - is a business disaster.
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
My point is that they may well hurt it more by releasing it.
To repost:
- Keep fans on the hook, instead of angry (hopefully playing WoW all the while)
- Have a "farm team" for the new MMO
- Get some fresh ideas from a different genre in-house
- Attract talent that loves the D series
- Keep that talent from working for the competition
It isn't like they can't afford it.
Sure, let's guess that that's on the high side, and the payroll for that team is 20 mil a year. That's one week of WoW revenue. A small price to pay to keep that kind of talent in-house, developing new skills, and not working for the competition.
Big companies spend billions on research all the time. It's a cost of doing business.
Or do they have some special grudge against Diablo fans?
Because the genre and audience are so different as to not be a big threat to WoW (RTS/Sci-Fi/more Asian).
As for your other question, who knows? Unlike SC, the previous title wasn't made by them, so the emotions behind it may be a little complex.
Is that a pun?
By the way, you could save IBM, sony, samsung, microsoft, apple, northrup, boeing, etc, billions and billions of dollars - just let them know that all research and prototyping is a waste of $. Go for it, save the economy, be a hero.
I'm not anti-D3 in the slightest - I look forward to playing it, whether or not my grandchild is on my lap at the time. I apologize if my posts seem like trolling. Santa, the easter bunny and the great pumpkin are all looking forward to playing D3 next summer, and who am I to second-guess them.
Diablo thanks God for creating obesity and ugliness.
with the new battle.net people from Diablo 3, Starcraft II and WoW will be able to talk to each other without having to change games. this has some pretty positive results for Blizzard:
1. people that prefer say Diablo 3 from WoW will stay in touch with friends that still play WoW - ending up playing WoW sometimes to help them with X dungeon or Y raid.
2. enthusiastic friends tend to talk alot. and when there's epic gameplay moments, they'll talk to their friends that play another Blizzard game - that's like advertising.
now even though Diablo III is a RPG its way different than WoW (not MMORPG - faster paced etc etc) in many ways and what's really the danger for WoW is its age only. Blizzard (in some interviews i read over the summer) said that if some "real" competition shows, they have plans to make it free to play with microtransactions to make money from (they do have a plan with the coming of Star Wars MMO).
and as a final point - many people that dont even play games at the moment are waiting for Diablo III. a little hype like Blizzard knows it and there's gonna be a new record in sales again. and they can always use good publicity about (another) bestseller they made.