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Since the announcement of "Diablo Immortal" on November 3 to today, this massive crusade against Blizzard has finally come to an end.
Looking back on the entire incident, the trigger for everything was at the end of this year's BlizzCon. This company that has created countless classics and brilliance brought players today's last work, a mobile game produced in cooperation with NetEase: " Diablo: Immortal.
In fact, in this era where 3A games are becoming more and more expensive and mobile games are becoming more and more profitable, it is not new for large game companies to enter the mobile terminal for "just a meal", and players have long been accustomed to it.
But the reason why Blizzard has been stepped on by everyone this time is mainly because there have been rumors before:
The biggest bomb of this year's carnival will be "Diablo 4" which has been brewing for a long time. Even if it is not "Diablo 4", it may be a reset of "Diablo 1 or 2", or at the worst it will be a major update of "Diablo 3".
As a result, there is no 1234, but an "immortal" mobile game. Player groups whose expectations are frustrated will naturally quit.
In fact, as some players commented on Weibo:
Blizzard should learn from this year's B Club and put a trailer for "Diablo 4" behind "Immortal". Even if it is just a LOGO, or just a sentence "We are already working on "Diablo 4"", the feedback will be positive. Better than now.
And this also leads to an interesting topic: If Blizzard had learned from the press conferences of other game companies and announced "Immortal" in a different way at this year's Carnival, wouldn't it be where it is today? Or is it that Blizzard can only announce "Immortal" in the most failed way now?
It's definitely meaningless to just ask. Let's do it in practice. Since B Club was mentioned earlier, let's start with Bethesda.
In fact, Blizzard is not the first to announce a mobile game at the end of a conference aimed at core players.
As a game company that has always been swinging between players who are happy and crazy and players who are angry, as early as E3 in 2015, B has already done something similar to Blizzard today.
At the end of the press conference that year, Todd Howard unveiled the last game of the day to players, a new mobile game for iOS and Android platforms: "Fallout: Shelter."
But at that time, although there were many comments complaining about this mobile game on the Internet, compared with the reaction of players to Blizzard today, it can be said that they pale into insignificance.
The reason is very simple: before the release of "Fallout: Shelter", Todd had just demonstrated "Fallout 4" to players for more than 20 minutes. After announcing the mobile game, Todd immediately led everyone back to the demonstration of "Fallout 4".
Therefore, although players criticized the mobile version of the IP "Fallout", everyone's main focus at that time was on "Fallout 4", so there was naturally less criticism of Bayside.
And this also represents a trend in the past two years when major 3A companies have disclosed mobile games at large-scale press conferences, that is: mobile games are only by-products of core IP after all.
Regardless of the quality of the mobile game itself, even if it is a rare mobile masterpiece in recent years, the time it takes up at the press conference and the attention it carries cannot overshadow the IP itself to which it is attached. , after all, consoles and PCs are the foundation of these IPs.
Just look at the process of announcing the three "Gears of War" games at Microsoft's E3 this year:
When the first two mobile games were released, both on-site and real-time comments were filled with howls. But at this emotional lowest point, the producer announced the existence of "Gears of War 5" and directly released a video of the actual game. The demonstration instantly reversed the situation and received warm applause from the audience.
What players want is very simple, that is, a legitimate sequel to their favorite IP. This work may not be satisfactory in the end, but as long as it can continue to be released, it means that the game company has not given up on it.
Therefore, why didn't Blizzard take a step forward and use the existence of "Diablo 4" to reverse public opinion after the "Diablo" mobile game was announced as mentioned before?
Perhaps it's because Blizzard has no plans to launch "Diablo 4" in the near future.
Two days ago, news broke that Blizzard had temporarily removed "Diablo 4" before the carnival started, so "Immortal" was used as the finale. But officials quickly denied the rumor, claiming that nothing on display had been temporarily cancelled.
You know, although "The Elder Scrolls 6" has only a high-definition 4K JPEG so far, and according to B's plan, the game will not be officially started until after the release of "", but as long as it can be obtained by Besser Just announcing it at E3 shows that this project does exist.
But this time, after the entire BlizzCon, there was not even a shadow of "Diablo 4". One cannot help but wonder that Blizzard may not be able to make any promises to players now.
Perhaps, we will play "Diablo 4" one day in the future, and the reset of "Diablo 1 and 2" is not impossible, but based on Blizzard's performance at this year's carnival, it seems that many things are no longer within their capabilities. Right or left.
So, since the only mobile game of "Diablo" is left now, can Blizzard simply "break the can and break it", like EA did this year?
At E3, 2018, EA's press conference, this company, which has been known as the "cancer of the industry" for many years, once again used practical actions to prove to players that it is not in vain:
Good news: At the press conference, EA restarted the extremely classic series "Command and Conquer".
Bad news: After the reboot, EA made a mobile game using the IP.
Then, we saw Command & Conquer: Showdown.
Moreover, EA also gave this very ordinary-looking mobile game almost ten minutes of demo time, which caused complaints from players who wanted to see the true appearance of "Anthem".
However, EA's demonstration is not aimed at the player group at all, but the investors who can determine the company's stock price.
It has been dead for many years, and "Command and Conquer" has long been "dead in name only." In this era of declining RTS, the only use of this IP for EA is to apply it to mobile games to stimulate the memories of former players and let investors see the huge profits brought by this IP, thereby making money. A wave of quick money, and then destroy the next IP.
Can Blizzard also learn from EA, adjust the order of the press conference, and introduce "Immortal" as an ordinary mobile game?
It doesn't seem to work either.
Because "Diablo" is not "Command and Conquer", similarly, the current Blizzard is not EA.
As one of its own three games, Blizzard cannot destroy the IP just as EA does. In the past two years, although the label "Produced by Blizzard must be high-quality" is no longer as powerful as it used to be, it is still the most intuitive impression many players have of this company.
Therefore, I have to admit that in order to "not smash the brand", Blizzard has indeed shown considerable enthusiasm for "Immortal". They not only used it to end the entire conference (instead of choosing the reset of "Warcraft 3"), provided an early trial DEMO, and also specially arranged a 45-minute Q&A.
But as I said before: mobile games are ultimately just appendages to the core IP.
Blizzard believes that as long as it shows enough sincerity to players about the game, even if it is a mobile game, players will eventually buy it. But the more it does this, the more it tells everyone: What we care about most is mobile. And this is naturally intolerable to players, especially those core fans who grew up playing Blizzard games. What's more, this game is jointly developed by NetEase and Blizzard…
Moreover, not only players, but also investors seem to be dissatisfied.
Because in a recent interview, Blizzard employees told the media that the game "Immortal" is still in a very early stage of development, and many content related to the core mechanics are still being coordinated with NetEase, including The micro-transaction system that is hotly discussed by players.
Compared with EA's naked attitude, Blizzard's undecided and half-promising state will inevitably make investors feel unsure. After the announcement of "Immortal", Activision's continued decline in stock price seems to confirm this: I originally wanted to have both ends. They wanted to please everyone, but the result was that neither party bought it.
So let's go back to the original question:
How to elegantly announce a mobile game at a press conference aimed at core players?
Bayside, Microsoft, and even EA have all come up with their own ways.
But when we replace the mobile game with "Diablo: Immortal", all the above methods cannot be applied to Blizzard.
Because the current company cannot promise players a future about "Darkness", and it cannot get rid of the glorious past created by "Darkness". So on the one hand, it cannot use the orthodox "Diablo" works to turn its offensive. On the other hand, even with NetEase's participation, the emphasis on this IP prevents Blizzard from completely using it as a tool to make quick money. .
Therefore, not only was Blizzard unable to "elegantly" announce a mobile game at the carnival, it was also unable to "elegantly" handle the subsequent public relations, and it was even more unable to "elegantly" appease the emotions of investors and players. Between the glory of the past and the confusion of the present, pulled by the temptation of capital and the expectations of players, this game company, which was founded in 1991 and once symbolized an era, has never been as tight as it is now, so much so that it has even It’s a point where the launch of a mobile game can’t be handled well.
But now, the massive crusade has gradually subsided, leaving behind a Blizzard that has experienced repeated "pull". In the future, we are still unable to draw an accurate conclusion as to whether this company will choose to inherit its past glory or completely break with the past.
But looking at Blizzard's recent announcement of multiple mobile game plans and the denial of various previous rumors about the development of major games, both players and investors seem to have their own answers.
How to elegantly announce a mobile game at a press conference aimed at core players?
Perhaps soon, Blizzard will turn the page on this year's shame and give their own way of announcing it.
However, this method on the stage may not be very elegant, and those standing under the stage may no longer be the core players.
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