SC2 and D3: What is Blizzard doing?

[Wreckem]

WoW's subscription base has plateau'd. Maybe this is why we are seeing SC2 beta very soon. And they lost a huge portion of their WoW base in China due to censorship or other problems.

When StarCraft 2 is released WoW will probably lose a heft chunk of subscribers. South Korea makes up a huge precentage of WoW subscribers and SC2 will poach them. Shit there are still over a dozen SK tv channels dedictated to people playing SC.

 

[Wreckem]

They're doing what they always do; make a game great before they release it. Have you seen any game that they've released (excluding console games) flop?

Blizzard doesnt have "flops" but they do have a list of projects that they spent millions on but decided to cancel them.

 

[Wreckem]

Anyone here actually work for a game developer with valid reasons why games take so long to release?

Most games these days have 18-24 month development timelines with delays its usually around 26-30 months. MMOG are still in the 3-4 year range as are games created by developers who still insist on making their own engines instead of licensing others.

 

[Pheran]

Blizzard doesnt have "flops" but they do have a list of projects that they spent millions on but decided to cancel them.

At least they are smart enough to cut their losses instead of releasing crap; I can certainly respect that.

 

[MStele]

When StarCraft 2 is released WoW will probably lose a heft chunk of subscribers. South Korea makes up a huge precentage of WoW subscribers and SC2 will poach them. Shit there are still over a dozen SK tv channels dedictated to people playing SC.

This makes no sense. Starcraft 2 is not an MMO. It is a single player game with a multiplayer component. The average gamer who buys it will beat it then play multiplayer or move on to other things. Your right about Koreans taking their Starcraft seriously, but the ones who will play Starcraft 2 religiously are the same ones who are currently playing Starcraft 1 religiously. I highly doubt you will see any shift in gaming demographic. When Starcraft came out, it brought alot of new ideas to the table. Today, the RTS genre is saturated and over-evolved. I'm certain SC2 will be a hit, but it will be extremely difficult for Blizzard to bring anything fresh to the table. Starcraft 1 is to RTS as World of Warcraft is to MMOs. Ultimately, everything produced since has been contrived, and that will include sequels. I do applaud Blizzard for designing SC2 multiplayer with competitive gaming in mind though. Its the one thing about SC2 that I think could be great. As far as the single player...no matter how they work it...its just another RTS, albeit and extremely well polished and well designed RTS.

 

[invidia]

When StarCraft 2 is released WoW will probably lose a heft chunk of subscribers. South Korea makes up a huge precentage of WoW subscribers and SC2 will poach them. Shit there are still over a dozen SK tv channels dedictated to people playing SC.

South Korea actually makes up the smallest percentage of WoW out of the rest (Europe/NA/China (pretty much dying in China due to censorship). Aion completely dominates the MMO market in South Korea, beating WoW out of the water.

You are comparing different genres. In MMO market, MMOs will most likely compete with other MMOs. I didn't hear people saying MW2 or BC2 is going to beat WoW out of the water. I play primarily MMOs and RTS, which Blizzard is heavily focused on.

Those who love MMOs, stick with MMOs. A huge chunk of WoW players are MMO veterans and are no way familiar with other genres. Same with most genres.

 

[Kabob]

Let's say you hire me to be a clown at one of your children's birthday parties. I do an incredible job and you say that you'd love me to perform at the Easter party. However, I wanted to work on my clown hip hop album for a while so I turn you down but indicate that I am instead available for the Fourth of July. Would you complain that I was too complacent and push deadlines, or acknowledge that I can prioritize my time however I think would be best for my career?

Umm, will you be free March 20th?

Amen to that!

I usually dont like games with castles + archers etc, sci-fi is much more my thing but damn the warcraft series is awesome, the story, gameplay. Blizz never fails to make a fun game in every aspect.

I quit playing PC games back in '06 and unfortunately I reinstalled WCIII a few weeks ago...MAN I'm hooked.

As mentioned despite the fact that they are slow to update a game you have to respect the fact that they actually take the time to test/polish a game BEFORE it's released. I play alot of MW2 on the Xbox 360 and that game is a freaking nightmare...I purchased an unfinished buggy game that I am still waiting to have fixed...

 

[ViviTheMage]

Honestly, I didn't think SC2 as much as I thought I would..now D3, the game played amazing at blizzcon, they just need to roll it out

I'll buy SC2, play it for a little bit, but I don't think i'll get into it like I did in SC1. D3 is amazing though.

 

[Kabob]

Honestly, I didn't think SC2 as much as I thought I would..now D3, the game played amazing at blizzcon, they just need to roll it out

I'll buy SC2, play it for a little bit, but I don't think i'll get into it like I did in SC1. D3 is amazing though.

I've told myself for years, when D3 comes out I will upgrade my computer to play it. I have so many thousands of hours in D2 it boggles my mind, without a doubt my favorite game of all time.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

SC2 beta was pushed back because they split it into 3 separate games. You will have to buy all 3 to unlock all 3 races. But each episode will have 30 missions (90 total) as opposed to 10 missions per race for SC1. I think you will get your good storyline.

They pushed beta back because the overhaul to battle.net was taking too long, and SC2 is supposedly integrated directly into the new battle.net. One can't ship without the other. They designed SC2 from the ground up as three separate products, and that has nothing to do with the delay.

Yes it's split into 3 games, but you don't have to buy all of them to "unlock" the races. Its more like one game with two expansion packs. Buying the first gives you the Terran campaign, and the multiplayer, complete with all 3 races. Buying the next two "games", xpacs, whatever, will give you the zerg and protoss campaigns. If you want to finish out the complete story line, you have to buy all 3. If all you want to do is mangle people online, you only need to buy the first one.