03.18.08
Blizzard - what went wrong?
Apparently rumours circulate that Blizzard has started working on Diablo 3, based on some clues in a recent job posting. I don’t know if that’s true, but it got me thinking.
Far as I reckon, Blizzard haven’t worked with an original IP since they put out StarCraft in 1998. That’s 10 whole years of milking existing IP’s. If one felt especially spiteful, one might even point out that StarCraft is pretty much Warcraft in Space, but as far as I’m concerned the SC IP is clearly different from the WC IP in terms of story and plot, which is the important thing for the purpose of this discussion.
World of Warcraft has been out since 2004 (and was based on existing IP, clearly). It currently has over 10 million player-created accounts, though I don’t have the figures on how many actual paying players it has (personally, I’m among the fallen). I think it’s safe to assume though that Blizzard are pulling in millions upon millions of dollars of subscription fees from World of Warcraft every month. A fair bit of that goes to support and server space, I guess, but WoW is pretty much a license to print money.
So why do they keep milking their old IP’s? I mean sure, they want to make more money for their investors, that’s fine by me - make SC2 and Diablo 3, I’m sure they’ll be great games. But why stop there? Why not spend some of all that money coming up with some new IP’s? Valve presumably has far less money on hand than Blizzard, yet they consistently turn out amazing new properties like Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Team Fortress 2 (technically a ‘2′ but sufficiently different from the original that it might as well have another name). Blizzard make fantastic games, virtually unmatched in terms of polish - they used to create amazing new games. Now it seems they’re happy just creating amazing sequels to old games. It’s still amazing but it’s not extraordinary.
Or am I just demanding too much? It does make sense to keep expanding on your old work when you’ve created such a fantastic line-up of IP’s as Blizzard has. I was certainly excited when StarCraft 2 was announced. It just seems like they should be doing more than this. It seems like there are better ways to spend all that money.
EER said,
March 18, 2008 at 23:58
Portal is actually bought property, I’m sure you know Narbacular drop, and if not, go play it. Now.
Team Fortress 2 is yet another team shooter with specialties. Like Team Fortress, or Battlefield. I think I remember playing some flavour of WW2 shooter that had the same, but my memory is too bad to remember all that.
Never heard of Left 4 Dead btw.
Anyway, I don’t think it’s necessarily evil to milk out some existing IP, for example, I would LOVE a new part in TES that contains ALL of tamriel. In fact, if Bethesda would EXACTLY remake Morrowind, but with Oblivion graphics and (radiant) AI I would definitely buy it.
On the other hand, I won’t buy any *craft games. I will buy Diablo 3 though, when the time comes. Your title is very suggestive btw ‘what went wrong’, when in fact, they make a bloody hell lot of money. So to answer the question in the title of your post, nothing went wrong.
Jonas said,
March 19, 2008 at 00:19
I think it’s unfair to say Portal is the same IP as Narbacular Drop. ND was a relatively standard multiplayer game with added portals, Portal is a singleplayer puzzle game with a very different setting and plot. Not to mention the brilliant antagonist.
Team Fortress may not have the world’s most revolutionary gameplay, but it looks and plays like nothing else. Left 4 Dead is a 4-player cooperative zombie survival game that Valve is working on. IIRC, it’s scheduled for release some time over the summer.
I didn’t say milking IP’s was evil, did I? I’m saying it’s a shame if that’s all you do, considering the endless resources and creative talent Blizzard has available. The question in the title refers to Blizzard’s apparent shift from developing interesting new IP to endlessly rehashing their old work. I’m asking what went wrong creatively, I think I made it pretty clear I understand that nothing went wrong financially.
And I’m the opposite of you in terms of their upcoming games. I was never big on Diablo but I’m definitely buying SC2 when it’s done.
EER said,
March 19, 2008 at 10:12
I agree with most of it, except that Narbacular Drop is in fact a single player puzzle game with a moderately different setting and a very different plot (no cake, but there IS a box/cube).
I can’t really say I have any authority on TF2, as I’ve played it for fifteen minutes, 10 minutes waiting for everything to load, then 2 minutes looking for the setting ‘enable bots’, not finding it and then playing on my own for 2 minutes. Boring … Then waiting for it to exit for a minute. Did I mention I don’t like competitive multiplayer shooters?
Diablo 2 is an excellent party game btw
Jonas said,
March 19, 2008 at 14:36
*Looks ND up on Wikipedia*
God dammit I thought it was a multiplayer shooter! I must now go sit in the corner and be ashamed of myself.
Kazim said,
March 19, 2008 at 17:54
What went wrong? The company creates the single most profitable game in history, and you’re asking *what went wrong*? I mean, sure, you can complain about what they’re doing with their property, and think of things they could do better, but from a business perspective, “What went wrong?” seems like a fairly nonsensical question to even propose.
Now, Blizzard and Valve happen to be my two favorite game companies. But I wouldn’t say that Valve has generated innovative new worlds any more than Blizzard has, certainly not when it comes to Orange Box properties. Portal? Forget Narbacular Drop; it’s based around a cool gizmo concept, but also you’ll notice that the game of Portal still took place within the Half-Life universe. TF2? Great, awesome game, but seriously. It’s based off of something that somebody else wrote on top of the Half-Life engine. It’s not a new world.
Of course, Portal and TF2 are both great strides forward within their already-established gaming worlds. But then, so was WoW a great stride forward and a big change from Warcraft III and other games within the Warcraft universe.
I mean, I understand what you’re saying; I certainly wouldn’t object to seeing Blizzard branch out with a new universe as well. But to frame that question in terms of “what went wrong” just seems like approaching it from the wrong angle.
Jonas said,
March 19, 2008 at 20:17
*Head meets desk*
Hi Kazim, welcome to my blog. Please read the other comments as EER posted exactly the same thing as you regarding the title and I already replied to it. (Summary: I’m not talking about the business perspective.)
Portal is set in the HL universe, but do you think that’s very apparent? Does Portal remind you a very lot of either Half-Life game? Because to me it seems pretty damn different. Same response to TF2 being the same as TFC - the whole look and feel of the world is completely different between the two games.
Valve haven’t created more innovative worlds than Blizzard, no, but Blizzard have been at it since 1991, they have 7 years on Valve - Valve are still making solid new stuff and being experimentative, Blizzard is working on Star Craft 2 and possibly Diablo 3. Maybe Valve will stop being interesting and creatively groundbreaking in a few years as well, but I’m not psychic so I can only comment on the present.
Casper said,
March 22, 2008 at 09:24
Here’s an interview with the lead-developer on Starcraft 2:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/31949.html
And in this interview he states that it’s harder to make Starcraft 2 than making an whole new IP, because of the expectations from the Starcraft fanbase.
Im also confused on why they won’t try out an new IP, but maybe Blizzard is thinking that it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Jonas said,
March 22, 2008 at 15:10
Heh I imagine it is harder to make SC2 than a new game since if they fuck up, the entire nation of South Korea will hate their guts. And I am still looking forward to SC2, don’t get me wrong, I just wish they’d try something new again, since everything they touch seems to turn into solid gold.