Blizzard CEO Responds to Diablo III Controversy

[Fanghawk]

Blizzard CEO Responds to Diablo III Controversy

Blizzard's Mike Morhaime shares his thoughts on Diablo III's launch, auction house, and always-online requirement.

Blizzard is in a strange position when it comes to Diablo III. On the one hand, it's looking to be one of the biggest, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117399-Diablo-III-Sells-Like-Crazy>if not the biggest, game launches of 2012. On the other hand, between the mandatory online connection and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118037-Diablo-III-Patch-Restricts-Access-for-New-Players>various patch problems, it's greatly frustrated even loyal players. Now, two months after launch, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has posted <a href=http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6080663481#1>an open letter on the Battle.net forums acknowledging the myriad of difficulties while explaining the various decisions Blizzard made behind-the-scenes.

"The launch week of Diablo III was memorable for many reasons -- some positive, and some not so positive," Morhaime wrote. "We were thrilled that Diablo III had the biggest PC-game launch ever, surpassing the lifetime sales of [World of Warcraft: Cataclysm] (the previous record holder for biggest PC-game launch) in a matter of weeks. We've been floored by the response. However, the launch had many challenges as well."

The letter is very comprehensive, but deals specifically with three key issues: Diablo III's launch, the auction house, and the always-connected experience. Regarding the launch, Morhaime reiterates that Blizzard simply wasn't prepared for the enormous demand for the game across multiple regions. "For Diablo III, we looked at historical sales for Blizzard games and other top-selling PC games and watched preorder numbers. We even upped our estimates to ensure we had additional capacity, or so we thought. In the end, it just wasn't enough, and that is something we will work hard to conquer for future releases." Morhaime also adds that in the rush to fix major problems that occurred at launch, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117978-Diablo-III-Patch-Prevents-Players-From-Gaining-XP>various smaller bugs appeared that took additional time to fix. "Rather than address every subject individually, I'll just say that even as we work to address or resolve current issues, it's always possible that further issues will crop up."

When it comes to the new Diablo III auction house, Morhaime explains that the auction house isn't about making extra cash for Blizzard, but about maintaining a centralized in-game location where players who want to buy items can do so, without turning to questionable third-party sources. "Regarding the real-money auction house," Morhaime explains, "our primary goal for including this in the game was to provide convenience and peace of mind for those players who might otherwise turn to third-party services to buy items. Black market trading sites can put accounts at risk and create many customer service challenges." Morhaime added that Blizzard will use player feedback to improve auction house features, while ensuring that Diablo III's overall gameplay doesn't make the auction house mandatory.

Of course the biggest issue when it comes to Diablo III always was the mandatory internet connection, which Morhaime spent a significant portion of the letter discussing. "I fully understand the desire to play Diablo III offline," Morhaime said, "however, Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends, and the always-online requirement is the best way for us to support that design. The effectiveness of the online elements -- including the friends list and cross-game communication; co-op matchmaking; persistent characters that you can use by yourself, with others, and in PvP; and some of our customer support, service, and security components -- is tied directly to the online nature of the game." Morhaime dismissed the notion that Diablo III's online-only state is solely about copy-protection, but that keeping the game online is more effective than allowing for offline options.

Whatever one's feelings on Diablo III's launch and online state and launch may be, it is refreshing to see developers interact directly with players. The user response in the Battle.net thread so far is largely positive, thanks in no small part to additional promises from Morhaime to include class improvements and new endgame systems in upcoming patches.

Source: <a href=http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6080663481#1>Battle.net, via <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-19-blizzards-morhaime-replies-to-diablo-iii-criticisms>Games Industry International

Permalink

 

[scw55]

I hope they stay true to making the AH less dependant on progression.
There an annoying point at the moment where really good gear is expensive and good gear and below is cheap. It means you need to farm *a lot*, more than a month ago to get the gear you need to progress through Act 3. It's because # of new players isn't increasing much and the shared gold is increasing. The average gear level is creeping up, so if you fall off the curve or fresh Inferno, you're stuck in Act 2 farm gear for a long time. Because it feels like gear drops/game difficulty is balanced around the awareness that people will use the Auction House to get the most efficient gear.

 

[Worgen]

The only reason blizz gets away with it is because they have some of the most stupidly devoted fans around.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Yeah he acts like he's never played Diablo, or Diablo 2, or Starcraft, or Starcraft 2, or Warcraft, or Warcraft 2, or Warcraft 3... (just mentioning titles that you could play offline or online or in a LAN party (do people still do LAN parties? I know my friends wanted to) that worked just fine without always being online).

Sigh. I wish I had more money so everytime Blizzard made a stupid statement like this, I could buy another copy of The Witcher or The Witcher 2. CDProjekt has the right idea.

 

[Artemis923]

Go fuck yourself, Blizzard.

You ruined Diablo for me, after 16 years of loyal fandom.

You've killed my interest in all THREE of your games now.

But who cares? I'm just another number, another dollar in your pocket, right?

 

[happy_turtle]

I think I had every issue under the sun with this game, hardcore characters being lost due to the server disconnecting, patches corrupting the base files etc.

However I am proud to announce that after about 2 months of wrangling I managed to get a refund for this p*ss poor excuse for a game. Blizzard's initial position was that they were immune to trading laws here in the UK, however atfer contacting the lovely folks over at trading standards they changed their tune pretty pronto.

Spent the refund money on the Steam Sale and am now having a much better time with much better games.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So he justify for the whole online mode is for people to played with their friends? Err how about for the people who don't have friends or don't want to play with their friends at all?

I really hopping that any other games that are out now or out later this year will win any of the game of the year related awards instead of this.

 

[Falterfire]

Yeah, I'm still not buying the claim that online-only is critical to gameplay. You can design around multiplayer, but if even Team Fortress 2 has a single player mode these days, there's no excuse.

 

[toomuchnothing]

Whatever one's feelings on Diablo III's launch and online state and launch may be, it is refreshing to see developers interact directly with players.

I don't view this letter like that at all. The last letter from Mr. Morhaime that I read in relation to a Blizzard game was when Blizzard was laying off numerous employees shortly after the public was a shown that WoW subs were on a decline. It doesn't seem like hes interacting much less acting as damage control. Tbh I'd much rather see a post outlining the future of the game from someone like Jay Wilson who is actually the lead dev although I'm sure it'd lead to a lot of hate considering how much of an about face they've undertaken on certain issues and mechanics on the game. Just look at footage from 2008 D3 and you'll see they had features already implemented that they are now saying they want to add to the game (cough more than 3 filters in the AH cough).

 

[infinity_turtles]

Yeah, no. Blizzard introduced horrible lag into a clickfest grindy dungeon crawler without a persistent world. That does not improve the experience. At all.

 

[draythefingerless]

people still play diablo 3? you guys reeeally love seeing randomly specced gear dont you?

 

[McMullen]

I keep waiting for these PR statements to use honest language, instead of doing things like replacing "failures" with "challenges". I think the only people that this PR speak does anything for is the shareholders. Everyone else knows it's bullshit. May as well just keep the communication internal.

 

[el_kabong]

Unless you're in academia, having to explain yourself is usually the first sign that you've done something wrong.

 

[Tiamattt]

If the game "was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends" then how come it's more beneficial and in a lot of ppl's opinions more fun to solo? Seriously give us good reasons to party up rather then having a list of drawbacks to deal with and maybe that reason would have some merit.

 

[itsthesheppy]

As if the guy would release a statement saying, "We wanted to make a lot of money, and we did, so keep buying you sheep." Of course he's going to lie. Who in their right minds expected otherwise?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Of course the biggest issue when it comes to Diablo III always was the mandatory internet connection, which Morhaime spent a significant portion of the letter discussing. "I fully understand the desire to play Diablo III offline," Morhaime said, "however, Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends, and the always-online requirement is the best way for us to support that design. The effectiveness of the online elements -- including the friends list and cross-game communication; co-op matchmaking; persistent characters that you can use by yourself, with others, and in PvP; and some of our customer support, service, and security components -- is tied directly to the online nature of the game." Morhaime dismissed the notion that Diablo III's online-only state is solely about copy-protection, but that keeping the game online is more effective than allowing for offline options.

How difficult would it be for them to make it so you only have to sign on to Battle.net when you want to access all that multiplayer stuff like the Auction House, Friends lists, Public games, chat, etc. etc. So if you don't want to use any of that stuff, you don't have to be signed into Battle.net. Would it be that hard for them to do that? Seriously I want to know.