Blizzard Launches Twitter Accounts, Throws Contests

[Keane Ng]

Blizzard Launches Twitter Accounts, Throws Contests

Blizzard is finally getting in on the Twitter party with three official accounts for Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft, and they're kicking things off with contests for swag, beta keys and more.

Well, finally. Nearly every single game publisher/developer in this business has gotten in on the Twitter party at this point, but one of the biggest names around, Blizzard, hasn't shown up until now. Better late than never I guess. Blizz has three official channels now for you to follow and scoop up info direct from the source: @Starcraft [http://twitter.com/Diablo]. Where's @LostVikings? I can only dream that it's coming somewhere along the line.

Anyway, all three accounts are now active and live, so get to following if you're the kind of person who doesn't hate Twitter with a passion. I expect the accounts will be updated regularly during BlizzCon next week.

To kick things off in Twitter style, Blizz is throwing a contest geared for each account. On the Warcraft account, you need [http://www.blizzard.com/us/misc/contests/twitter/war.html] to re-tweet to the account with the phrase "For the Alliance or Horde #battlecry" each time the background picture changes (it'll go every three hours from 8 AM - 8PM everyday through BlizzCon) which will earn you the chance to win some swag.

Over at the StarCraft account, Blizz is giving away [http://www.blizzard.com/us/misc/contests/twitter/sc2.html] 500 beta keys to the users who can prove that they're the biggest fans by re-tweeting why they deserve to win (you can use a picture) along with the hashtag #SC2fan.

And last but not least, the Diablo account has a neat little sweepstakes [http://www.blizzard.com/us/misc/contests/twitter/d3.html] for fans to submit suggestions for item names in the game. Five winners who get chosen by Blizzard will find their submitted names in Diablo III, which is pretty dang cool.

Of course you could follow these Twitter accounts for news coming out of BlizzCon, but you could also follow The Escapist news team for even more, since we'll be on hand at the event to report on happenings, collect schwag and beat John Funk at StarCraft 2. Oops, did I just say that? I did, didn't I?

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[microhive]

You forgot to mention that they are handing out 500 StarCraft II beta keys for random Blizzard's biggest fans.

 

[John Funk]

It is so on, Keane.

 

[DJ Lord Destructocon]

Well it's about time Blizzard! I was wondering if you were ever going to provide with constant updates until the time when I need to construct addtional pylons... IN 3-D!!!

 

[Keane Ng]

It is so on, Keane.

You're going down, amigo.

 

[BobisOnlyBob]

It is so on, Keane.

You're going down, amigo.

We need video evidence of this, preferably narrated by a skilled Starcraft commentator.

 

[hansari]

It is so on, Keane.

You're going down, amigo.

Yes! Please post the battle on The Escapist

 

[Keane Ng]

It is so on, Keane.

You're going down, amigo.

Yes! Please post the battle on The Escapist

I think we all know who came out on top last time Funk and I rumbled.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

So basically Blizzard can never update their Twitter just like they never update their websites, mirite?

 

[John Funk]

I just hate all this commercialism, big corporations joining together to take more revenue from us people. I just think having blizz and twitter together is wrong, one of the reasons il never play wow again, the greedy bastards! 12 million people paying a month and still they suckle at the teet of new players, giving them levels for free at the dismay of veteran players just for another 15 $ a month, and now this, after the mountain dew crap, and the fact that content is running dry since they milked everything from the lore means they will have to make stuff up soon and i think they will go the Warhammer path sooner or later (by that i mean have some 70% of people stop playing) . I miss my days with the good old Blizz :-(

... wait, what does this have to do with getting twitter accounts to update news about their games?

 

[Amnestic]

... wait, what does this have to do with getting twitter accounts to update news about their games?

Im saying twitter is just one more in the line of stupid deals blizzard made for marketing and money, and i dont like it, thats how its relevant. And ive also heard about incorporating "tweets" in gameplay

The tweets during gameplay (assuming you're talking about WoW) was an addon, third party developed.

And it was terrible.

 

[Keane Ng]

I just hate all this commercialism, big corporations joining together to take more revenue from us people. I just think having blizz and twitter together is wrong, one of the reasons il never play wow again, the greedy bastards! 12 million people paying a month and still they suckle at the teet of new players, giving them levels for free at the dismay of veteran players just for another 15 $ a month, and now this, after the mountain dew crap, and the fact that content is running dry since they milked everything from the lore means they will have to make stuff up soon and i think they will go the Warhammer path sooner or later (by that i mean have some 70% of people stop playing) . I miss my days with the good old Blizz :-(

Blizzard has always made games for the purpose of selling them, and by selling them to make money. They're a company, it's a business. As long as the games are good - and they have been, mostly - why should it matter if the company has a Twitter account? Just ignore all the marketing and play the games, and then judge for yourself.

 

[John Funk]

I just hate all this commercialism, big corporations joining together to take more revenue from us people. I just think having blizz and twitter together is wrong, one of the reasons il never play wow again, the greedy bastards! 12 million people paying a month and still they suckle at the teet of new players, giving them levels for free at the dismay of veteran players just for another 15 $ a month, and now this, after the mountain dew crap, and the fact that content is running dry since they milked everything from the lore means they will have to make stuff up soon and i think they will go the Warhammer path sooner or later (by that i mean have some 70% of people stop playing) . I miss my days with the good old Blizz :-(

Blizzard has always made games for the purpose of selling them, and by selling them to make money. They're a company, it's a business. As long as the games are good - and they have been, mostly - why should it matter if the company has a Twitter account? Just ignore all the marketing and play the games, and then judge for yourself.

That's what i tell myself each day, i enjoyed playing the game even with all the marketing till it bored me, but its still not right to go into so much commercialism, its not like they need more money. And i was a bit rambling mostly because i don't like social networking and too much marketing, but hey it makes money, money is good, it helps them make good games, so its good i guess, but still makes them look greedy.

I still don't have any idea where you're coming from on this. How is getting a Twitter account - like most every developer/publisher out there - so that fans can have updates on their games more "commercial"?

 

[Valiance]

How did I manage to miss this...x_X

Oh well, that's kinda funny. Shows you how popular things like Twitter have become, and grats to all the winners.

 

[Radelaide]

I just hate all this commercialism, big corporations joining together to take more revenue from us people. I just think having blizz and twitter together is wrong, one of the reasons il never play wow again, the greedy bastards! 12 million people paying a month and still they suckle at the teet of new players, giving them levels for free at the dismay of veteran players just for another 15 $ a month, and now this, after the mountain dew crap, and the fact that content is running dry since they milked everything from the lore means they will have to make stuff up soon and i think they will go the Warhammer path sooner or later (by that i mean have some 70% of people stop playing) . I miss my days with the good old Blizz :-(

Blizzard has always made games for the purpose of selling them, and by selling them to make money. They're a company, it's a business. As long as the games are good - and they have been, mostly - why should it matter if the company has a Twitter account? Just ignore all the marketing and play the games, and then judge for yourself.

That's what i tell myself each day, i enjoyed playing the game even with all the marketing till it bored me, but its still not right to go into so much commercialism, its not like they need more money. And i was a bit rambling mostly because i don't like social networking and too much marketing, but hey it makes money, money is good, it helps them make good games, so its good i guess, but still makes them look greedy.

I still don't have any idea where you're coming from on this. How is getting a Twitter account - like most every developer/publisher out there - so that fans can have updates on their games more "commercial"?

He's bitching about how these companies do things like this to sucker people in. Want more revenue from your game? Hold a competition! Or something crazy like that. Although Twitter is a free service and these contests cost nothing to enter into so I don't know WHY he's bitching about it.