Blizzard China Resignation Fuels Launch Leak Rumors

[Andy Chalk]

Blizzard China Resignation Fuels Launch Leak Rumors

Rumors about a leak of Blizzard's [http://www.blizzard.com/] long-term launch schedule are looking just a wee bit more solid thanks to the sudden resignation of the general manager of Blizzard China for unexplained reasons.

MMOGameSite.com caused a stir last week when it published what was claimed to be Blizzard's Diablo 3 [http://www.mmogamesite.com/news/blizzard-product-slate-leaked.html], it also purported to reveal heretofore unheard-of titles like StarCraft 2: Phoenix and something called Titan. Blizzard responded with the usual "no comment on rumors and speculation" and most of us immediately blew the whole thing off as a hoax because there's just no good reason to believe it. Why would Blizzard, which still hasn't announced a release date for Diablo 3, commit on paper to having the second expansion ready for the end of 2014?

And yet, and yet. A couple days after the alleged leak it came to light that Ye Weilun, the general manager of Blizzard China, staffing changes [http://www.mmogamesite.com/news/blizzard-china-general-manager-fired-due-to-product-slate-leak.html] may follow in his wake.

A release schedule that looks a half-decade into the future can easily be dismissed as speculative but it was later reported that the leak also included more salient data like subscriber numbers, revenue, advertising budgets and media plans, all of which are far more sensitive than the possibility of a new Battle.net [http://www.battle.net] "map market" showing up in the middle of next year. And it all remains pure speculation, albeit speculation with a little more momentum thanks to the departure of Ye. In other words, I'm still not buying it, but I'm also going to pay a little more attention to what happens next.

via: BGR [http://www.bgr.com/2010/12/03/blizzard-gm-leaves-company-after-game-roadmap-and-user-data-leak/]


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[Jim From Accounting]

ok my 1st question is what is titan is that some sort of codename for a game there making?

 

[John Funk]

ok my 1st question is what is titan is that some sort of codename for a game there making?

If this is to be believed - a HUGE if - it's the next-gen MMO they've been making for ages.

I'm personally still not buying it, but it's definitely become a bit more interesting.

 

[Jim From Accounting]

ok my 1st question is what is titan is that some sort of codename for a game there making?

If this is to be believed - a HUGE if - it's the next-gen MMO they've been making for ages.

I'm personally still not buying it, but it's definitely become a bit more interesting.

Sounds good. Im guessing there going to pocked at for a bit for more information then.

 

[Delusibeta]

Let's have a look...

I distinctly recall Blizzard mentioning a map market as part of their plans for Battle.net 2, so middle of next year seems as good a time as any. Unlocking Battle.net to 3rd parties is inevitable, but I would be surprised if it doesn't happen next year. Likewise, I can see Starcraft 2 Zerg expansion slipping into Q1 2012, as they were mooting an 18 month time frame. Diablo 3 Q4 2011 seems fair. No idea what SC2 Phoneix or WOW Brazil is (although I'd guess the latter is a version of WoW for Brazil). I'd say the turn-around time for Starcraft 2 Protoss expansion is optimistic, but the rest of the expansion dates are plausible. Of course, it begs the question what's the WoW TCG (isn't there one already?) and the WoW movie entries are for. I'd say the transitioning period around 2014 from WoW to New MMO is fair, assuming said new MMO gets off the ground (it probably will).

Aside from a few odd-ball entries, there's nothing outlandish I can see in the "leak". We are talking about Activision-Blizzard after all, two expansions for Diablo 3 seems par for the course all things considered.

Also, MMOGameSite is claiming that the resignation is due to this leak, thanks to the medium of another leak. [http://www.mmogamesite.com/news/blizzard-china-general-manager-fired-due-to-product-slate-leak.html] Hmmm...

 

[v3n0mat3]

I'm far more interested in Titan. I hope it's the next MMO. I really really hope so.

 

[Wolf Devastator]

Let's have a look...

I distinctly recall Blizzard mentioning a map market as part of their plans for Battle.net 2, so middle of next year seems as good a time as any. Unlocking Battle.net to 3rd parties is inevitable, but I would be surprised if it doesn't happen next year. Likewise, I can see Starcraft 2 Zerg expansion slipping into Q1 2012, as they were mooting an 18 month time frame. Diablo 3 Q4 2011 seems fair. No idea what SC2 Phoneix or WOW Brazil is (although I'd guess the latter is a version of WoW for Brazil). I'd say the turn-around time for Starcraft 2 Protoss expansion is optimistic, but the rest of the expansion dates are plausible. Of course, it begs the question what's the WoW TCG (isn't there one already?) and the WoW movie entries are for. I'd say the transitioning period around 2014 from WoW to New MMO is fair, assuming said new MMO gets off the ground (it probably will).

Aside from a few odd-ball entries, there's nothing outlandish I can see in the "leak". We are talking about Activision-Blizzard after all, two expansions for Diablo 3 seems par for the course all things considered.

Also, MMOGameSite is claiming that the resignation is due to this leak, thanks to the medium of another leak. [http://www.mmogamesite.com/news/blizzard-china-general-manager-fired-due-to-product-slate-leak.html] Hmmm...

The few updates on the story make it seem realistic, and nothing is too out of scope like you said. I'm just going to believe it is true until proven otherwise just to be out of the norm. Plus "Titan" sounds like a Blizzard sorta name, it's at least powerful enough

 

[Andy Chalk]

It's a long way from being believable but as John said, this resignation makes things a whole lot more interesting. If Paul Sams really does clean house in Shanghai, Blizzard is going to have to either do some serious rumour control, or just fess up that the cat got out of the bag.

And if that turns out to be true, you can bet that it'll be a LONG time before Blizzard's Chinese office sees anything more informative than Blizzard's Twitter feed.

 

[Vaccine]

Why would Blizzard, which still hasn't announced a release date for Diablo 3, commit on paper to having the second expansion ready for the end of 2014?

I remember what MMOChampion said about the Diablo 3 expansions was:

"Target release date in a year makes sense. The 2 expansions aren't really a surprise but I wouldn't take it as a confirmation, that's usually the kind of stuff you mention in company meetings with the higher-ups to make everyone happy."

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Blizzard seriously do not fuck about when it comes to secrecy of information and such. However I think it might be stretching just a little far to say these two events are connected...maybe if we get another hint.

 

[Infinatex]

If this is to be believed then that pretty interesting news. The thing that seems a bit odd to my that if Titan is to be the new MMO, then why would they release a 5th WoW expansion at the same time?

 

[bob1052]

The schedule for things we know, such as WoW expansion timing, is a bit early (1.5 years instead of 2 years apart) on that chart and a lot of things are being released at the same time (a WoW expansion and the launch of a brand new MMO in the same quarter) but for an internal shareholder meeting it looks certainly plausible. The two games in one quarter could just be, "We'll release one and delay the other" and the WoW expansion timing being off could be them saying it to make them happy now and then ask for more time later when it doesn't seem as a big a deal.

Of course, it begs the question what's the WoW TCG (isn't there one already?) and the WoW movie entries are for.

The WoW TCG (with Upper Deck iirc) contract ran out and currently it is frozen. Those plans are for a relaunch.

This is supposedly 6 months old and back then Sam Raimi was involved with the WoW movie around then (although it more recently has been put on hold)

 

[Infinatex]

snip

If this is to be believed then that pretty interesting news. The thing that seems a bit odd to my that if Titan is to be the new MMO, then why would they release a 5th WoW expansion at the same time?

The little that they've told us about it suggests that it's very much different from WoW. A next-gen action MMO, and likely a shooter at that. Kind of like Planetside, but hopefully more polished. Which means they're trying to add different types of gamers to their fanbase. It wouldn't be in direct competition with WoW, and their hope is no doubt to get some people playing both WoW and "Titan" at the same time.

A shooter would be pretty cool in an MMO format - especially if it's FPS. An MMOFPS would win me as a customer (not that that really matters to the as I already play WoW, SC2 and most definitely want D3!). I guess having two MMO's running would probably not be an issue. I mean they had Starcraft and Warcraft going at the same time in the same genre.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Warcraft doesn't have enough villains left to support two more expansions.

Yeah there will be. As long as there are subscribers there will be expansions and villains can be easily added to the game.

OT: Until Bobby Kotick steps down as the CEO of Activision Blizzard I refuse to play any Blizzard game. To me, Kotick is just a money hungry asshole and I see no reason why my money should go to paying his huge salary. They basically turned WoW into a money printing machine through the use of microtransactions. In fact, the game has turned into a micro transaction machine. There's a mobile auction house whose features can only be accessed by paying money, there are exclusive pets, exclusive mounts, character faction change, character race change, server transfer available only to those who pay the necesarry fee. To be honest, giving that the game requires I pay 15 a month it should at least cover server and faction changes. It's not like they can't make money using the Blizzard store which has already netted them a fuckload of cash through the selling of those annoying pets and that one celestial mount.

 

[Wolf Devastator]

I don't think we need to be speculating on whether this information is true or not, but on how Blizzard will react to this.

If it is true, would they change they're release dates so that they are no longer predictable?

I await a better response from them, anyone know if they are under any pressure over this? Are the forums rampant about this leak?

If there isn't that big of a stir (besides the resignation) and the release dates are faked, then I don't see them doing anything about it.

So either I hope it is true or I hope the fan-base goes crazy enough for Blizzard to step in and give the final word. Either one of these would be fun to watch?

 

[Who Dares Wins]

Warcraft doesn't have enough villains left to support two more expansions.

Yeah there will be. As long as there are subscribers there will be expansions and villains can be easily added to the game.

OT: Until Bobby Kotick steps down as the CEO of Activision Blizzard I refuse to play any Blizzard game. To me, Kotick is just a money hungry asshole and I see no reason why my money should go to paying his huge salary. They basically turned WoW into a money printing machine through the use of microtransactions. In fact, the game has turned into a micro transaction machine. There's a mobile auction house whose features can only be accessed by paying money, there are exclusive pets, exclusive mounts, character faction change, character race change, server transfer available only to those who pay the necesarry fee. To be honest, giving that the game requires I pay 15 a month it should at least cover server and faction changes. It's not like they can't make money using the Blizzard store which has already netted them a fuckload of cash through the selling of those annoying pets and that one celestial mount.

There can never be enough money, if you had that kind of money you'd probably want it never to end, if you could get fed up with cash Blizzard would be giving away free shit and wouldn't charge for the game at all.