Blizzard Doesn't Care About Innovation for StarCraft II

[SextusMaximus]

This news is like the gay guy in the class finslly admitting he was gay, despite the fact that everyone but the lovestruck fools knew already.

Well done Blizzard, you came out of the closet.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Awesome, still doesn't change the fact we will be waiting forever for the other expansions.

But if it ain't broke don't fix it, so it's good to see them being smart about it.

 

[Carnagath]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, both SC2 and D3 are fan service projects for Blizzard, nothing else. They will make very little money with them compared to WoW, an almost trivial amount. They are making them because they felt that they couldn't put it off any longer and just to please their fans and polish up their different IP's a little. I believe that the most of Blizzard's creative and innovative talent is being used in the creation of their new MMO IP. This is where one should expect to see something different and exciting from Blizzard, nowhere else.

 

[Aurora219]

Good for them. I'm glad someone isn't bending to the wills of the press.

But the idea of cover systems never gets old. I mean, I'm playing Company of Heroes practically daily and it immerses you in the battlefield like no other. Blowing up a tank and then using the husk of it to cover from advancing enemies is just spectacular. Not to mention craters, buildings, rubble, hedges, trees...

You get the idea.

 

[Tetranitrophenol]

As stated by many others already; "Don't fix what isn't broken"

 

[tetron]

Blizzard continues to earn my deepest of respect with this statement. It's so pleasing to see a game company these days that doesn't say "Fuck the small number of computer geeks we pulled in with our earlier games, we want to pull in the big audience." Yay Blizzard !

 

[LionsFist]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, both SC2 and D3 are fan service projects for Blizzard, nothing else. They will make very little money with them compared to WoW, an almost trivial amount. They are making them because they felt that they couldn't put it off any longer and just to please their fans and polish up their different IP's a little. I believe that the most of Blizzard's creative and innovative talent is being used in the creation of their new MMO IP. This is where one should expect to see something different and exciting from Blizzard, nowhere else.

Mmm I dunno. If you consider that Diablo 2 has only dropped in price ever so slowly at the retail stores since it's release 10 years ago... The game, while it's multiplayer has been more unbalanced and duped to shit for years, even on battle.net itself, is still immensely popular in the community. Outside of that, Starcraft 2 would EASILY be the most anticipated new release title in the last few years (worldwide), and is going to be a huge smash on the industry for a while to come, with all new RTS's being compared to this for the future. Remember, BW took a long time to reach the balance standards of the current RTS sports level. SC2, while lacking a little balance currently, is still looking set to be ready much sooner than that.

I think both these projects will make Blizzard lots of money. Remember, WoW does have an income cap on it. It's lifespan is starting to wane...

 

[Antiparticle]

Browder believes that every developer should look at its game to determine what it does right and to iterate on it for improvement, and should not innovate on gameplay that doesn't necessarily need it.

Yes! Yes. I'm so sick of well-established gaming series suddenly totally changing just cause 'the kids want something new'. Splinter Cell, Aliens versus Predator, DOOM, Command & Conquer, Banjo-Kazooie, Bomberman, Resident Evil, and of course Sonic all did this. Don't change a winning formula ffs!

 

[Carnagath]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, both SC2 and D3 are fan service projects for Blizzard, nothing else. They will make very little money with them compared to WoW, an almost trivial amount. They are making them because they felt that they couldn't put it off any longer and just to please their fans and polish up their different IP's a little. I believe that the most of Blizzard's creative and innovative talent is being used in the creation of their new MMO IP. This is where one should expect to see something different and exciting from Blizzard, nowhere else.

Mmm I dunno. If you consider that Diablo 2 has only dropped in price ever so slowly at the retail stores since it's release 10 years ago... The game, while it's multiplayer has been more unbalanced and duped to shit for years, even on battle.net itself, is still immensely popular in the community. Outside of that, Starcraft 2 would EASILY be the most anticipated new release title in the last few years (worldwide), and is going to be a huge smash on the industry for a while to come, with all new RTS's being compared to this for the future. Remember, BW took a long time to reach the balance standards of the current RTS sports level. SC2, while lacking a little balance currently, is still looking set to be ready much sooner than that.

I think both these projects will make Blizzard lots of money. Remember, WoW does have an income cap on it. It's lifespan is starting to wane...

Ok, let's assume that Starcraft 2 sells 10 million units (which is not gonna happen, but let's assume). That's 500 mil. Which is... 3 months of running WoW subs for a game that took, what, 5 years of active development to make? Also, WoW's lifespan is not waning at all, it's just not growing at the same pace as before. Like always, the new expansion will reignite interest in the game and even bring old players back. WoW will never die if Blizzard doesn't kill it. Even if it goes on for 20 more years it will probably still have the most active subscribers of any MMO at that time.

 

[D_987]

Browder believes that every developer should look at its game to determine what it does right and to iterate on it for improvement, and should not innovate on gameplay that doesn't necessarily need it.

Yes! Yes. I'm so sick of well-established gaming series suddenly totally changing just cause 'the kids want something new'. Splinter Cell, Aliens versus Predator, DOOM, Command & Conquer, Banjo-Kazooie, Bomberman, Resident Evil, and of course Sonic all did this. Don't change a winning formula ffs!

Why not? Innovation is great - especially when it's a tired series. Starcraft is an exception because it is so popular - and it's an RTS; therefore you can't change anything drastically - but now you've brought up some examples lets look at them shall we?

Splinter Cell - I assume you're referring to Conviction? The old Splinter Cell series was going downhill - after Chaos Theory the games has been steadily getting lower review scores and sales - they needed to change. Conviction, in my opinion, is a great game with some fantastic innovative features.

Alien vs Predators - well I agree with you with regards to this game.

Doom - Doom 3 has a score of 87 on Metacritic, and really where could they have gone? Gaming had change since the pixellated days of the original Doom - they had a create a more atmospheric shooter.

Command and Conquer - I can't comment on this as I've not played the series.

Banjo - Kazooie - the recent game was an entertaining spectacle with a respectful 79 score on Metacritic. It met its target demographic and created a fun game for kids, on a console that is severely lacking in games like that.

Bomberman - I agree with you - the new design was terrible.

Resident Evil - I disagree; the series had to change because after Resident Evil 4 where do you go with the whole survival horror thing? They couldn't top that game, and without innovating they'd be doing a dis-service to the player-base. RE5 was a fun, action-packed game with a score of 86 on Metacritic and a large player-base even today.

Sonic - I agree, but really after 2D they had to change something; they didn't want to (but ironically have) go the way of Megaman by simply recreating the old games for XBL and PSN.

 

[Keith_F]

I always like to think of Warcraft and Starcraft as two very different creative projects. Blizzard's approach to designing Starcraft seems much more focused on fine tuning gameplay to provide a very nuanced, finely balanced, competitive game. It doesn't matter so much if there is a radical change in how the game plays or expanding its universe. Instead, they're interested in creating another extremely deep strategy experience, one that looks like it will be a little more varied than the first. Warcraft on the other hand is a more colourful, story-driven experience that seems to allow more space for experimentation. Warcraft 3's introducing hero classes and multiple additional races showed a more creative side of Blizzard, willing to have a bit more fun mixing up its series. It's still a balanced, well designed game, but it was willing to make the gameplay design a second priority to exploring new ideas. In my opinion, the two balance each other nicely.

 

[Baconmonster723]

Good for Blizzard. The company that succeeds isn't the company that creates new innovations. It's the company that perfects those innovations. Very few inventors in the real world ever got rich, it was always the person who took that idea and did it the best that ultimately got rich off of it. It just so happens this time that Blizzard is taking what essentially is their own "invention" and attempting to perfect it even more than it already is. Good on you Blizzard.

 

[Dreyfuss]

When you're developing a sequel to the best game of all time, it's probably a good idea not to rock the boat. Very glad they didn't, though I would've preferred a more traditional singleplayer as well, just because non-linear storytelling destroys canon