Poll: Thoughts on Blizzard's two big announcements?

[Raven28256]

I'm sorry if there is a topic on this somewhere; I didn't see one after doing a search.

Anyway, for those who haven't heard yet, Blizzard recently made two big announcements that have shaken the faith of even their most loyal fans. First is Blizzard's decision to split StarCraft II into three games. Not expansions, mind you. Rather, they are splitting the game into three. The first game covers the Terran campaign, the second covers the Zerg campaign, and the third covers the Protoss campaign. Blizzard claims that they had to do this because each campaign is "longer than the ones in past StarCraft games." Not only that, but each one will be priced as a full game, not as individual expansions, meaning that fans will now have to pay $150 plus tax for the StarCraft II experience instead of just $50.

Secondly, Blizzard is considering the concept of charging for Battle.net, a service that they have offered in all their games for free since 1997. This is something many fans find even more disturbing because it shows that Blizzard is becoming more greedy after the merger with Activision. The service was free even before Blizzard was the juggernaut that they are now; you can't tell me they can't afford to keep it that way. It seems as though Blizzard is looking at their profits from WoW and saying "Huh...Imagine how much we can make off the Battle.net users! There are MILLIONS of them!"

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[gibboss28]

Secondly, Blizzard is considering the concept of charging for Battle.net, a service that they have offered in all their games for free since 1997. This is something many fans find even more disturbing because it shows that Blizzard is becoming more greedy after the merger with Activision. The service was free even before Blizzard was the juggernaut that they are now; you can't tell me they can't afford to keep it that way. It seems as though Blizzard is looking at their profits from WoW and saying "Huh...Imagine how much we can make off the Battle.net users! There are MILLIONS of them!"

Thoughts? Opinions?

I wanna see a link and until that i am calling bs on it

 

[Raven28256]

Secondly, Blizzard is considering the concept of charging for Battle.net, a service that they have offered in all their games for free since 1997. This is something many fans find even more disturbing because it shows that Blizzard is becoming more greedy after the merger with Activision. The service was free even before Blizzard was the juggernaut that they are now; you can't tell me they can't afford to keep it that way. It seems as though Blizzard is looking at their profits from WoW and saying "Huh...Imagine how much we can make off the Battle.net users! There are MILLIONS of them!"

Thoughts? Opinions?

I wanna see a link and until that i am calling bs on it

and in a pre-emptive strike: shut up Pyronox.

Whoops, sorry.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/11/blizzards-wilson-some-battle-net-features-to-be-monetized/

 

[xitel]

I don't like the Episodic releases of SC, but I can put up with that. The fact that they want to charge for Battle.net, instead of making a World of Starcraft, is annoying, but I expect greed from every company, so it doesn't surprise me.

 

[Caliostro]

...You mean World of Warcraft wasn't an obvious enough hint for you?

 

[gibboss28]

well thats retarded.

 

[varulfic]

The three games thing pissed me off. Feels like I'm being blackmailed. Still want the game though. But if they try to force me into paying for battle.net then that's it. I'm not gonna be buying the game, or any games from blizzard ever.

 

[LV Solace]

wow splitting SCII into the three campaigns is a dick move. Although they will get away with it. blizzard fanboys will still shell it out, and well lets face it I might even do that. Although it's a really horrible thing to do. Charge a hundred and keep it together as one game.

The battle.net thing doesnt suprise me, although it is not a concern of mine, I never really used it. However it is worce than the SCII announcment. Charging money for a service that you ran for a decade for free without losing money. I hope someone like a god punishes blizzard for this.

 

[shatnershaman]

It is pretty easy to see why they are doing this though. Money,money,money,money, money!

 

[TsunamiWombat]

They said MONETIZE, not that it would be subscription based. Wait until they give specifics before you get out the torches and pitchforks. The SCII issue has been discussed several times.

Remember, they're a business- financial crisis, rising cost of production, anyone? Yeah, I guess you all forgot. Anyway save me a spot in the angry mob, i'll join you when there's confirmation that battlenet will be pay per month or whatever.

 

[Jolly Madness]

Hhmmm... You can bet that there will be a collector's edition which will only cost you your eternal soul in exchange for all the three "episodes". Meh, just means that I'll only buy the Protoss one, but if you for example need to have the terran episode to play Terran skirmish/online I'm going to start a crusade against Blizzard...

 

[Raven28256]

They said MONETIZE, not that it would be subscription based. Wait until they give specifics before you get out the torches and pitchforks. The SCII issue has been discussed several times.

Same damn thing though...It is just the fact that they have been offering the service for a decade for free, yet now suddenly want to make us pay money for it/special features? Blizzard honestly has no reason to charge money beyond greed getting the better of them. They can afford to keep the service free; they were doing so even before WoW made them as rich as God.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Hhmmm... You can bet that there will be a collector's edition which will only cost you your eternal soul in exchange for all the three "episodes". Meh, just means that I'll only buy the Protoss one, but if you for example need to have the terran episode to play Terran skirmish/online I'm going to start a crusade against Blizzard...

You don't.

 

[Alleged_Alec]

Damn... I was planning to buy SC2, but this dick move is making me reconsider that... Hell, I'm already certain that I won't buy it. As if it isn't enough to pay 60 euros for a game, we'll now need to pay 180 to get the full experience.

 

[Joeshie]

Remember, they're a business- financial crisis, rising cost of production, anyone? Yeah, I guess you all forgot. Anyway save me a spot in the angry mob, i'll join you when there's confirmation that battlenet will be pay per month or whatever.

With the amount of money they pull in from World of Warcraft, I find it kind of hard to believe that Blizzard can't spend a bit of money to make Battle.net completely free.

They did it in the past when they didn't have a giant like WoW. Now they do have a giant cash cow like WoW and suddenly they can't do it anymore? I'm calling bullshit.

The way it's looking, Blizzard just isn't the same company anymore. Whether it was from merging with Activision or seeing all the money they made through WoW, Blizzard has become a money grubbing whore.

 

[axia777]

I must sound like a broken record, but I want to know about the pricing strategy for Star Craft 2. I know that Diablo 3 will kick ass and Battlenet is still free. So what is to worry about that? WoW can burn in gamers hell for all I care. So for me it is Star Craft 2 or BUST!!!

The way it's looking, Blizzard just isn't the same company anymore. Whether it was from merging with Activision or seeing all the money they made through WoW, Blizzard has become a money grubbing whore.

It is Activison. They have perverted the Blizzard spirit to be money whores.

Damn... I was planning to buy SC2, but this dick move is making me reconsider that... Hell, I'm already certain that I won't buy it. As if it isn't enough to pay 60 euros for a game, we'll now need to pay 180 to get the full experience.

We don't know anything yet. The time to be disappointed is when they say "Yep, ever single section of Star Craft 23 will be $60!!".

 

[Flos]

Ugh. I was a huge Blizzard fan, but if they charge for Battlenet I'm not going to be buying any more of their games, or I'll just play the single-player missions only.

And SC into three games? What, are the campaigns more than 60 hours long each? :/

 

[TomNook]

As long as they keep doing the "it'll be ready when its ready" thing, I'll follow Blizzard to the ends of the Earth.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I think you all being a little over-reactionary. In the end I don't care if they're money whores as long as they make good ass games.

 

[huntedannoyed]

Wow, that is criminal. But at the same time, it seems kind of cool that you get a game devoted strictly to the Zerg! Also, I had forgoten about Starcraft 2 anyways since hearing about Diablo 3.