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Activision Blizzard stock is tanking. (WSJ)

Mengy

Mengy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,365
Daitokuji said:
Blizzard has 4 IPs, 3 of which were created in the 1990s and have been milked pretty much dry. The 4th one has been overshadowed by BR games.
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I've always loved Blizzard games, but it does feel like they've stagnated quite a bit in recent years.

OverWatch has been a very successful new IP for them, but it's just not my kind of game.

Hearthstone is a game I used to love playing, but if you don't play regularly then you fall "behind" and it then becomes unsatisfying to play at all IMHO.

Heroes of the Storm is honestly my favorite MOBA game, but they've dropped support for it unfortunately. I don't like how they monetized the game, its always felt like I needed to buy a stimpack in order to feel any progression while playing. People don't like having to buy XP boosters, and I wish they had simply eased the progression curve a bit to make playing feel more rewarding.

I played WoW for many years but around 2012 I just wasn't playing enough to justify the monthly fee anymore. If it went F2P I'd start playing again today.

Diablo III is fun but its become very stale since it doesn't change anymore due to minimal support now. I feel like they gave up on it way too early, or they've taken too long to bring out D4. Immortal is nothing I'm interested in, it might as well not exist to me.

I love some StarCraft 2 now and then but it is a very difficult game to play casually. I am an eternal bronze league hero in SC2, and I play most of my matches either against the AI or in with other people in co-op against the AI because it's the best way for me to get any enjoyment out of SC2. The game's skill ceiling severely limits it's own playerbase IMHO.




I love Blizzard games, and yet oddly they currently don't have much at all to offer me in gaming. Nor do they have anything announced for me to look forward to. I have to wonder how many other Blizzard fans are in the same boat?
 
degauss

degauss

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,631
Blizzard are a great company, great support for their titles. I actually don't like any of their current games apart from overwatch, but that's just my taste, they make good, polished titles. I hate that shitty MOBA games have taken over from good old fashioned RTS though, really hope they come back in that genre, or reinvent the genre. I don't want to see blizzard struggling.

Activision and Call of Duty? Meh. COD is a Formerly great series. I tried dipping in again this year, worst money I've ever spent on gaming. It's not awful, but it's incredibly douchy and silly, it should be called Call of Duty : Dick Wariors. It's so far from the taste and intrigue modern warfare 1. And releasing a battle Royale game on a 1 year cycle was speculative, but probably now looking really bad now VS Apex Legends, which is just out and out a way, way better game for free.

So maybe a little readjustment is long overdue.
 
Baccus

Baccus

Banned
Dec 4, 2018
5,307
That company needs more devs on top. Maybe not as CEO, but at least with a little, just a little greater corporate power.

You can't decide from marketing/finance down efficiently forever in an industry each day more artistic yet more technical.
 
JahIthBer

JahIthBer

Member
Jan 27, 2018
10,371
I really wonder if they just announced Diablo 4 for PC/PS4/XO as a $60 title with no MTX with a release in 2019/20, would their stock have gone down as much? D3 sold over 30mil copies, but because they had to cut the MTX side of it, they decided 30mil copies with no MTX wasn't enough money & Diablo had to become a Phone franchise now, but im not that guy that got paid 15 mil dollars to make these decisions, so whatever.
 
Duxxy3

Duxxy3

Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,660
USA
JahIthBer said:
I really wonder if they just announced Diablo 4 for PC/PS4/XO as a $60 title with no MTX with a release in 2019/20, would their stock have gone down as much? D3 sold over 30mil copies, but because they had to cut the MTX side of it, they decided 30mil copies with no MTX wasn't enough money & Diablo had to become a Phone franchise now, but im not that guy that got paid 15 mil dollars to make these decisions, so whatever.
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As much? Maybe not.

But I think most of the damage to the stock is due to Destiny as well as increased competition for COD.
 
H.Cornerstone

H.Cornerstone

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,689
This is what Activision gets for being greedy, and not selling Blackout by itself or making it F2P. Huge missed opportunity.
 

itchi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,287
Baccus said:
That company needs more devs on top. Maybe not as CEO, but at least with a little, just a little greater corporate power.

You can't decide from marketing/finance down efficiently forever in an industry each day more artistic yet more technical.
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Agree but now it's too late the majority have already left.
 
machinaea

machinaea

Game Producer
Verified
Oct 29, 2017
221
elenarie said:
Posts like these make it very difficult to remain part of this forum.
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Very much this (well at least it doesn't encourage posting more often and there are thread titles that I simply avoid nowadays).


But on the topic, ATVI is definitely in tight spot as even though they have some of gaming's biggest franchises (don't forget King!), the growth prospectives aren't looking too hot and while lay-offs could even bump the stock under different scenarios, ATVI will have face issues showing how they aim to grow.
 
Bold One

Bold One

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
18,911
Carolina Reaper said:
I'm willing to bet that funding Destiny hurt more than losing it.
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Nah, engagement is really high for the title, and generates cash, just not all of the cash.
JahIthBer said:
I really wonder if they just announced Diablo 4 for PC/PS4/XO as a $60 title with no MTX with a release in 2019/20, would their stock have gone down as much? D3 sold over 30mil copies, but because they had to cut the MTX side of it, they decided 30mil copies with no MTX wasn't enough money & Diablo had to become a Phone franchise now, but im not that guy that got paid 15 mil dollars to make these decisions, so whatever.
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Sir, I represent a major Chinese digital conglomerate and we are very interested in your "Call of Duty: Dick Warriors" idea.

See your inbox for further contact details.
 
commish

commish

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,274
ITT: Folks extremely eager to condemn an ERA poster to death for having the audacity to suggest that he hopes a certain game fails. Because, you know, what he really meant was that he hopes tons of folks get fired, lose their hair, etc. We all know what he meant, and it wasn't that he hopes people get fired. Good lord you folks are quick to the pitchforks.

Re: Activision, it, like many companies, was/is slow to change with a new gaming environment. In the old days you could just make small changes to a game each year and reap massive profits. That's not the direction things are going. I still maintain that Destiny could have been an enormous cash cow, but it was just mishandled left and right, often because of greed and a condescending attitude toward players. It sounds like they need new blood at the top making the big decisions.
 

FantaSoda

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,992
Just a lot of uncertainty around the industry right now. Look at September for each of those stocks compared to today. We would be saying similar things about EA (which is still down even with Apex) and Ubisoft.

I think the project contraction where these companies started placing fewer and fewer bets on bigger and more expensive projects has really shown itself to be untenable. What does Activision have on the horizon now that CoD is about rung dry? They have nothing new, killed any new IP that had any promise and their existing franchises are on the verge of exhaustion.
 
Don Fluffles

Don Fluffles

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,051
PMS341 said:
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Don't be disingenuous. Their "job security" is based solely on the whim of CEOs and upper management who want nothing more than to squeeze every last bit of profit they can into their own pockets. They don't give a shit about employees or their job security.



Unfortunately, they pay for their mistakes regardless. To Activision leadership, there is no mistake here. This is calculated.
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New Democratic policies can't fucking come soon enough. I'd love for them to just outlaw shit like golden parachutes and sweeteners while paying developers peanuts.
 
Trace

Trace

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,683
Canada
elenarie said:
Posts like these make it very difficult to remain part of this forum.
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The blatant anti-developer posts this forum is infested with are disgusting at times tbh. "Lazy devs" is banworthy but "good I hope this fails" should be banworthy as well. I do hope you stay because I like seeing you around but in your shoes I'd probably feel like leaving as well. I only do indie dev work on the side so my life doesn't revolve around it but seeing people shit on your profession is awful.
 
Deepwater

Deepwater

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,349
Velocity:Design:Comfort said:
I don't really like this line of argument, even if I see why people make it and agree we need to support the people who actually make the games.

But Monsanto, Koch Industries, and Wal Mart employ thousands too. No one is out here defending the actions, corporate structure or corporate leadership of these companies (remember this is a topic about share holders).
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Because Activision is on the same level of Monsanto, Koch, or Walmart. Jesus. find better comparisons
 
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