Noonan

I'd imagine they'll spend a good bit of time talking up the Switch version of D3 that just came out.

K&AJones

I think most feel the same way though there's still hope. I keep up with the official forums and everyone had a positive outlook up till a few weeks ago when Blizzard sort or dampened the expectations and hopes with some remarks.

While it doesn't look promising for a Diablo 4 announcement, a lot are holding out for a possible Diablo 2 Remake along with possible huge update with new maps and rumored characters such as a Amazon & Assassin. Anything is possible but the fact is there is a panel today which is far better than anything the last two Blizzcons especially last years when there was nothing.

lopper

My money's on a Diablo 2 remaster/remake.

Noonan

Remastered version of Warcraft III confirmed.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wa.../1100-6462974/

shizawn

Diablo mobile? Fuck off!

K&AJones

[QUOTE=shizawn;13437132]Diablo mobile? Fuck off![/QUOTE

Yep...and the official Diablo Forums are having a full fledge Nuke Meltdown right now. A few people actually had guessed something like this but most knew talk on the Switch version was coming but had held out for a D2 remake.....to say their ticked off is an understatement.....we're talking pitchforks & torches ready to burn down Blizzard.....Blizzard basically did it again...just gave the middle finger to PC and Console Players.

I don't think I can play the game anymore which is a shame. I play Path of Exiles on PC and have heard a good chance it might be coming to the PS4. What a shame to see what's happened to a great game that easily should've been built on and continued with.....

lopper

Yeah, that's kind of horseshit.

K&AJones

IGN has a full story about the experience and the outrage that followed....

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/11...e-by-community

Here's a link to the Cinematic Trailer.....has 7.3K Likes and an astounding 217K Dislikes...


I don't know if there's video of it, but after they announced it they say there was a brief moment of silence like the crowd was stunned before boos erupted. They say also that Wyatt Cheng, a senior at blizzard was seen crying after the crowd reacted backastage.....

Jay G.

I found a video of the stage announcement of Diablo Immortal, with twitch comments, and while the Twitch comments are instantly critical, the actual audience is either more positive or more polite, applauding after the cinematic and gameplay trailers

There was booing during the later Q&A section, especially when they announced there were no plans for a PC version:


It's interesting that during the announcement they say you'll be able to play it "everywhere, on everything, but aren't planning PC, and maybe no console? PUBG and Fortnite have gotten a lot of traction for their "play everywhere" cross-platform compatibility.

lopper

I don't know what Blizzard could've possibly expected other than the negative crowd reaction. Wasn't this their main, most hyped presentation? I've read that tickets ran about 200 dollars. That's a lot of money to a lot of people, and I'd guess that this is a pretty big trip for a lot of fans, so to be this disappointed by the announcement of a mobile game is, to me, totally understandable.

I haven't seen the video of the guy from the audience saying something at the presentation, but it sounded like he just made a bad, maybe passive aggressive joke to the devs. To hear it from games media, particularly the overly dramatic and sanctimonious Jason Schrier at Kotaku, it was a vicious attack. Again, I don't know what they expected.

Jay G.

They really misunderstood the in-theater audience they were pitching this to. These are the hardcore fans, which means to a large degree PC users. You don't lead the presentations with a mobile game, that's something you announce in an "oh, one more thing..." announcement near the end. Or you announce it at an Apple iPhone announcement, to push the mobile aspect.

I think it's telling, in response to the booing they got when saying it's PC only during the Q&A, one of the panel asks "you guys don't have phones?" It's like, I can understand why they think a mobile Diablo would be a good move, and I'm sure it will do really well, but the audience they're addressing in the theater don't want a mobile game, they want a new PC game.

Here's the video, on both Twitter (sound in sync), and youtube (sound slightly off sync):

https://twitter.com/SkillUpYT/status...780032/video/1

It's a passive-aggressive joke.

lopper

I actually feel for the guys on stage who had to stick to the marketing talking points. They had to know going out there that this announcement would not go over well. They were just thrown to the wolves.

But Blizzard as a whole really botched this. It's just crazy how out of touch the decision makers had to be to green light this panel.

K&AJones

That's it in a nutshelll which in the past from what I have read, the opening panel sort of sets the tone for the whole show. Someone, somewhere or some group came up with this probabnly based on some outside study showing gaming on mobile devices will increase by xyz% in the next couple of years. Well....whoever did the study or made this decision forgot to ask the Hardcore/Medium Core We Love Diablo Fanbase that's composed of Pc & Console Players that's kept some of the Diablo on lifesupport by still playing it while Blizzard more or less threw all their resources into Overwatch, Heros of the Storm and World of Warcraft.

All one has to do is look up...NetEase....one of China's Titans in the PC and Mobile game markets that has a lot of say-so with most of Blizzards games. The other firm is Tencent which has a lot of say with Overwatch and Hearthstone. Netease also has a stake with Bungie but on the minority side.

RichC2

Yeah, I don't think it was the right time to reveal the game, but I don't get the overall outrage about it outside of the piss poor handling of Q&A session.

That said, obvious money grab is obvious.

K&AJones

Well at least PS4 Players might have something to rejoice about....

Path of Exile Coming To PS4 – Releases In December

https://www.psu.com/news/path-of-exi...-release-date/

I've been playing on the PC and like it. There really hasn't been any solid top-down action games in that Diablo style. I've seen a lo of the PC Diablo players comment on they play it.

And there's some stories out there Blizzard had thought about doing some announcement on Diablo 4 but they really didn't have anything to show so they pulled it.....and we see how that went over.

fumanstan

Some of you have an idea of what I do, so I obviously can't comment much... but hey, Warcraft III Remastered looks awesome?

That said...

This is not accurate at all.

K&AJones

Hmmmm......

Blizzard and NetEase renew their lucrative online gaming partnership in China

https://venturebeat.com/2016/09/26/b...ship-in-china/

September 2016....Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase announced that they have renewed their online games partnership in China.

Blizzard Entertainment NetEase have partnered on the operation of games in China including Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch, as well as new content for these games during the agreement period.

The relationship between Blizzard and NetEase is now entering its ninth year. The two companies began working together in 2008 with a license agreement to bring Blizzard’s StarCraft II and Battle.net platform into China.

Over the years, Blizzard and NetEase have worked hard toward the goal of launching Blizzard games in China simultaneously with Blizzard’s launches in other regions–a goal the companies have achieved in recent years.


NetEase powers up to expand thriving mobile business...March 2017

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/busines...t_28417080.htm


On Tencent....

This Chinese Tech Giant Owns More Than Riot Games

http://fortune.com/2015/12/22/tencen...s-acquisition/

The company acquired a majority stake (93%) of Riot Games back in February 2011 for a reported $400 million. According to Patrick Walker, analyst at research firm EEDAR, Riot was valued at $500 million back then.

“Two years ago, Tencent indirectly stated that just over half of their players were from China,” says Newzoo CEO Peter Warman. “It is by far the leading MOBA in China and, equally important, the biggest eSports franchise.”

Warman believes that Tencent has three main priorities: growing its share of the Western games market as a whole, growing the global mobile games market, and dominating eSports in China.

While Riot Games is a key part of Tencent’s global video game strategy, it’s but one piece of the pie. Warman says Tencent controls a significant share of Glu Mobile and has at least a 10% stake in Activision Blizzard Inc.(ATVI, -0.16%), which recently acquired King Digital Entertainment for $5.9 billion.

...and besides Blizzard/Activision...Tencent also has a majority stake in Supercell, the Dev behind Clash of Clans and recently Grinding Gears Games which does Path of Exile that has some long term players watching closely and not sure of what the future might bring.

K&AJones

I'd love to give this game a shot but I just cannot do two monthly pay-as-you-go games...I'm already in with Elder Scrolls. I never did try the Demo which I believe gets you to Level 20 or something like that but if you want to go on and progress then the $14 or so a month kicks in...which is pretty much what ESO is.

Jay G.

I don't think there's any denying that Blizzard and NetEase have a relationship. I think the disagreement is on how much "say so," if any, NetEase has on Blizzard game development. Nothing in the articles you cited says anything about NetEase having any control over Blizzard.


Your article is out of date. Tencent owns less than 4.9% of Blizzard as of 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent
As a "passive investor," they would have zero say in how Blizzard runs their company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_investor


Now, Diablo Immortal is clearly a product of Blizzard's partnership with NetEase. This could be because NetEase pitched Blizzard the idea, or Blizzard maybe came up with the idea, and NetEase was the obvious partner for the project. However, there's no evidence to suggest that NetEase has any control over Blizzard and told them to make it.

Noonan

Is it a sub game? Other than World, none of the Warcraft games have been.

alaayasser

i search about middle of honor game winrar file please ..

fumanstan

Correct. China has regulations on foreign owned companies operating in the country, and as such NetEase runs China specific operations for Blizzard games. They do not have "a lot of say-so with most of Blizzards games" as claimed.


Also correct, Tencent does not have "a lot of say with Overwatch and Hearthstone" as claimed.

No, Warcraft III Reforged is not an MMO and does not have a subscription.

K&AJones

Thanks for clearing up the Warcraft Reforged....I just see Warcraft and think it's all the same or close to each other. I see this is Real Time Strategy instead....oh well, close yet so far.....

Noonan

Looks like the 'classic" series is making its way to PC. Mini console designed to run old DOS PC games:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming...d-play-system/

Jay G.

So.... a Raspberry Pi running DOSBox?

I'm not sure that a "PC mini" has the same appeal as the other mini consoles. People don't have the same memory of playing DOS games on their TV like there was with the NES, SNES, Genesis, Playstation, etc, and many DOS games weren't really designed for being played on a TV at a distance with a controller.

Also, many, many old DOS games are available for sale on Steam and GOG, so I'm not sure there's much pent up demand for any games they put on these things.