How stupid is Blizzard for not making D3?

[Lithan]

Ok... I know MMORPG are such a juicy turd that every developer wants to pour money down the throats of any dev team attempting them... but hear me out.

I just reinstalled D2 and LoD. I paided $70 on release for D2 collectors edition and got LoD a couple days after release for whatever it's retail was (30 or 40$ I think). I've played dozens of games trying to give me my diablo fix with modern looks and new skills/equipment and character development.

Guild wars ~$110 invested
Sacred ~$60 invested
Jade Empire ~$200 invested (bought an xbox to play it)

I've also played demos of titan quest and a half dozen other diablo-style games whose reviewers promised the world and the games all fell dramatically short.

Honestly... there are some people who just aren't interested in WASTING TIME grinding (Which every single MMORPG requires in one way or another). People don't all want to deal with the teenagers that make up 99% of these worlds. Some people just want an action RPG with good graphics, a variety of skills, terrain, enemies and items: that let's them team up and play with their buddies.


Don't get me started on Hellgate... Yeah it looks decent... but every damn review theres more and more content that only the Pay 2 Play'ers get. It's like buying the game and only getting the demo unless you rent the extra content.

[Speederlander]

D2 was pretty much the best computer game I have ever played from a replayability and addiction standpoint. Especially in the period of patch 1.08 and 1.09 (pre-out-of-control hacked items). Patch 1.10 and on were also very good (just that period on the last half of 1.09 was messed up bad). Goes to show you don't need cutting edge graphics for an amazing experience.

[xenoasd]

1.09 was godly. i totally quited d2, when 1.10 camed out and the whole wipe thing too.

[pissboy]

D3? I've purchased Starcraft+Brood War a good ~3x each and have been waiting 10 years for SC2.

[rogueagent6]

D3? I've purchased Starcraft+Brood War a good ~3x each and have been waiting 10 years for SC2.

Exactly, Diablo got it's D2... So they would be stupid not to go with SC2 first...

[Machinus]

They are making almost 2 billion a year off of WoW...I'd say they haven't made any big mistakes.

[rogueagent6]

They are making almost 2 billion a year off of WoW...I'd say they haven't made any big mistakes.

QFT

[Zytek_Fan]

I hope Diablo 3 comes next. I loved playing Diablo 2 many years ago. I'd stay up till like 4am on weekends playing it

[Soulburner]

A little quick to judge...this post is a bit premature, seeing as how its only 2007, and if they do go with a D3, which is inevitable, it won't be out until 2010 at the earliest. They are hard at work on SC2 and WoW is still a full time job as well.

So saying they are stupid for not making D3? How do you know they aren't?

[YukonTrooper]

Maybe make Diablo 3 a MMO. Or how bout the World of Starcraft? Haha, anything besides World of Warcraft 2. They are gonna need something down the road somewhere because they can't hold the crown forever on the current engine. I think Warhammer is going to give WOW a serious run for its money.

[mcflurry4321]

Maybe make Diablo 3 a MMO. Or how bout the World of Starcraft? Haha, anything besides World of Warcraft 2. They are gonna need something down the road somewhere because they can't hold the crown forever on the current engine. I think Warhammer is going to give WOW a serious run for its money.

No do NOT make Diablo 3 an MMO.

And yeah, I definitely agree that Warhammer is going to destroy WOW. I can't wait to see that happen

[Zytek_Fan]

A little quick to judge...this post is a bit premature, seeing as how its only 2007, and if they do go with a D3, which is inevitable, it won't be out until 2010 at the earliest. They are hard at work on SC2 and WoW is still a full time job as well.

So saying they are stupid for not making D3? How do you know they aren't?

I see 2009 at the earliest. It could be in development right now...we all know how secretive Blizzard is.

[Noob-ftw]

I would've like to see Diablo 3 come out this year; the Diablo 2 online economy is wrecked.

[Zytek_Fan]

I would've like to see Diablo 3 come out this year; the Diablo 2 online economy is wrecked.

The only people that play Diablo 2 now won't do to help you out.

[Verisimilitude]

For some reason, I always liked D1 better than D2. As far as D3, they certainly have enough background info to pull it off, but not having the original dev team around we make the new one feel to "weird". Its kind of like the direction the CIV's went when Activision bought them, to much flash and not enough quality game.

If they make a D3 I'd definately play it though.

[Newblar]

yeah d3 is gonna have a fabulous story line
diablo died twice
the third time is gonna be cool
[/sarcasm]

[Soulburner]

I see 2009 at the earliest. It could be in development right now...we all know how secretive Blizzard is.

I don't. I seriously doubt they are developing SC2 and D3 while simultaneously managing and creating content for WoW. I don't know of any single developer that could pull that off.

[EternityZX9]

First the Nostalgia:

I played the game from the first week it came out until most recently when the ladder finally reset. The game was best imho during the 1.09 patch. 1.10 basically killed pvp in my mind. And thus the major draw of the game. I probably spent close to...$500 on items in the game and over 1,000+ hours of my life over the course of the past 7 years - perhaps a total waste of money and energy - but during the time I was playing I really enjoyed it. Because of this I've steered completely away from WoW because of the fear of being too addicted.

However, I will gladly play Diablo 3 when it comes out (1 addiction every decade isn't so bad )and to say the least, I can't wait for another sequel, but I believe that SC2 is more deserving at the moment of it. When it's time for Diablo 3 - and as a successor of Diablo 2 - I believe there is no other choice but for it to become a MMORPG. In my mind D2 was already like a MMORPG, it just had the basics, and that was improved upon with WoW.

And honestly this makes sense in business terms. Blizzard has an entire system setup for an MMORPG and they could easily trade development teams and resources to work on another MMORPG. That being said, however, I don't think we will see Diablo 3 until 2010, at the earliest, like others have said.

I don't. I seriously doubt they are developing SC2 and D3 while simultaneously managing and creating content for WoW. I don't know of any single developer that could pull that off.

Please, as quoted before they are making almost 2 Billion a year (who knows how that money is divided up between them, their publisher, and other fees, but still it's it's safe to say they are making a lot of money). That being said I find it hard to believe they can't afford to have:

1 main team working on WoW and expansions
1 main team working on SC2
1 minor team working on the Diablo 3 development

Now in my mind it makes total sense to have 3 teams like this, 2 in major development of their projects, and 1 starting the "pre-production" of a 3rd project. Then they switch roles like interchanging gears. Once a project reaches completion they are either passed on another major or minor project to work on - but the same 3 development team scheme is kept in place. You just have different people switching teams from where the work is required.

I see it happen all the time in a business world as my Dad works for Bank of America's Credit Card department. He switches teams every once in a while - where ever the most work load is required or his abilities are best suited for the company.

Second of all. An example of another developer that works like this already exists - Valve. They have 1 major team working on HL2 Episode 2 (eventually HL3/4 "pre-production"), 1 major team working on Episode 3, and then they have Turtle Rock Studios doing Left4Dead/CSS updates (and eventually Episode 4 which has been confirmed from Valve to be made outside of Valve's own development team. This is my guess as to who).

Remember this is Blizzard (and Valve works the same way). They take their sweeeeeet ass time coming out with projects. And they can afford to because of their fan base and $$.

[Soulburner]

Please show me where this 2 billion dollars in profit is coming from. I am finding no proof of it anywhere and quite franky it is very hard to believe.

[LagunaX]

All the original diablo team left for another company in England i think. However, they are doing their own online rpg similar to Diablo:
http://www.mythos.com

[KoHaN69]

Well, Diablo 3 would compete with WoW.
Especially if there's no monthly fee.

Maybe they're encorporate a diablo into a WoW expansion pack

I hate WoW and magic, but diablo was cool, especially co-op on PS1. 11/15 memory card blocks FTW!!!!!11

[FlawleZ]

Diablo 3 is inevitible. Even Blizzard is almost admitting to it here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=14691

When pressed for details regarding the new project, Pearce was cagey. "Team 3 is working on something really awesome. I can’t give you any hints, but it’s totally awesome."

[EternityZX9]

Please show me where this 2 billion dollars in profit is coming from. I am finding no proof of it anywhere and quite franky it is very hard to believe.

Well, maybe they aren't making 2 billion dollars in profit, but common sense tells you they are making bank.

9 million users x 30$ a game = $270 million (and remember the game cost $50 when it first came out and $75 for Collector's Editions so this is low balling the total they probably made from just selling the game.)

Not to mention you have 1 expansion sold (at $30) and another on the way(presumably another $30) and a $25 character transfer fee. It adds up.

Then you have monthly subscriptions.

9 million users x $15 a month = $135 million A MONTH x 12(a year) = $1.620 Billion a year in subscription fees. If the user amount stays constant over the next year that's how much money they will make, but obviously the user count and game count will only increase - thus they will make even more money off subscription fees in the next year.

Now the game has been out for 3 years....so again...how much money do you think Blizzard has made from this game? Again, maybe not 2 billion...but still quite a lot!

[EternityZX9]

Well, Diablo 3 would compete with WoW.
Especially if there's no monthly fee.

Maybe they're encorporate a diablo into a WoW expansion pack

I hate WoW and magic, but diablo was cool, especially co-op on PS1. 11/15 memory card blocks FTW!!!!!11

I agree, that's why I said Diablo 3 probably won't come out until 2010. It will only compete with WoW. I think of it like this:

They have WoW as the cash cow right now which will be extremely popular for a total of 6 years (2004-2010). In the meantime those that get bored with WoW will find other games to play or even SC2, which I think will come out in late 2008/early 2009. Then, once the excitement of WoW has worn off, they will introduce Diablo 3 in 2010 to replace WoW as their cash cow.

When thinking like a business man this makes total sense because you don't want to canibalize your own sales.

Diablo 3 is inevitible. Even Blizzard is almost admitting to it here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=14691

Yeah, what other game are they going to make? If it's not Starcraft or Warcraft related then what else could it possibly be? No reason to create another IP because they have 3 of the biggest in history already (WC, SC, Diablo).

[aintz]

they got everything planned. what do you think is coming after sc2? only 2 possibilities, diablo3 or wc4.