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Yesterday, during a Q & A on the BlizzCon shortly after the announcement of the mobile game Diablo Immortal, a fan in a red shirt approached the microphone. "I was just wondering," he said in an impassive tone, "is this an April prank fish joke out of season?" The audience applauds. It was only the beginning of a very long weekend for Blizzard, said one of the co-founders of the company Kotaku in an interview aujourd & # 39; hui.
During the Q & A session of yesterday, a developer on stage let the fan slowly fall. "No," he answered the facetiously asked question, "it's a process in its own right. Diablo a mobile experience, with which everyone will be able to play, and with a little luck, who will bring new heroes to Sanctuary and who will welcome our community again and which provokes a lot of enthusiasm. "
Backlash to Diablo ImmortalHowever, since then, he continues to rage on social media, YouTube, Reddit and other sites. This is essentially a blog post published before the BlizzCon Blizzard which aimed to moderate the expectations of fans and to specify that there are many projects Diablo in the works, but which indicated that " we intend to share Diablonews with you during the show. "The publication on the blog has given rise to the hope of many fans to prepare for a low-level loot fall of information on Diablo IV. Otherwise, they waited for at least one remastering of a classic Diablo Game. Instead, they have a mobile game that is developed in collaboration with Chinese company NetEase. Some fans took this as a sign that Blizzard had abandoned PC and its console for greener mobile pastures – and that they had abandoned the fans on which they had built their foundations.
the Diablo Subreddit, in particular, is an avalanche of indignation right now. "Blizzard canceled games like Ghost and Titan for not meeting the Blizzard quality, "summarizes the current thread of discussion, which has more than 12,000 positive votes. "Now they are outsourcing and redesigning games. I'm not sad, I'm just disappointed and angry. "
Fans are particularly interested in a joke note by top designer Wyatt Cheng at yesterday's Q & A after being booed for saying Immortal does not come to the PC. "You do not have a phone, you guys?", He asked the audience incredulously. The fans decided that this was the ultimate example of Blizzard's sound deafness. A commentary of nearly 4,000 positive votes reads: "Everyone says that Blizzard is in contact with his fans. Except that touch is the only way to play the next Diablo Game. Anyway, do not you all have a phone?
Blizzard is accused of "murder" by further discussions on subreddit Diablo, qualify the game as "slap" and justify your disrespect for Blizzard employees, while DiabloThe official boycott forum and the petition to get Immortal canceled. Charges were also laid against Blizzard. Diablo ImmortalTrailers of cinematics and gamers – who currently have 215,000 and 132,000 people who do not like it – but others have suggested that number fluctuations were an algorithmic problem or a problem. an adjustment after the deletion of votes to multiple accounts. Unsurprisingly, Gamergate subreddit Kotaku In Action has also lent its considerable number to more conservative elements, adjacent to cultural wars, of this wave of backlash, amplifying them in fact.
Talk to Kotaku In an interview with BlizzCon, Blizzard executive producer and co-founder Allen Adham admitted that Blizzard was expecting negative reactions, but "not at this point".
"We know that our audience here is passionate about the computer and the console," he said. "We have also seen this before. We saw a similar response when we announced that we were bringing Diablo to console, and we saw a similar response to the announcement of home. "
But, of course, there is also the lord of darkness and torture, the size of an elephant: people thought they were going to see Diablo IV. "That being said, we knew that our audience here desperately wanted to see and hear one thing in particular," said Adham, referring to a major event. Diablo the game comes after Diablo III.
In theory, the blog article mentioned above was supposed to be right to think about the pass, but it turned against him. The big video game companies are discussing things they have not announced, and the publication is an example. If you walk through it, it's pretty obvious that it means people do not have to expect too much from BlizzCon. However, it is easy to see how the fans could also interpret it as if it said quite the opposite. Nowhere does he directly say that people should not expect to see the next big Diablo BlizzCon game.
Adham, however, feels that he and his team have done their best. "At Blizzard, we do not announce until we're ready. It's all about quality of play, less time, but providing an incredible experience for our players, "he said. "We tried to take a little bit of advance on that with the blog post to let this group know that we are working on several things and that we are continuing to work on several things. But it's pretty clear that their incredible passion for Diablo is interesting. "
Adham also talked about the structure of the Diablo Immortal the team, explaining that this is a joint effort between a Blizzard team and a NetEase team in China. Although these teams interact with the main Diablo the team, the Immortal the team and the main Diablo The team is separated and works on separate projects.
"There are actually two separate teams," said Adham. "It's something we tried to communicate. I know our community here, there is a concern that we are focusing on this instead. The truth is we have several Diablo teams working on several non-advertised Diablo projects even after announcing[[[[Immortal]. "
Some fans have gone so far as to claim that Diablo Immortal is a reskin of a previous NetEase action RPG. Adham refuted this, claiming that even art and assets – which seem to come directly from Diablo III-Were made for Immortal and Immortal only. "I want to assure you that Diablo Immortal is built from scratch, "he said. He then clarified the similarities between the old NetEase game and Diablo Immortal, in particular the tactile control scheme, which is basically identical to that of the previous role-action game NetEase: "In the East, this control method becomes ubiquitous and becomes ubiquitous because it is very natural and very pleasant to live. This is less the case in the West, but we are starting to see some games that bring this mechanism to the West. We are therefore inspired by the work they have already done. "
That does not mean that Diablo Fans' fears are totally misplaced. The world of mobile gaming is extremely under-regulated and is replete with exploitative business practices that tackle real-life issues such as gambling addiction. People are worried that Blizzard will end up embracing the dark side. microtransactions with his mobile game on the lord of darkness. On this front, Adham was not able to give concrete assurance and instead spoke of Blizzard's background.
"If you think of Blizzard for the past three decades, we've created many different games using different models: boxed products we sell, digital downloads, Sensational is based on a subscription, home and Overwatch have chests and packages of loot, "he said. "The Heroes of the Storm is another free game. I therefore hope that our community will understand that, during this time, some central themes motivate us at Blizzard and that they are always: "Create a fantastic game and offer incredible value to our players." It determines how we think about it. So whether it's free or premium, it's still our North Star. "
The explosion of outrage has a lot on social media discuss the extent to which the video game culture allows the right. It is not surprising, after all, that the idea of a mobile phone was rejected. Diablo Game. What's shocking here is the amount melted vitriol that sweeps over what appears to be a pretty well-entrenched situation: a new Diablo has been and continues to be ongoing, and Diablo Immortal is his own thing that does not undermine that. In addition, the game itself is good, even if it's a bit too superficial. No harm, no fault – except for hurt feelings in the face of unfulfilled expectations. And yet, people have decided that this is an ultimate betrayal, all because one game is not too focused on the group of players and consoles intrepid.
Adham did not question the right, but passion. "They like what they like and want what they want," he said about BlizzCon fans and the Internet. "That passion is what motivates us and we feel it too. That's why we're creating games and why we've been making games for almost three decades now – and why our community is so passionate about our franchises. I understand their feelings and wish we could share more about all the amazing things we do, not just with the Diablo franchise, but in the whole society. "
Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric – obviously well-intentioned and frequently used by developers with vocal fan bases – can contribute to the problem. It positions the "passion" that leads to disrespect, even total abuse, as a virtue, which generates subsequent cycles of vitriolic turmoil when developers do not give their main crowds what they demand. If even big companies like Blizzard praise their fans, they have to be justified.
Adham nevertheless hopes that Blizzard will finally please everyone.
"We hope that our existing hardcore fans will play this game and love it, that they will learn new things about the tradition, but that they will participate in a similar type of game as they do." know and like them, "he said. "The main difference now is that they can walk around with it in their pocket and play it anytime, anywhere. But then, also introduce a new wider audience who may like action games but who has not yet experienced the experience. Diablo. And, if we're really good at our work, introduce a whole new mobile audience that has never played an action RPG or another. To succeed all of this is a challenge we think about every day. "
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