12 Mar: StarCraft 2: HOTS Release might further worsen GAH/RMAH sales?

[mephuser1000]

Seems like Acti-Bliz has diverted manpower from D3 Team to SC2 team to ensure that the SC2: HOTS release won't end like the epic fail that D3 experienced last year, D3 Team looks understaffed now and that's why all looks quiet and why your RMAH payments are getting bugged out.

Although SC2 and D3 are of different genres but taking into account that there's still a substantial number of players who play Blizzard's games just for the storyline or for the Collector's Edition perks. Of course, since D3 isn't subscription-based, there's nothing holding them back to try a new game.

Of course, one might argue that there's no longer any humans playing D3, but you do need to take into account of the fervent Acti-Bliz supporters (or rabid fans) that will buy/play anything that Acti-Bliz produces. In fact, these group of people are responsible for buying whatever stuff we're throwing out now.

We might very soon find out how substantial the number of these groups of players are, come 12 Mar.

And back to the D3 Team manpower issue, when SC2 stabilises, all these tech guys are going to be funneled back to do all the "back-dated stuff".

 

[motsmots]

Holy fuck what a smattering of nonsense. Are there ANY solid facts in that or are it all just crazy conjecture? Thats a retorical question by the way.

 

[Lichd2]

SC is a great game, but no, i don't think itll affect the d3 markets, and if it does, only for a day or two until everyone beats new campaign.

 

[AngelsHalo]

Blizzard has a big fanbase so yes a lot of people are going to stop playing D3 at least for a week or so to finish the HotS campaign and try their hand at a few multiplayer matches. Then they'll either come back to D3 or realize how much better their life is without D3 and just uninstall the game. Either way, expect even less gold sales. I've cancelled my HBO and Showtime subscriptions because I now realize gold returns are less consistent than before

 

[ad3ddd]

My opinion is, that after releasing sc2 expansion they will have more time to look into d3. This might be good and bad for us at the same time. RMAH and issues and innovations might get some love, but same goes for bot detection and issuing bans. Hope i am right and wrong at the same time xD

 

[Eisenberg]

I doubt theres even any "team" left at d3 pc to speak of, since last patch, they even give up with banning, and have real difficulties to even keep AH working properly. I suppose that all hands are now diverted to d3 xpac and console port. And frankly cant blame them for that they instead of wasting resources on vain efforts of reviving d3 economy to generate more RMAH sells, they just turned to other opportunities, where real money lies for them. If anyone doubt that, just think what they basically give in last patch :
- absolutely rudimentary pvp which could be made within few weeks, and shuold be included in release
- few craftable items, which also could be designed and implemented within several weeks
- some minor changes to skills
And thats all this MULTI BILLION company made up during SEVERAL MONTHS. Plus their fired Jay, and what we all took as gesture towards disappointed fanbase, might was just part of overall d3 staff reduction. Conclusions are obvious, theres neraly noone working on this game anymore.

 

[sakusa]

+1 to stupid mephuser threads,

actually it is +2 if we count http://www.thebuddyforum.com/demonb...op-rates-upcoming-patch-blog.html#post1065686 in aswell....

man i am running out of space on my tally sheet of pointless mephuser threads...

 

[ad3ddd]

I doubt theres even any "team" left at d3 pc to speak of, since last patch, they even give up with banning, and have real difficulties to even keep AH working properly. I suppose that all hands are now diverted to d3 xpac and console port. And frankly cant blame them for that they instead of wasting resources on vain efforts of reviving d3 economy to generate more RMAH sells, they just turned to other opportunities, where real money lies for them. If anyone doubt that, just think what they basically give in last patch :
- absolutely rudimentary pvp which could be made within few weeks, and shuold be included in release
- few craftable items, which also could be designed and implemented within several weeks
- some minor changes to skills
And thats all this MULTI BILLION company made up during SEVERAL MONTHS. Plus their fired Jay, and what we all took as gesture towards disappointed fanbase, might was just part of overall d3 staff reduction. Conclusions are obvious, theres neraly noone working on this game anymore.

Exactly as i said, they are busy doing other stuff. You may be right about xpac and console port, but rest assured, they won't let diablo 3 die. The rmah generates HUGE amount of income for both Blizzard and PayPal. Trust me, those are not the type of people who'll let their money river dry out.. As for the last "patch", again, you had it right. It was mostly stuff that was made in a week or two and should have been included in the release, months ago. This is why i think they are gonna come up with something huge some time in near future; to me it looks like they just did not have the time needed to invest in that, because of WoW xpac and SC2 xpac. Now that they've finished with that, i believe d3 will come next.

 

[Eisenberg]

Exactly as i said, they are busy doing other stuff. You may be right about xpac and console port, but rest assured, they won't let diablo 3 die. The rmah generates HUGE amount of income for both Blizzard and PayPal. Trust me, those are not the type of people who'll let their money river dry out.. As for the last "patch", again, you had it right. It was mostly stuff that was made in a week or two and should have been included in the release, months ago. This is why i think they are gonna come up with something huge some time in near future; to me it looks like they just did not have the time needed to invest in that, because of WoW xpac and SC2 xpac. Now that they've finished with that, i believe d3 will come next.

I do not share Your optimism, WoW and SC are separate teams, and they got their own assigments, which are not done - wow is getting new content (and i mean content not shit like d3) on regular basis, sc 2 still got protoss campaign in the making. I heard also from my buddy that RMAH is generating so much profit for blizz, but frankly i have yet to see any proof of theese calims, for all i know Rmah might have been a failure for Blizz with constant technical difficulties, and gold trade taken over by chineese.

 

[AngelsHalo]

I do not share Your optimism, WoW and SC are separate teams, and they got their own assigments, which are not done - wow is getting new content (and i mean content not shit like d3) on regular basis, sc 2 still got protoss campaign in the making. I heard also from my buddy that RMAH is generating so much profit for blizz, but frankly i have yet to see any proof of theese calims, for all i know Rmah might have been a failure for Blizz with constant technical difficulties, and gold trade taken over by chineese.

They announced their RMAH profits at the Activision shareholders meeting, apparently they already made more money with RMAH than game sales.

 

[ad3ddd]

They announced best quarter profit-wise in Blizzard history. Google it ;p

 

[Eisenberg]

Then its beyond me why they are screwing this game so much in past half year, after few decent patches which set it on right direction, we started getting shit made with aim of creating illusionary impression that they are still improving d3, but perhaps my mind is to small to comprehend great plan of blizzard...

 

[sporkin]

I do not share Your optimism, WoW and SC are separate teams, and they got their own assigments, which are not done - wow is getting new content (and i mean content not shit like d3) on regular basis, sc 2 still got protoss campaign in the making. I heard also from my buddy that RMAH is generating so much profit for blizz, but frankly i have yet to see any proof of theese calims, for all i know Rmah might have been a failure for Blizz with constant technical difficulties, and gold trade taken over by chineese.

you really must be from europe if you think rmah is in anyway shape or form a failure - expect to see many more games following suit.

 

[ad3ddd]

Then its beyond me why they are screwing this game so much in past half year, after few decent patches which set it on right direction, we started getting shit made with aim of creating illusionary impression that they are still improving d3, but perhaps my mind is to small to comprehend great plan of blizzard...

I share your lack of understanding for they business model for that game. A friend of mine who lives in Canada and has followed Blizz stuff for years, told me when d3 was released, that they actually made the game for like a year or even less. They said they have been developing it for like 5-6 years or so. My whole impression was, that they rushed this project and basically lied to people to get their money. At some point they thought they will be able to handle WoW, sc2, d3, new projects all at the same time. Probably because they got different teams and such. But my personal opinion is, that they are just neglecting one thing while putting effort in another. I never played WoW and don't know if there has been similar behavior on their part, but i clearly remember how much time they took to update war3 when they got other stuff. Simple things that pretty much broke the game play/competitiveness took months to receive a simple fix. This is where my hopes come from. If this is the case with d3, they will make an effort to fix it and keep them money coming