So I know we’re all angry at Blizzard right now, buuuut… Diablo 4 looks pretty promising. So maybe we just stick ’em in the doghouse for the next couple of years, and if they can take the many (many) lessons learned from D3 and keep D4 looking sweet as hell… then we kiss and make up?
Really, though, I’m digging the loot approach this time, and the open top-world with lots of dungeon fidelity sounds really cool as well. I was never one of the people who hated Diablo 3’s art style (in fact I really dug it), but I’m not against a change of pace either, and the darker tone for Diablo 4 looks pretty rad.
Sucks we have to wait a bazillion years in Blizzard Time™ for it to come out, but at least they’re, you know, working on some games.
I actually thought this comic was supposed to be about _not_ just letting their really not okey behaviour slide just because they’re also still doing their job. I guess that’s a thing of ideology?
Yeah, no. That’s wishful thinking. Gamers like to be offended and vocally stand on principle these days, but my money is on D4 still being a smashing success when it comes out in a couple of years. I doubt gamers are REALLY going to “break up” with them over this.
Would also have been an opportunity to raise awareness on that and show a possible other way, that’s what I thought, but that’s also not my place so I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m trying to overreach here.
I mean Diablo has never been exactly an explosion of innovation as far as gameplay went, so I’m not particularly bound to them or that IP.
I’d rather opt for something more meaty as far as mechanics go beyond Hack and then, optionally, Slash.
I dont know, on which planet you were born, but Diablo 1 pretty much invented the whole genre (there were early predecessors like Ultima underworld).
Diablo2 revolutionized the genre again with introducing the whole Multi-Player concept, itemization and a lot of other concepts and ideas which were readily gobbled up by later games.
I would agree that D3 wasnt all that innovative (personally i prefer PoE), but generally calling Diablo “no explosion of innovation” is simply wrong.
I don’t think it’s going to help, because even the developers aren’t happy with corporate’s messaging about HK, among other things. For the most part, I’m certain that the developers are being held hostage by corporate, and risk losing their jobs by attempting to speak out. Keep in mind that Blizzard is one of the most successful developers in the world, thus losing that job would basically be ending your career. That’s why I haven’t gone as far as to boycott Blizzard, or to destroy my physical copies of my Blizzard games. I realize there’s a lot more going on… Read more »
They could have pretended it never happened, like the Chinese government does with Tiananmen Square
Simple Solution:
Don’t say anything.
If China started rattling their sabre then point to your “We don’t take sides” policy.
That isn’t good enough anymore.
I’ve uninstalled overwatch and destroyed the physical copy I had, I’ve done the same with starcraft II and I and and diablo games I had.
Why destroy the stuff you bought when the company already got your money? It seems pointless to me. You said destroy, you didn’t just put it in the trash.
They already have your money.
If Helldemon is the type to fall for loot-boxes, this is still a faint victory because it’s one less game to sucker them in.
It’s a matter of principle and the fact that I will never buy a blizzard game again. Not to mention it’s a matter of “engagement” which companies love, any time spent on their games look good for them even if you’re not spending anymore money.
Look, I don’t support how Blizzard Upper Management handled itself during the Blizzchung scandal, but you’d be foolish to think that most if not all of the actual developers have ANY say in policies/bannings of players of their games. So I will continue to support them and enjoy the content they make regardless of this situation they are stuck in becuase it wasn’t their fault, it was someone in upper management somewhere worried over some backlash.
I dunno, I might. Especially after they “apologized” at Blizzcon and then, less than an hour later, admitted in an interview that they won’t be rescinding Blitzchung’s ban.
Removing Winnie the Pooh from Kingdom Hearts was absurd, but as far as I know Disney didn’t single anyone out to be “punished” for it. Activision Blizzard actively decided to be China’s arbiter in hurting somebody they disagreed with.
“If you allow one protester you allow all” is probably what Blizzard is thinking.
What happens next if someone shouts “Destroy Abortion Clinics, safe sex is the only way” on air (or something else just as touchy) in the next Blizzard stream? If they let Blizchung go, they SHOULD let that guy go to… but should they?
Context matters and not all sides are equal. The fight for a free and democratic HK is vastly different then a call to destroying abortion clinics. I don’t think very highly of Blizz at the moment but I would still be really surprised if they treated LGBTQ+ supporters the same way they would treat conversion therapy nutters. It’s possible, profitable, and I would argue moral for Blizzard to censor some speech and not others.
I’d also argue that it’s for Blizzard to decide what stances they want to take, not for some player on their stream. If someone drags them into an arena they want to part in, why exactly should they be forced to take part?
“(or something else just as touchy)”
I am certain I can go down the list of “flamebait political topics” until I find something you feel strongly about. What then, do you protest Blizzard until they remove that guy from all future streaming?
Or: Context Matters, but different things weighs differently to different people, contextually. Who is Blizzard to allow one touchy topic and not another?
Are you talking about the white blob thing? Because that was just one chinese website and other chinese websites showed Winnie the Pooh or just cut him out. https://kotaku.com/chinese-game-site-censors-winne-the-pooh-in-kingdom-hea-1830618072
Do i need to remind you all the 4 extra edition of Diablo 3 we got over the years? just just dont buy the game on release date, wait a bit and see how it goes, i made awful mistake of getting D3 at release date ON PC and it was a MESS a fun mess but a mess notherless, you could always buy the game on second hand man.I am not going to support companies that support totalitarians goverments like china and unlike many gamers that have never live under that goverment before, watch how your economy crumble around… Read more »
Except, you know, PoE does it better
It took me a while to realize you meant Path of Exile, and not Pillars of Eternity.
But at least I knew you didn’t mean Edgar Allan.
More clunky, more illusion of choice and more opaque doesn’t sound “better”
That’s how I feel with Bethesda. FO76 was an experiment that face planted pretty hard, but I got a good 50 hours out of it. I’m still looking forward to Starfield and ES6 and, some day, FO5.
I really liked real time VATS.
Their apology rang hollow and empty and I hope a lot of people in that crowd only applauded just so it wouldn’t be more awkward if he just got silence. A lot of “Games are what bring us together” talk without actually acknowledging what it was they did wrong to begin with or what actions they plan to take to fix it if any at all. It’s a pretty large attempt to brush things under the table and then dangle the fantastic games in front of us to distract from it. There’s a lot of confusing things going on with… Read more »
Pretty sure the people appluading(other than the blizzard staff and family members) were just the sheep who don’t care that blizzard is suppressing peoples freedom of speech at the behest of china
I’d hate them less if they’d even waited for china to get upset. They’re proactive about appeasement… which is worse. They’re being *worse* than what’s necessary to do business in china, just in case. So they’re going to continue to be worse than china actually demands of them…
How exactly is it better to come out and say “We’re doing this because China ordered us to?” Are you saying it was okay for Apple to pull that app after getting told by Beijing “Do it or else?” I just do not get why they seem to be getting a free pass for something that, if this is really about “a free Hong Kong,” is INFINITELY worse.
I think it’s that both are awful, it’s just that the appeasement before China flipping their (censor) is an extra layer of spineless that people find distasteful.
Blizzard is not sorry. Brack later confirmed that Blitzchung and the casters are still punished for 6 months. His justification for doing so was a blatant lie.
Ehhh…. No. Unless Blizzard changes their polices somewhat, I’m not buying D4. Don’t get me wrong, it’s tempting. I’m just not willing to give my money to a company that’s willing to suck up to China like that.
They made an apology during Blizcon. I thought it was really well done. So i am giving them a chance again. But i will hit harder on any missteps than i used to or would normally do for a company that i like. So i have my eye on them and they are in the doghouse. But they are not yet bethesda.
What they did wasn’t an apology. It was a bunch of vague statements that don’t have to really mean anything in the end. And they didn’t even directly acknowledge what they did wrong, or give a single detail about how to do better. Plus the parties involved are still banned for no good reason, something blizz could undo with the flick of a switch.
They basically only went “sowwy, we will do better, pwomise!” without actually doing anything.
Yeah, a proper apology would have addressed it head-on, instead of refusing to even mention the incident and talking about it only vaguely. A proper apology would have these things as its primary substance: -Our policy left it at our discretion what to do – we misused that discretion by enacting a major penalty to Blitzchung for his statements. -We are fully rescinding the penalty we implemented. At this time, it is impossible to assess a reasonable and fair penalty because of both our own mistakes on this issue and the controversy surrounding it, therefore we are using our discretion… Read more »
Few games have done a proper apology done right. Blizzard definitely ain’t it; they’re even saying different things on the China side than they are on the US side. Think the ‘apology’ that stands out best right now would be No Man’s Sky. So many lies, so much shame, so much disappointment – but instead of a big ol’ damage control campaign, Hello Games actually worked to implement the promised features, and has even put in a number of things that weren’t part of the initial hype, growing the game further. They are still writing that apology letter, three years… Read more »
I’ll just point out that the “things said on the China side” are being said by Netease, Blizzard’s partner in China. Blizzard is not allowed to operate in China, that’s why they have to partner with a Chinese company. A Chinese company that runs the social media accounts. So Blizzard proper likely did not write, or even have any insight over those “Protect our national dignity” social media tweets.
Just, cause, you know… if we’re going to have debates about this stuff, let’s make sure we’re at least clear about who’s doing what.
Utter bullshit. The weibo account which posted “we will respect and defend the pride of our country” wasn’t in Netease’s name, it was Blizzard’s official Hearthstone account. Yes, it was ran by Netease and those were their words, but the moment you allow someone to speak in your name while using your name, you must be willing to assume full responsibility for what they say. The moment Blizzard agreed to the conditions that allowed Netease to post stuff using their name, they became fully complicit in anything they decide to post. Don’t like it? Don’t sign up with the Chinese… Read more »
Uh, actually Brack DID say exactly that: https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-president-clarifies-decision-to-ban-hearthstone-player-and-two-casters-over-hong-kong-controversy/
Q: So the Weibo post that talked about defending “the pride” of China was written by NetEase?
A: Correct. We did not authorize it. We did not approve it. We would not have approved it had they asked.
Problem is that Brack said that way too late. They could’ve easily just clarified that immediately when they saw what was said and keep NetEase away from any kind of messaging for Blizzard.
Utter bullshit. That was Blizzard China official. And Netease handles the official China business under the label of “Blizzard China”.
I love your work man and i am a big fan but you are wrong here. This is bigger than gaming. You can forgive Blizzard, that’s on you. But you don’t speak for the rest of us. What Blizzard did should scare you.
It should scare me? XD Why? What’s scary about it?
You are wrong. What they did wasn’t even an apology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T2_PU8rHtk
BTW, for all Bethesda has done wrong this year, they still look saintly compared to Blizzard
Nope, Bethesda doesn’t look saintly compared to Blizzard they look just as scummy.
Eh, It’s like trying to give the prize for the better shit covered pig.
That was a weak apology. They could’ve announced actions and changes to policy they would take. I.E. they could’ve suspended or fired the person that made the ass kissing message to China.
No, they just repeated some hollow platitudes and tried waving Diablo 4 in people’s faces in hopes that they’d forget.
That apology was garbage as others said. Not to mention they are liars, they said they were fine with people using social media to say what they wanted yet they forced an employee to take down their tweet in support of blitzchung just a couple days ago.
Hey Hans, here’s a fun fact:
Shortly after that “apology,” J Allen Brack (president of Blizzard and the man who claimed to be sorry about how they acted) was asked in an interview if this apology meant they were going to be rescinding their punishment of the player.
“No we are not” was his response.
They SAID they were sorry, but that player is still banned for saying 6 words on a podcast in support of the Hong Kong movement.
The ban is warranted. It was in the contract. They reduced it from the first one already. Everything around it was bad though. Make the rules clearer.
Oh, don’t get me wrong Blitzchung does deserve to be punished but he was punished way too severely and even the new punishment is still too harsh. Blizzard has given a lot less severe punishments for things people that have done something a lot worse than Blitzchung.
Here’s the thing. Was Blizzard in the wrong for punishing a player for violating a rule? No. Was the ‘initial’ punishment well and above the level of the crime/infraction? Yes. I have nothing against Blizzard for upholding their rules. And continuing to uphold them. Its the ‘level’ of the Initial punishment that has landed them in hot-water with most people. 1 year ban + stripping of prize-money is something you’d expect to see done to someone caught cheating, not saying something best left said off-the-stage. Everyone has the mistaken though that Blizzard was impeding his ‘right to free speech’, but… Read more »
Found the Chinese sponsored author.
Did they violate a rule? The specific rule is so broad that nearly anything could be considered a violation. BM your opponent? You’ve violated the rule. It’s a rule that was designed specifically to make sure Blizzard could simply stop players from doing literally anything that might offend anyone. I’m not saying, nor have I ever said, that Blizzard is violating his free speech rights. Free speech rights (at least in the US) only pertain to the government punishing you for saying something. Private property owners are allowed to set whatever rules they see fit for speech while you’re on… Read more »
If you don’t write it broadly, then every time you’ll have someone saying “But the rule didn’t say I can’t do THIS specific thing!”
They have to keep it somewhat broad, so that they can then evaluate each incident on a case-by-case value. If they make it to strict, then things can easily slip through the cracks as a “but you didnt say this specific thing wasnt allowed”. Granted, clarifying it ‘some’ is a step in the right direction, but they still have to keep it somewhat broad so they dont get ‘to restrictive’, while also leaving them a stepping stone for when someone ‘does’ do something that would cause problems. As i said, the ‘level’ of the initial punishment is what likely made… Read more »
Yeah, people didn’t like the apology just because it was made by Blizzard. Blizzard could have said anything and people would still dismiss it. Because people didn’t want an apology, they just wanted a reason to be mad at Blizzard, like always…
For example CDPR didn’t even apologise for abusing and borderline slaving their employees. And for Cyberpunk they made an apology 100x worse than that of Blizzard… and yet people are still angry at Blizzard and not CDPR. Gamers and their double standards, man…
well you wont be giving money to any company at all then
I have it easy. I never liked Diablo games, and I haaaaaaate the loot systems. They’re showering the player in obscene riches that have no value, or possibly very very slight upgrades. Ugh. Random chance for when you get an actual reward is… gambling my time on a random number generator. I can *write* those. And I watch people play a Diablo, and I can’t tell what they’re doing… and they’re not even looking at the screen as they spam roving death all over… so the player isn’t making interesting choices, and they’re just hoping maybe the boss drops something… Read more »
I mean, which version of diablo are you talking about? Diablo 1 you did have to pay attention or die, or even you are paying attention… you can still die (Butcher anyone?). I mean as player skill increased sure, the game got easier, but I remember dying a lot in D1 initially. D2 came around and early on it’s life you didn’t relly need to worry too much until you got to late Nightmare or Hell difficulty (before people really figured out the game). Hell difficulty in that game if played the “intended way”, killing all mobs, exploring the map… Read more »
Well… they didn’t actually apologise yet though. What we got was more an “I’m sorry you got upset with me” non-apology.
It was an apology. You may not like it (for some reason) but it was an apology.
I’m trying to justify my craving in any way I possibly can. Look, Shadowlands looks like it might be the best WoW expansion since, well, ever, and Diablo IV looks friggin’ amazing. At least they reinstated that dude’s winnings, but yeah dammit Blizzard you are not having a good few weeks can you maybe fucking fix your company culture so I can enjoy your amazing god damn games and also sleep at night?
Could I ask what it was about Shadowlands that drew you in? I mean I loved the trailer, it’s hard not to with their production values, but the gameplay stuff looks bland and very same-y as the last two expansions.
We also don’t know a lot of details yet. Like what are they going to do with their artifact/endgame gear upgrade system? Will we actually have some fun things to do at endgame? Will classes actually start to feel fun again? Will there be any challenge apart from endgame mythics/raids? I’m also not a fan of the huge level squish. You can already blaze through 1~119 pretty quickly, and with the new system you’re basically going to be skipping all expansion content except 1 per character. Shadowlands/Endgame better be fucking good or people are going to get bored again really… Read more »
See I’m the opposite, I’m a huge fan of the level squish. Getting to pick on to focus on sounds a lot better than getting to see each one for a day while I go through levels that have absolutely no meaning because I’m getting one every fifteen minutes, abandoning half the quests I pick up because they’re already obsolete before I can do them. I’ve also done several of those expansions half a dozen times, while others I’ve never finished. Never finished Pandaria, so I’ve never seen how the story works out, but right now if I stick around… Read more »
I’m a fairly big fan of the squish, too. The main issue with the way the levelling is in the game now is a unfortunate side effect of the endgame being the only thing worth a damn. Forcing players to go through some zones/expacs they don’t find fun just because its the most efficient way to get back to the part of the game blizzard wants you in doesn’t seem ideal.
Torghast and the Maw sound fun. Endless Dungeon and a zone that gets harder the longer you stay in it that also scales to your group? Count me in. This system is also guaranteed to be a lot more accessible than current end-game PvE, the way Mythics are structured right now frankly sucks and this seems to make end-game more accessible while not reducing the challenge at the same time, win-win. Getting to end-game content on alts faster once you’ve done it before reducing the grind and making it possible to dedicate your time to more than one character. It… Read more »
Yeah, I’m not letting myself get hyped up because I see a few things I like. I’ll need to see some details before I even think of going back to WoW and even then I might not if FF14 is not in a content drought then.
Ff14 just had their x.1 patch, releasing the first 24m raid of shadowbringers, plus a lot of other stuff.
I am a little torn, on the one hand Blizz (or any company for that matter) won’t change, unless the consumers change their practices. They did a nice apology at Blizzcon, but at the end of the day, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and will likely happen again in some format. I hate the idea of pre ordering or pre purchasing, even for the nice cosmetics. That said, I like the look of D4 so far, having not really played any of the others bar D3 when it came free with a WoW expec. Shadowlands looks ace,… Read more »
Diablo looks delicious AF and it’s tempting, so provided they change their ways for the better I’ll be on board. But, we’ll see.
They didn’t reverse the bans or took any action, so you can get off board right now.
They gave the guy his winnings back (which was like in excess of $10k) and reduced his ban to six months, so they did take some action. It was a bit half-assed, but it is in fact an action.
They gave shorter bans for a lot more serious offenses in the past so Blitzchung should not get such a long ban. Blizzard is still trying to appease China, which they shouldn’t be doing.
They also recently made an employee take down his tweet in support of bliztchung just a few days ago, so that whole social media freedom they are supposed to have is bs.
Diablo 4 looks amazing. As you said, it’ll be a long time before it’s out, hopefully they can clean up their act so that I don’t have to struggle to justify supporting them.
At this point, especially after the Blizzcon “apology”, the girl being all battered and bruised and the guy being all “I promise sweetie, this time I’ll change, I’ll do better!” would have been a more accurate joke.
Oh, and he should say that while wearing a rainbow pin.
True. If Blizzard had a policy of being apolitical and stamping out on all politics equally, I would actually be more on Blizzard’s side but they’ve had a habit of latching onto whatever’s popular in order to garner positive press so while I agree that modern politics should kept out of games or at least be done so subtly that it doesn’t look like they’re trying to beat you over the head with a sledgehammer with their beliefs, they brought this on themselves. Also what makes this even more blatantly hypocritical is that in China, all of the OW characters… Read more »
Soldier, Tracer and who is the third?
Reaper, they’re going to do a Soldier 76/Reaper romance thing. Unless that’s been dropped?
The “apology” they gave wasn’t an apology at all. Just some vague, non-committal statements sounding like it could be an apology.
Overwatch 2 doesn’t look worth it to me. A full priced game for what’s basically only upgraded graphics and 2 pve modes, no thanks.
Diablo 4 looks like just…more diablo 3 with some class changes and a new but same-ish story.
WoW Shadowlands is still way too vague to give judgement on.
I’m not going to forgive blizz for what they did because of this. They fucked up way too badly, several times, for that.
I’m interested in Diablo IV (and Shadowlands just to see how batshit its getting. I mean spectacle can be just as entertaining,) but I’m keeping an eye on them for now. If I even hear a whisper of ‘microtransactions’ or ‘live services’ I’m right the fuck back out again. As for the Hong Kong fiasco… um… yeah… I’m kinda wondering how long this one is going to stay an issue people really give a shit about anyways. I mean the only reason the media attention over that has been so crazy is that China and America aren’t exactly getting along… Read more »
Bethesda has been fucking up this entire time (Fallout First, anyone?) and we haven’t forgotten about Blizzard’s far more egregious bullshit. It’s almost like we can remember and be mad about more than one thing at a time!
You mean people forgot that Blizzard fired a bunch of their people at the beginning of the year even though they made a ton of profit? Did they forget last years Blizzcon where they announced Diablo: Immortal? Did you forget the most recent thing they did before Blizzcon where they pretty much took out the money they promised for a Hearthstone tournament price because the toys they were selling to help elevate amount of money for that tournament ended up higher than they expected?
Nah. I continue boycotting Blizzard until one of two things happen:
1. They stop putting profits in China over human rights.
2. They go out of business.
So some nice screenshot and fuck Hongkong, right?
Is it just me or does this sound like a bad relationship?
It is a bad relationship, and a joke the author has used before for other game companies in various forms. Starting to think that, whatever any of these companies do, the author will excuse them once a game they like the look of comes out.
Personally, I ignore who makes a game and just buy what I like the look of. In that respect, I find no moral issue with buying a game for my enjoyment because someone has made a decision I disagree with.
Yeah, I’m not buying D4 or even Overwatch 2 on launch day. I jus don’t know enough to warrant buying them yet. Hell even WoW Shadowlands looks a bit promising but I might not even get that one since I’m playing FF14 right now. I’ll see how these games do for a week or two at launch before I even think about buying either game.
Also, Blizzard’s behavior will also be under scrutiny for me. Anymore sleazy fuck ups is likely to get me to avoid getting D4 or Overwatch 2.
I won’t lie, that CGI teaser was absolutely ridiculously good. That it’s entirely CGI shows that there are people in Blizzard with monstrous amounts of talent. I’ll give credit where it’s due, it was amazing. With that said, I still will never buy a Blizzard game.
I mean, I don’t exactly expect gamers as a whole to manifest enough backbone to truly shut Blizzard out of the collective, but in the end you’re right. It’s a matter of priorities. Do people value a good game more than they value the freedom of a nation heading swiftly towards complete lockdown? It’s on the other side of the world after all, why should anyone in NA give a shit?
I still don’t get what exactly people want Blizzard to do that will “free Hong Kong.” If you were to reinstate Blitz right now, would Hong Kong no longer be “heading swiftly towards complete lockdown?” Of course it would, which tells me that this has nothing to do with “a free Hong Kong.”
Naw, after the Hong Kong thing I’ve been spending so much time explaining the basic concept of how “Bitch Slapping a player with a Lifetime Ban, Yanking their hard earned cash, and Gagging them” is the opposite of “Being Neutral” and how “Rescinding the Ban to a Probation after massive outcry from the community” isn’t an “Apology” that it has tainted both my view of Blizzard and their supporters.
Because honestly the more you dig at their actions and excuses the worse it gets.
You were so close to being free of them, but now they’re PULLING YOU BACK IN.
Not that I want to defend shizzard but I’m pretty sure the ban was only a year when they first took action and reduced to 6 months?
In that case I had misheard.
It’s still a bad look considering that’s how he makes his livelihood.
Nope. Not happening with me or any of the people I know well. Way too many different games to choose from, none of us are going to be hurting by not playing Blizzard games.
“We” are all not mad at Blizzard. I’m one of the ones that thought Blizzard didn’t do anything wrong with their initial punishment of the gamer who decided to bring politics to a gaming event.
Hong Kong belongs to China. If people don’t like it, that’s fine. But doesn’t change that fact.
The dude broke the rules, willingly, knowingly, that he agreed to ahead of time….I’m more upset that Blizzard backed off the punishment.
China is one of the worst violators of human and animal rights and shows no regard for who they kill or destroy to keep control.
The Chinese government is utter dog shit and deserves all the scorn, mocking, and failure it gets. It stands by while north korea also is one of the worst violators of human rights, and Blizzard deserves all the resentment they get for sucking up to communist cocks for a bit of extra money.
Yet the US govt is silent on saudi arabias shit.
This is for geopolitical reasons not any moral reasons. Hell Trump threw the Kurds under the bus and let Turkey help in Syria
The PKK are designated a terrorist group by the US state dept. I am not a fan of foreign interventions at all, however it is somewhat a masterstroke to fund one terrorist group to fight another terrorist group without having to waste US lives abroad. If Trump has proven anything, its that boycotts/ trade tariffs work. China is bending to trade pressures just as predicted. Similar tactics will work with Blizzard. The consumer base who restricts their trade with Blizzard will create a situation where Blizzards operation becomes unsustainable. They need sales and subscriptions to survive, especially having grown to… Read more »
Screw that. Candy is not worth selling out a country that needs our support. Yeah, It might seem like nothing because they’re “just games,” but Blizzard is part owned by Tencent. A company involved with the roll out of China’s dubious social credit system.
Any money that goes to Blizz is doing two things: saying what they did was ok and giving money to their friend who is abusing that friend’s family.
A hard stop delete-their-number-from-your-phone break up is necessary. For both the respect of self and those that deserve the freedom for which they are desperately fighting.
And yet people seem to be giving Riot and Apple a free pass.
Time and time again I see a AAA publisher lambasted publicly for overtly reprehensible behavior and time and time again people make statements of boycotting them that are just as hollow as Blizzard’s recent apology. I’m sure whatever outrages happen between now and D4’s release will ensure people forget all about this and buy the game they publicly swore they wouldn’t.
WoW, Overwatch,or Diablo. Blizzatrd’s kinda one-note………three-note
Moral values are so cheap these days, if a corporation can just buy them with the promise of a good game. Me, if I ever play D4 it’s because I dusted off the ol’ eyepatch, I’m not giving them a cent. Fuck Blizzard.
As long as they’re going to keep kissing China’s ass I’m not buying it.
The angry people are the loud ones and also the minority. Let’s not be fooled into thinking Blizzard is really under that much pressure.
Gonna be honest, I still haven’t forgiven Blizzard and they haven’t actually apologized. That aside, none of the three classes they showed on Diablo 4 has me remotely interested in playing it. The whole “open world” and “non-linear story” means there will be no focus on the plot nor story. It looks like open world PvP will be a thing and you probably won’t be able to do anything about it because there will be PvP zones much like The Division. Customizable heads means massive amounts of focus on microtransactions since this now a “game as a service”…which by definition… Read more »
Meh they’ll have to try harder IMO. I’ve never been on the diablo hype train anyway. ended up in the beta to 3 via dumb luck and haveing a WoW account at the time. was ok but I didnt buy it till years later and that on my switch when it had a sale. 1 and 2 I ended up playing a couple hours on a bootleg copy my dorm mate had in collage but never got into it enough to get a real copy to play. Not overly happy with their corporate policy and using diablo as a way… Read more »
This is awful. Why are you actively encouraging people to forgive Blizzard for siding with communists? Literally, communists. That’s what China is. Communists.
It’s one thing to believe that players will buy Diablo whatever because they don’t have a hint of self control. It’s another to make a comic glorifying it!
You did not include what Blizzard did wrong and instead gave an awful reason Blizzard should be forgiven.
Shame on you.
Wow, people really will find any reason to get outraged, won’t they? XD I already DID a comic about what Blizzard did wrong. I’m not encouraging or glorifying or excusing anything here, I’m making fun based on the fact that I know despite all the bitching, people are going to buy this game anyway. Also, can we get some perspective here? China’s a pretty shit place, regime-wise, but J. Allen Brack isn’t exactly on the streets of Hong Hong silencing free speech with a fire hose. They have business interests in China, and in an attempt to stay neutral they… Read more »
Let’s be clear here. This comic shows a gamer semi-accepting Blizzard’s “apology” and agreeing to keep buying and playing Blizzard games as if the incident never happened. The “doghouse” is meaningless if you still have the game at launch. There’s no punchline, and the only message is that what Blizzard has done isn’t that bad. And that message is something you’ve repeated in the comments. Blizzard made it very clear, both in the aftermath of the incident and at BlizzCon, that they care more about making money in China than any moral or ethical concerns. They did not apologize. They… Read more »
I think what the comic depicts is what is to be expected from a good part of the “outraged” potential customer base in general, not Tim in the specific. That’s IMHO what the punchline is about: “A lot of people bitching and hating, and they will probably still buy the game at launch”; and not if this is a good or bad thing.
If you think the doghouse is meaningless, I can only presume you’ve never been in a relationship XD
Ofc gamers will still buy the game, if people would care that much about principles basically all the AAA publishers would have gone under long ago. However I REALLY don’t see how that is anything to be celebrated in any way. Obviously a big company does not operate based on ethical standards…They might do at times or *pretend* to do, as long as it is useful to them, but in the end what matters is the money that can be made. But precisely for that reason I feel it is especially important to take at least a bit individual responsibility.… Read more »
I wonder if all those people here ib favor of the hongkong protest know really what is it about. The moment the protests becomes an independence movement its no different from what is happening with every seperatist movement around the world. Getting squished by the enemy. I laugh at all your morals when the US government itself is in the businsss of toppling govts not favorable to them and actively supporting a much worse dictatorship right now (Saudi Arabia). I live in a country where the US government actively supported a dictatorship to support its interest. So yall can shove… Read more »
First off, not from the US, and there def is a LOT of shady shit going on in the US gov..and here in the EU too. That being said, that is the dumbest shit I have read in a while. Is like one criminal complaining about getting arrested for murder while another one managed to get away. No shit, bad stuff happens out there. That is hardly a reason not to try and adress at least some of it. Besides, even though you seem to be unable to comprehend that, I can very well dislike more than one thing at… Read more »
The protests started with disputes over China trying to exert more control over Hong Kong by way of deporting people from there to the mainland if they are found to be “problematic” by those in charge. It’s a terrible thing to live in fear of your government ripping you out of your home because you might have said something against the current regime. There’s also the fact that Hong Kong is largely westernized and has been living under a different constitution for decades now since the changeover from being under British control, so the ideals are different from the Communist… Read more »
yeah fam I ain’t buying anything blizzard. ever. I can’t stand by a company that’ll make a mistake like that and then try to FORCE people to stay in their subscriptions instead of apologising and making things right, that is just not how you deal with a situation like that
When i first heard about the Diablo 4 hints (this was before the video’s dropped). I joked with a friend “Yea.. Diablo 4! New table-top game! Because we all have tables….. right?”
Glad to see i was wrong 😀
How DARE you, sir. I’ll have you know that I will not be swayed – I fully intend to *continue* to not purchase the games that I already wasn’t purchasing and had no intention of purchasing prior to this or any particular controversy.
The nerve!
…Sorry, couldn’t resist 🙂
Holding onto your principles until it’s a little bit inconvenient or uncomfortable for you, and then caving? Sounds like something a certain company currently has a lot of people purportedly very upset at them about. Only, I guess they’re not actually that upset, in some people’s cases. Not really; not for anything other than show and visibility… So… just like blizzard.
Speak for yourself, I’m not mad at Blizzard. The only thing they do that I find annoying is extremely expensive skins for crap.
Ya, who cares that shizzard is suppressing peoples freedom of speech at china’s behest.
That’s not how freedom of speech works.
Fine, free speech, is that better? Not that you seem to care since you delete comments with informative factual videos that describe just how predatory and manipulative monetization is.
But it’s totally fine if they make it easier to arrest protesters, right?
I’ll be honest, compared to last years blizzcon… I’m liking a lot of what I’m hearing.
That said, I ain’t trusting them to not screw things up.
I won’t be giving Bliz anymore money for the same reason I don’t spill Captain Crunch under the Fridge. I don’t like what it attracts.
. . . Aaaaannnnnd that’s why we don’t make social progress. YAY CAPITALISM!!
Broke up with Blizzard the day I found out Diablo 3 was online only forever (and this after having been a WoW subscriber for quite a while), and haven’t regretted it once since.
D4 looks really bland to me. The D2 classes make it clear that Blizzard was working on D2R, but scrapped it and salvaged its assets. The Scottish and Norse voices are indications of reused assets from D3’s cancelled second expansion.
Then there’s the freaking moose antlers on the Druid. It’s hard to take anyone wearing moose antlers seriously.
D4 just feels like old assets cobbled together to make one mess of a game. Nothing I’m looking forward to.
Quit the Chinese market. Refuse to re-enter it until/unless they give human rights and freedom to their people. The same goes for Hollywood and other game companies. Boycott the people that literally harvest organs from prisoners.
I presume you’ve thrown away your TV, your dishwasher, possibly your car, and anything else you use that may have come from China? I can’t imagine you’d demand a standard of everyone else that you’re not willing to live up to yourself, right 😉
Rather than the zinger I imagine it started out as, I think you just did an excellent job of proving Edric’s point, Tim. China has proven EXTREMELY adept and willing to engage in economic infiltration. There’s precious few enterprises that they aren’t involved in, and a lot of those same companies would be loathe to offend their foreign shareholders, even at the expense of their national customer base. THAT is what I take offense to with Blizzard’s actions, and why I refuse to give them another dime. I mean…what else are they going to compromise on to avoid Bejing’s ire?… Read more »
I’ll also add that the last time I checked the manufacturer of my TV and Dishwasher weren’t involved in creating culture and that separates them from Hollywood and the Game Industry. My dishwasher doesn’t have a map that includes China’s illegal claim to other countries and international water. My TV doesn’t suppress free speech and protest.
I do have to say, that reading the first 2 panels, I initially thought that the woman was Blizzard and the man the gamers.
I guess that says more about me and my thoughts on the Diablo mobile outrage etc…
(one thing though: I did not think of the chinagate till I read the comments – ups)
More accurate if she had bruises on her face.
Blizzard isn’t sorry. Brack confirmed Blitzchung and the casters are still banned. He justified it with blatant lies. Blizzard is still punishing employees who post support for Hong Kong despite Brack saying employees are free to post their views on social media.
No it is not. Blizzard making a decision you don’t like is not tantamount to them “abusing you” or causing you harm on a level commensurate with domestic abuse.
I could concede I overstepped with the domestic abuse analogy, but Blizzard *is* trampling human rights and freedom of speech for financial gain while simultaneously pretending to be our best friend and standing for lofty ideals. They hurt people and tried to bury it with lies, hollow apologies, and promises of games.
I have a feeling that by the time Diablo IV actually comes out most gamers will have completely forgotten this incident and will just line up to buy it. I’m not really judging, I will be buying it as well.
I get what you’re saying here but I’m sticking to my principles. When Blizzard pulled that Chinese censorship stunt, they lost 100% of my trust and 100% of my business.
There’s bad business… and there’s deplorable behavior that moves beyond the realm of gaming. I’m an American first and a gamer second. Don’t know what else to say.
I really Re…illy want to like Diablo 4 but Blizzard doesn’t really have a pristine record of late & they did officially announced that there will be “some” microtransactions. Remember; the nest thing about Blizzard is CDPR. Remember when Blizzard was a bastion of honest gaming until they got big enough to be bought by Activision. Now it’s CDPR ‘s turn. They will probably retain a strong backbone until they get an offer no one can refuse.
I hope everyone here who is SO OUTRAGED AT BLIZZARD has also uninstalled any game from a developer that is either wholly owned by China or does business in China, has gotten rid of any device in their home sold by a company that does business in China, and has told consumers of those goods or services that THEY are complicit. After all, I would hate for you to be inconsistent or apply some sort of double standard.
wait until she opens up that loot box and its full of crap RNG chocolates.
never been hyped by a diablo anyway… but a bc/lk ‘classic’, maybe.