Blizzard - biting off more than it could chew?

as far i know, no single studio ( regardless of its size ) has ever had 3 major projects in development simultaneously. sure enough, both D3 and SC2 could have been in development for quite some time before their official announcement, allowing Blizzard the options to distribute its resources -- but the fact remains that they ARE working on 3 titles all at the same time, and it's not gonna be easy.

as successful as Blizzard is, it's not even close to being the biggest ( in terms of size ) studio in the industry. as it is, i'm wondering if Blizzard could pull this off as it always did. what's your take? could Blizzard overcome the greatest challenge in the industry? or maybe Blizzard is attempting to milk the cash cow with half hearted sequels, as what some guys have stated?

it has always been my belief that a brand doesn't make a product, the talents do. just becoz Blizz has a great reputation doesn't make it invincible. on top of that, it's not like Blizz's standard has never dwindled......to me TBC was quite a let down.

as far i know, no single studio ( regardless of its size ) has ever had 3 major projects in development simultaneously. sure enough, both D3 and SC2 could have been in development for quite some time before their official announcement, allowing Blizzard the options to distribute its resources -- but the fact remains that they ARE working on 3 titles all at the same time, and it's not gonna be easy.

as successful as Blizzard is, it's not even close to being the biggest ( in terms of size ) studio in the industry. as it is, i'm wondering if Blizzard could pull this off as it always did. what's your take? could Blizzard overcome the greatest challenge in the industry? or maybe Blizzard is attempting to milk the cash cow with half hearted sequels, as what some guys have stated?

Jinroh_basic

Blizzard rakes in over 100+ million a month. They have the resources. Besides, think about it for a minute. I'm sure they have been working on these games for a few years now. They're not just going to come to a press conference and show a teaser trailer of a game that has no work in progress. Seriously...

I wonder if they are going to use the graohic engine from SC2 in D3? That would cut down on some of the work. Besides, they don't have to have the entire staff working on one project. Starcraft might be in late dev right now, so that frees up most of the staff for work on Diablo. The third project might just be in the planning stages right now.

I just hope nothing takes the same path of starcraft ghost

even though blizzard has enough money to do whatever

Seeing as how Diablo3 and SC2 have already been in development for 3+ years, it's safe to say that blizz knows what they doing. In fact, whos to say that they arent working on other titles right now? WC4? The next wow expansion? The new IP we keep hearing about? Blizzard is a huge company, they could easily be working on 7-8 different projects right now TeamR

I was just about to post the exact same sentiment. Over at IGN it was stated that D3 had been in development for the last couple of years, and in typical Blizzard fashion have debuted it pretty far along the development cycle. I just watched the 20 minute demo on GS, and I was saying 'Damn!' a couple of times. All is looking great so far, and some of the ideas (especially those shown off in the demo) are really good too. Interactive environments, the abilities, the witch doctor, random scripted events, the physics and graphics (I like how they've kept the old-school feel, but flashed it up a lot). Everything looks amazing thus far. I think with Blizzard's attitudes towards release dates (similar to id's "when it's done" mentality) should ensure all three projects come out as close to perfect as they can get them (not that I'm interested in WoW, but still, my point remains...).

The three wallpapers on the D3 website are awesome too, I just changed my HL2:Ep2 wallpaper to the Tristram one. Nice haunting, gothic feel to it, I like it...

i would like to point out that, big and rich as it is, none of us actually know for sure just how much resource Blizzard has up its sleeves. i can imagine console colossus like Capcom pulling this off easily, but a pc studio? i honestly have my doubt. Jinroh_basic

I honestly say that you don't know what you are saying. Bilizzard merged/will merge with Activision and it bough a few other studios and we do know how much resources they have, just multiply 10 + million subscribers with 15$ and add at least 4K copies of their other games per year.They are rich, RICH you can't compare them to Capcom how ever you look at it, Blizzard is soo much bigger than Capcom. That's actually the point any PC studio can accomplish something that most console studios can't even dream of, it's exactly the other way around and I'm not just saying that. Look at the best non Asian console games, you will see that the best console games are made by some of the best pc games devs.

[QUOTE="Jinroh_basic"]i would like to point out that, big and rich as it is, none of us actually know for sure just how much resource Blizzard has up its sleeves. i can imagine console colossus like Capcom pulling this off easily, but a pc studio? i honestly have my doubt. DanielDust

I honestly say that you don't know what you are saying. Bilizzard merged/will merge with Activision and it bough a few other studios and we do know how much resources they have, just multiply 10 + million subscribers with 15$ and add at least 4K copies of their other games per year.They are rich, RICH you can't compare them to Capcom how ever you look at it, Blizzard is soo much bigger than Capcom. That's actually the point any PC studio can accomplish something that most console studios can't even dream of, it's exactly the other way around and I'm not just saying that. Look at the best non Asian console games, you will see that the best console games are made by some of the best pc games devs.

exactly my thoughts when i was reading that:lol:

yes, it seems that i have underestimated Blizzard's size. according to wikipedia, it has around 2700 employees -- quite possibly the largest in the industry, excluding EA. resource wise, Blizzard probably would have no problem handling 3 projects or even more at the same time.

with that said, i'm still not without doubt.... that blizzard has to employed an outsider to be SC2's producer was quite a worrying sign. but of coz, i'm only doubting becoz i care -- if anything, i want these games to be greater than their predecessors.

"Either way Blizzard has never compromised on quality in the past so i dont expect them to now!"

that is if you compleatly ignore wow balance problems (well I kinda quited 1 year ago, so I am not 100% up to date but still). That hapens if you let former hardcore raiders from EQ2, who have a obvious bias towards certain classes, balance the game -.-

yes, it seems that i have underestimated Blizzard's size. according to wikipedia, it has around 2700 employees -- quite possibly the largest in the industry, excluding EA. resource wise, Blizzard probably would have no problem handling 3 projects or even more at the same time.

with that said, i'm still not without doubt.... that blizzard has to employed an outsider to be SC2's producer was quite a worrying sign. but of coz, i'm only doubting becoz i care -- if anything, i want these games to be greater than their predecessors.

Jinroh_basic

2700 employees, but it's a shame that most of them work on fixing WoW (bugs. exploits, etc). Blizzard has the staff to work on more than 6 games at a time and still keep it to their quality standards, but they put SUPPORT above all, unlike some big ass company that releases mostly broken/low quality/worse than on consoles games, like EA. It's true that EA makes a mistake from time to time and they release a good game but 25 wrongs don't make a right.

EA has the numbers, massive releases of low quality games with which they try to sell as much as possible, even 20-30K is good for them (FIFA), but Blizzard has quality and if we take the standard price of a game 45/50$, Blizzard would sell almost 3.3 mill "copies" every month ( withother copies like War, SC, Diablo)

as far i know, no single studio ( regardless of its size ) has ever had 3 major projects in development simultaneously. sure enough, both D3 and SC2 could have been in development for quite some time before their official announcement, allowing Blizzard the options to distribute its resources -- but the fact remains that they ARE working on 3 titles all at the same time, and it's not gonna be easy.

as successful as Blizzard is, it's not even close to being the biggest ( in terms of size ) studio in the industry. as it is, i'm wondering if Blizzard could pull this off as it always did. what's your take? could Blizzard overcome the greatest challenge in the industry? or maybe Blizzard is attempting to milk the cash cow with half hearted sequels, as what some guys have stated?

Jinroh_basic

I don't know. D3 looks like its just D2 with much better graphics so I don't think its much of a challenge for them.

The person who made this post probably would also complain if 5 hot chicks wanted to bang him at the same time.

The person who made this post probably would also complain if 5 hot chicks wanted to bang him at the same time.

Vito25

He's bringing up a legit question, not complaining. Fanboys like you just don't like it when people dare question a developer they like. Developing 4 games at once and having them live up to the super high standards Blizzard has set is no small task.

as far i know, no single studio ( regardless of its size ) has ever had 3 major projects in development simultaneously. sure enough, both D3 and SC2 could have been in development for quite some time before their official announcement, allowing Blizzard the options to distribute its resources -- but the fact remains that they ARE working on 3 titles all at the same time, and it's not gonna be easy.

as successful as Blizzard is, it's not even close to being the biggest ( in terms of size ) studio in the industry. as it is, i'm wondering if Blizzard could pull this off as it always did. what's your take? could Blizzard overcome the greatest challenge in the industry? or maybe Blizzard is attempting to milk the cash cow with half hearted sequels, as what some guys have stated?

Jinroh_basic

World of Warcraft have been very profitable for years now. They are using these profits to fund these game developments and marketing. Blizzard probably made three separate development teams for each three games.

It is an interesting point. A couple of thoughts:

- Blizzard can easily support just about as many projects as they want to from a financial point of view. Aside from the money they have on 'hand', their massive success in the bast essentially means they could approach pretty much any investor and get a check, no questions asked and no stongs attached (other than an expectation of the investment returning a profit of course).

- The size of game companies are often somewhat fluid. It's not at all uncommon to ramp up during a busy time and through either firings or retentien let numbers drop during slower periods. Again Blizzard being Blizzard have the advantage that they can pretty much have their pick in terms of hiring top tier talent.

- The only potential limiting factor (IMHO) is really a matter of company culture. Blizzards tradition of making games at are so consistantly successful and consistantly of such a high quality is going to be tied to a relativly small 'core group' of people who ultimatly ensure that the company is run according to certain 'traditions' rules and ways to approach projects. Growing to fast could start to undermine that culture and tradition. However I wouldnt start worrying, I expect Blizzard is well up to the challange.

Well providing they rake in FILTHY amounts of money every month from WoW they are more than capable of hiring a huge team for each individual project. Either way Blizzard has never compromised on quality in the past so i dont expect them to now!daytona_178

i would like to point out that, big and rich as it is, none of us actually know for sure just how much resource Blizzard has up its sleeves. i can imagine console colossus like Capcom pulling this off easily, but a pc studio? i honestly have my doubt. Jinroh_basic

I notice you provide zero reasons as to why you have your doubts. Care to enlighten us with them? What exactly in blizzards history makes you think they can't handle it? It's even funnier that you say capcom could....capcom has produced poor games, blizzard hasn't.

[QUOTE="Jinroh_basic"]i would like to point out that, big and rich as it is, none of us actually know for sure just how much resource Blizzard has up its sleeves. i can imagine console colossus like Capcom pulling this off easily, but a pc studio? i honestly have my doubt. mudman91878

I notice you provide zero reasons as to why you have your doubts. Care to enlighten us with them? What exactly in blizzards history makes you think they can't handle it? It's even funnier that you say capcom could....capcom has produced poor games, blizzard hasn't.

seriously. blizzard not only has the most commercially successful game of all time (in wow - every month, they're getting 10 million x $15 (or however much it costs to subscribe monthly)!!!), all of their games since warcraft 2 have sold multi-million copies. blizzard craps out gold.

seriously. blizzard not only has the most commercially successful game of all time (in wow - every month, they're getting 10 million x $15 (or however much it costs to subscribe monthly)!!!), all of their games since warcraft 2 have sold multi-million copies. blizzard craps out gold.

fireandcloud

You would make an awesome accountant. You seem to have the skills for it.

"Either way Blizzard has never compromised on quality in the past so i dont expect them to now!"

that is if you compleatly ignore wow balance problems (well I kinda quited 1 year ago, so I am not 100% up to date but still). That hapens if you let former hardcore raiders from EQ2, who have a obvious bias towards certain classes, balance the game -.-

Enosh88

WoW is an MMO and is in a completely different bag.

I am going to guess that Lich King's development started first, then Starcraft 2's, and now Diablo 3's. If they release the games one by one, I am sure that they can get them done right. If they try to finish all 3 at same time, now that will be a problem.the_ChEeSe_mAn2

I have a feeling Starcraft's development started first, then Diablo's, then the Lich King's. The Lich King is an expansion so it doesn't require nearly as much coding at Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2.

[QUOTE="fireandcloud"]

seriously. blizzard not only has the most commercially successful game of all time (in wow - every month, they're getting 10 million x $15 (or however much it costs to subscribe monthly)!!!), all of their games since warcraft 2 have sold multi-million copies. blizzard craps out gold.

-Unreal-

You would make an awesome accountant. You seem to have the skills for it.

i don't know if you were being sarcastic, but i am excellent at math. i took arithmetic, after all!!! AND, AND, AND i can count up to a thousand. oh yes, i can!!!

Blizzard is the dev who has never disappointed us , no way they aren't gonna make it!!

and don't forget, they showed 20 mins of gameplay for 2 characters , which means they have been working on the game for along time.

as far i know, no single studio ( regardless of its size ) has ever had 3 major projects in development simultaneously.

Jinroh_basic

I'm sure Blizzard knows what they are doing. It's not like they are in a hurry to release them, they will take as long as they need to make sure the games are up to their standards. THGarrett

U beat me to it. Is not like blizzard has a deadline, they will take as much time as they need to make this game, because they dont want to disappoint the fans, so its hardly a problem for them. I know Blizz can succesfully pull this off and make a great Starcraft sequel and a hell of a Diablo 3 :D.