Is Blizzard in trouble?

To pour over $50 million into a game over a span of seven years probably won't be a huge loss for Blizzard. Then again, $50 million isn't a small amount of money, for any developer.

World of Warcraft is melting down, and will most likely continue to melt down, despite Blizzard's announcement of more frequent WoW expansions.

So, what do you think?

Lack of good ideas? Blizzard can't find good enough formula to excel over World of Warcraft?

Is Blizzard in trouble?

Blizzard is a company that can look at a 50 million investment as a developer, and actually walk away from that project, because they will make buckets on Starcraft, on Diablo, just recently got a new source of revenue in Hearthstone, and World of Warcraft on a downswing is still well over 5 million subscribers. Worst case scenario for them right now is that they have no replacement for WoW, and when that game finally stops bringing them respectable revenue they will have a shit load of money in the bank, and will either need to come up with a new hotness, or become a triple A developer dependent on the other stuff they make like Diablo and Starcraft.

All the Titan stuff shows is that Blizzard has no idea how to make an MMO that would satisfy the fanbase of WoW for another decade, and do it with a business model that makes their bean counters happy given the standard they've set with WoW in terms of making money. Which if we're being honest isn't that surprising given who the hell has actually made a real run at WoW in terms of commercial success?

no WoW still makes a ton of money to keep Blizzard going.. i do think they need a new IP though.. right now they are just a 3 trick pony with Warcraft, SC and Diablo

Blizzard still makes a hell of lot more on WoW the only thing that might happen is a layoff of people who were working on Titan but far from Blizzard being in trouble. WoW isn't dead anytime soon so they have nothing worry right now.

Thats 3 more tricks than most devs.

Can't really fault them for that.

They have hearthstone, an upcoming moba, and still have millions of WoW subscribers

Blizzard is a company that runs on their past reputation. As long as they don't prove that they don't have it anymore they can keep pumping out mediocre addons to wow, card games and mobas. 50 million is nothing compared to the value of that reputation.

Well, I didn't mean only of the financial trouble.

They have to outdo themselves, which obviously isn't an easy task.

People will get sick of World of Warcraft. More sooner than later. They can't make expansions forever, and still retain the subscription sales model.

Even blizzard knows the era of the MMO is coming to an end. It's a MOBA world now.

It's been so long since I played an amazing Blizzard game (warcraft III) that I hardly care about them anymore.

Same with Valve, and these used to be my favourite developers because they always took their time to improve the quality. But there is taking your time and then there is making your fans wait decades.

I don't think Heroes of the Storm will be comparable to LoL or Dota 2, but I'm pretty certain their Hearthstone game is printing them money.

WoW still earned them a billion dollars last year, and that's been the case for about 10 years now. I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard was sitting on a couple billion dollars in the bank which they can easily use to fund $50 million games that don't ever get released.

@IgGy621985: I am sure they are object oriented programmers. They can probably repurpose a lot of the code for another game.

mmm that's a funny problem to have, because in a way it's great - it means you've been on top. but at the same time it's terrible, because that thing ... that thing you worked so hard on and put all the way up there on top ... that's the yardstick to beat.

well yeah, they ought to be thinking 'what goes on top of that?'

this 50 M dollar thing, clearly doesn't. but champ's analysis seems right to me, $50 M investment ... blizzard can let that go without too much worry.

They making 50$ Million in half month from WoW subs alone ...

The problem is not money ... The problem i see with Blizzard , once upon a time one of the best developers in the world ( top 3 even ) , is that after a decade and so many billions , not millions , billions profits all these years ... They coming up with

1) Diablo 3 ---> Not even close to what Diablo fans aroudn the world expecting. A big mess and upset if you ask me ( now with RoS game is ok but still )

2) HearthStone ---> I mean ..all those billions and talent for a card game in a 10 years frame ? Really ?

3) Heroes of the Storm ---> Another MOBA with Blizzard theme ..

So all it was left for me to anticipate was Titan. It seems it felt short. Better to not release it than release a medicore product , similar to what D3 was on release. And that what im worried about. One of the most talented teams ever with almost "unlimited" money to work with and coming with upsets , cancels and low budget games the last 10 years.

Thats upseting and sad at the same time. I was a huge fan , HUGE ... but i wont even consider them in top 10 developers like i used to ... Actually not even close to top 10. Such a shame.

Haha haha, no

Blizzard has a lot of money to spend, they've got no worries for now. Just a matter of time until they make a new hit. Hearthstone is doing well, they take their time to make popular games.

If WoW was "melting down" I think subscriptions would be below 1 million and Blizzard would be contemplating free-to-play. Yet the game still has nearly 7 million subscriptions in the longest gap of content in the game's history; most free-to-play MMOs could only dream of a userbase that large. WoW has obviously been losing subs since WOTLK but it's not "melting down;" it's still fantastically successful and well worth developing additional content for.

And all the Titan thing means is Blizzard didn't want to commit to a project that wasn't working out. Look at what the game was going to be like, according to MMO-Champ (taken from Kotaku):

• MMO set in the future on Earth after an alien invasion with a very large world
• Three factions trying to control the planet.
• Do less interesting professions during the day while secretly fighting alongside your faction if you choose to do so.
• Team Fortress, Starcraft II, and The Incredibles all named in comparisons.
• Player run businesses and shops, families, relationships with NPCs, advanced AI that made it feel more like a living world.

Apart from player-run businesses it sounds completely generic. Literally Destiny 2.0 with more typical MMO features thrown in.

I haven't even talked about their other games, particularly Hearthstone. Blizzard isn't in any sort of dire situation at all

they still have starcraft 2, D3, and hearthstone. They aren't depending on wow subs to live.

jesus h christ that is incredible.

i'm all fact up now.

lol no

Blizzard gets millions monthly from WoW and Hearthstone. 50 million isn't a huge loss at all to them.

The quality of what they're producing is subjective at this point.

3 tick pony...so like the most dominant developer on the planet?

WoW is STILL the gold standard for MMOs...nearly a decade after launch.

Starcraft is the gold standard for competitive RTSs.

Diablo 3, though a bit rough and disappointing for many fans at launch, has significantly improved with the expansion.

Blizzard is only "in trouble" until Heroes of the Storm releases. I have a feeling that thing is going to be huge (as in bigger than LoL or DOTA huge).

Hearthstone will probably sustain another 10 $50 million projects they can dump.

If anything Titan's cancellation just shows how much they're not in trouble. Being able to completely cancel something they've worked on for almost a decade and being able to absorb that blow financially speaks volumes about where they're at money wise as a company. I'm sad Titan won't be coming out though, the details sounded different and interesting for an MMO. Get ready for another decade of WoW being Blizzard's only MMO.

Hearthstone, which has very low "keep" is printing Blizz money right now. WoW at 7 million subscribers at $15 a month is still making a ton. People are still buying D3 which has been improved upon greatly since release. Heroes of the Storm might never be a LoL or Dota 2 type fan base, but it'll print them money as well.

Blizz started Titan when WoW was at its peak and the MMO landscape was vast. The landscape has changed so much since then. They know there own game virtually ended the MMO wars so it would be pointless to release another one anytime soon and would run the risk of alienating there own fan base.

Why would they? WoW is old, really old.

50M is pocket change for Blizzard,they make that in a week on WoW subs alone.

Hopefully they fall apart and Leonard Boyarsky latches on with InExile or Obsidian, instead of having his talent waste away over there.

You guys are behaving as if it's the first time Blizzard is cancelling projects. They have done it in the past, but of course, we're getting much more media coverage on it than before. That's the whole reason why Titan was never officially announced, and in fact, we knew about it due to a development timeline getting leaked.

I don't think Blizzard keeps all the revenue from WoW subs. There's a reason why the name 'ActivisionBlizzard' has the name 'Activision' come first. Activision has a higher stake in the company, and the merger probably meant that all of Blizzard's assets become owned by the newly merged company. One of the reasons why Activision was willing to buy over Blizzard from Vivendi was probably because of their WoW revenue. So no, i don't think Activision will say "Hey Blizzard, you can use up all that money as you see fit."

Nope.

Not at all, just watch as they release another WoW expansion, while getting prepared for SC2:Legacy of the Void, while they are getting their MOBA game while Hearthstone sitll get's more and more popular, Blizzard is not in troubles, at all.

The market is already over-saturated with f2p MOBA games, better ones at that, which is a key difference from Hearthstone. Heroes is just a dumbed down version of them all, I'd be surprised if it does much of anything for Blizzard at this point.

Heroes of the Storm feels more like WoW BGs with top down gameplay rather than a traditional moba though. More map variety, no shop, team leveling, talent trees. The game does different things, I think they've reconciled the idea that it will ever be an esport with League and Dota 2 being so dominant. Hearthstone will probably be a bigger esport than Heroes will ever be.

Just make that StarCraft MMO and you're king of the world for next 10 or 15 years.

Wut....

It still has 7-8 million subs.... even if it has lost its charm long ago.

Hearthstone probably prints money...... millions play it and one of the most streamed games on twitch.... and probably costs them f*ck all to maintain/develop.

Diablo III is doing well on all systems.

Starcraft still going strong...

None of their products are failing..... Heroes of the Storm is probably the first big let down ever.

Not at all. I do get the feeling that Blizzard doesn't want to release anything that won't be the best in it's respective genre though, and that's why their output seems so limited compared to other studios. .

We are not talking about WoW, we are talking about Blizzard cancelling "Titan".

you are right, they lost like what, 1 month of wow subscriptions? much trouble very wow

I think more from a creative perspective they are. MOst of the developers who made them successful left. The other ones stayed on made their money and don't really care anymore or have that creative drive anymore. They are a big company now. I kind of find it funny all the jerks who were saying activision wouldn't effect them. Seems like a totally different company now. Probably a lot of kids working there. The creative brains behind it are either gone or don't care anymore. Seems like a company that was overrun with drama and narcissism to me.

They will collect their paychecks though. Probably off doing other things not thinking about creating new games though. Really who is left there from the original team that even made Wow? Mike morhaime and Metzen? They are probably off sailing on a boat somewhere anyways. Do we really have faith the guy who made diablo 3 is going to make something that great? It's completely different people. It just has the blizzard name on it.

Put it in context, $50 million is a months worth of WoW subscriptions.

No they aren't in trouble.

I see blizzard becoming like lucasfilms... A lot of money. Not the same.

no, WoW is in decline, there's too much competition out now. Neverwinter smokes WoW graphically and is actually a little funner to play than WoW. Blizzard failed with Titan so I'd say they are in trouble. Not a lot, but a little. They'll need to come up with something new.

WarCraft 4 please...

That's exactly why it's going to be big...

They make like 140 million a month of wow subscriptions alone. Unless they are worst managed company in the world they are not in any financial trouble. They can easily afford to eat 50 million and keep it moving. Maybe they have to push back getting a huge night elf statue in front of there building to match the orc one they already have till next year but that's about it.

WoW is making only a couple gold mountains instead of half a dozen gold mountains like it used to. That is still more than what most developers can even dream of.

Hearthstone is also a very potent revenue stream, and is poised to have a very successful and lengthy lifespan. Starcraft 2 expansions are selling automatically, and with the recent expansion and loot changes Diablo 3 is also making a return from the oblivion. Heroes of the Storm is not launched yet, but from my alpha experience I can say that it's at least focused on players who may not play LoL or Dota in the first place.

I'd say Blizzard is still one of the most successful and affluent AAA developers in the world.

Last time I played Neverwinter, I remember very dull and static combat with 4-5 buttons that did flashy things that I spammed for 30 levels before I couldn't stand it anymore. The areas you quest in are very small, the quest content has no substance, and the enemy layout is the same exact layout everywhere. Either it's a group of 3 weak enemies to AoE down, or 2 weaklings and 1 strong "elite" type. The graphics were above other F2P MMOs but still couldn't match WoW's zones from 2008. The only thing that was better were the character models and the Neverwinter city itself.

The only direct competition WoW has is FF14 and maybe GW2. Wildstar could've been up there too if they didn't do a monthly fee. There's a lot of F2P MMOs and it's very hard to find ones that can offer what WoW does. I tried out ArcheAge and unless you have a sub continually running, your experience is severely limited. Potentially great game ruined by awful restrictions. The only reason WoW is in trouble is because Blizzard hasn't been able to push content out fast enough and the end of expansion periods have been very bad for 3 expansions now, which they might finally fix with WoD.

50 million is chump change for act-blizzard. They only need to start worrying if by 2018 they have nothing else out earning money. Eventually WoW will fade / shrink to where it isn't making them much money.

lol no. The game has neither the depth nor longevity to compete with other games in the genre. What you're suggesting is essentially the same as saying Halo Wars was going to be the next big RTS.

If it didn't have Blizzard's name attached to it it'd be dead in the water the second it released. There's nothing it offers that isn't done better elsewhere.