My friend, Jonathan Swift, showed me a place called the Land of Herp Derp. In the Land of Herp Derp, people say things that are so wrong that it is not worth the time to address. An example of the Land of Herp Derp is someone saying, “Consoles have no future.” That’s just wrong. And it isn’t worth the time to say why.
The Land of Herp Derp is a very strange place. The citizens of Herp Derp are extraordinarily confident in what they say. They do not have conversations with the Real World. They only declare things as if Herp Derp was writing stone tablets. (The mayor of the Land of Herp Derp is Michael Pachter.)
This brings us to the question as to why Blizzard is giving away Diablo 3 to WoW players who agree to a twelve month contract. The Land of Herp Derp, never being helpful, says in its whiny voice: “IT’S BECAUSE BLIZZARD IS SCARED OF SWTOR AND GUILD WARS 2!” This is more derp than what normally comes out of the Land of Herp Derp. What does Diablo 3 have to do with SWTOR or Guild Wars 2? “BECAUSE BLIZZARD IS SCARED, MALSTROM! I KNOW IT!” I’m sure you do. “THAT’S RIGHT! BLIZZARD IS VERY VERY WORRIED.”
The greatest threat to WoW is Blizzard’s other games. Starcraft 2 was not, and cannot be played, in the same way as WoW. But Diablo 3 can, in many ways, play the same way as WoW. Worse, Diablo 3 has the balance and quality measures Blizzard is known for and what WoW players are used to. People keep talking about SWTOR or Guild Wars 2 but Diablo 3 is the biggest threat to World of Warcraft. Blizzard has stated this directly as well. They expect Diablo 3 to cannibalize some of WoW.
So if you are Blizzard, what do you do? They gave the game away for free if you agreed to twelve months of continued subscription to WoW. In other words, this is nothing but Blizzard directly attempting to prevent Diablo 3 from cannibalizing WoW.
It is nothing more than this. It is nothing less than this. Our friends in the Land of Herp Derp need to find a new target.