Email: Blizzard’s destructive ideology

You mentioned that Blizzard seems more ideologically charged lately, and it’s getting more obvious with their recent games. I know which ideology is causing them problems, too: Take a quick look online for Blizzard’s “Donut Theory”. Basically, their theory is that their games remain popular because the “top tier” players are served so well, and those players attract the “casual market” throughout the game’s lifecycle.

Their problem lately is that the “casual market” is only served up to the point where they have to become hardcore no-lifers to continue enjoying the game. In SCII, you have to build up enough execution/process skill to play a game that’s supposedly about tactics and strategy. In WoW, you have to schedule your life around raiding to progress in gear. And in D3, you have to farm for 10 hours a day to either get a lucky upgrade, or earn enough gold to buy stuff on the auction house in order to beat Inferno.

They need to change their ideology to do more than just create “casual accessibility” for new players… players who don’t dedicate their lives to a video game need to feel satisfied with the experience, so that they don’t quit due to these brick walls. Starcraft could be far easier/less stressful for the average player without giving up e-sports popularity. WoW could offer alternate ways to progress that don’t involve raid instances. And D3 could drop way better “average” gear for players so they can gear up for progression, while still keeping top tier best-in-slot items super rare.

I’m realizing I’m definitely not comfortable about talking about what I’ve heard concerning Blizzard. Let’s just say there is definitely a Hive mindset.

What I did forget to share was that Blizzard was looking to hire some people. “Send me your resumes.” Before, people would be jumping for the opportunity. Today, it is: “With the leaving of Roper and the issues with Diablo 3, I don’t want to work at Blizzard anymore.” Because of their missteps, Blizzard won’t have their choice in hiring as they once did.