Not that anyone needed proof that success is a good thing, but Blizzard really can do whatever the hell they want, it seems.
About a month ago, the rumor mill started churning that Blizzard would have a big announcement coming at a trade show this weekend. That sparked tons of speculation of a new MMO, new Diablo, new property entirely, whatever. But most of the speculation quickly settled on StarCraft II.
So then, last week, Blizzard came out with a release, saying essentially: "yes, we're going to announce something, but sorry, it's not going to be StarCraft II."
And then this weekend, the big day came, and as Shocho (among countless others) have pointed out, the announcement was StarCraft II. So, Blizzard just flat out lied to everyone. And of course, they can totally get away with it. What are you going to do, not buy it even though you liked the first one? If you're a hopeless WoW addict, are you going to give up your account now?
You could argue that it's not such a bad thing, because in the end, they were giving the people something they really wanted. But I still say it's a flat out lie, and an odd one at that, because all it really bought them was about 7 days of people scratching their heads.
So the point of all this would be what, if not: "we can do whatever the hell we want to"?
5 comments:
I'm kind of torn on this one. Just about all of us in our blogging circle deal with the manufacturing of passion-based products. There's a ton of speculation, outright misinformation, and leaks on a daily basis. Currently, my customer base is ticked at me because I've cut the previews on my upcoming releases down to a trickle because I want stuff released in a certain manner. How a new product is announced can be a keystone in the entire marketing plan and if that is subverted by an information leak, it can be damaging.
It sounds to me that Blizzard might have been the victim of either an information leak or a strong rumor. Since there was a "translation" issue in there, it's hard to say what really happened.
In the end, does it really matter? Does it make you feel any less about Blizzard?
I attended a dinner sponsored by one of the major comic book companies recently, and one of the retailers asked for a "spoiler". The speaker (who was very high ranking) said "quite frankly, it used to be that I could tell you guys something and it would stay a secret. If I tell you something right now, it will be on the 'Net before I leave this room". The retailers actually looked stunned but he was exactly right. As he said that, I scanned the room and counted several blackberries, sitting either on the table or in these guys' hands.
So, rambling aside, I guess I can't really fault Blizzard for wanting to release information on their schedule.
"...and we do plan to revisit that universe at some point in the future, but we don't have anything new to announce in that regard at present."
You could argue, that's not entirely untrue. At that specific time they didn't have anything to announce.
Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better, since I have to change my shorts after watching the trailer...
Sounds to me like they were just trying to preserve a little bit of surprise if many people had guessed what the announcement was.
For a few days, it's pretty harmless, isn't it? Did so many people re-invest in WOW in that short space of time? I'm afraid I don't get the beef here, but I am in Sales :)
I believe the "beef" is that the good Dr. is a man of high principle and therefore believes a lie, no matter how small or necessary, to be a bad thing.
Or he could just be being a stick in the mud because he needs to change his undies like the monkey diver guy.
Do you get the "stick in the mud" bit? You see he messed his undies so there's the mud and the stick is... nevermind... no one gets me.
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