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Blizzard's Costy Brain Drainage and it's impact on WoW.
higgsboson
Member Posts: 296
I suspect that nobody in this board will claim that they've never heard of Blizzard Entertainment.
I've myself played all their games and spent countless hours strategizing the movement of my individual troops/units to claim supremacy over the map.
Now Blizzard is just about to launch WoW and looks like they are at ease gathering long times fans/royals as well as new ones with huge previews and ads (I don't even think they need this) featured in every major Gameportal sites here in NA as well as oversea.
And there is a rumor circulating that there is something going on in the management circle of VU in regards of Blizzard - As some of us knows that Blizzard is 100% owned by VU. Nobody is sure what the issue/non-issue is nor does anybody claim they got the "picture". But I simply can't stop asking questions about Blizzard's future and its flagship products after reading article such as this:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/tech_reporter_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2086499
Yes. People leave and come. It's not like it's first time it happened.
But I want you to read this article and want you to be your own judge.
The article quote:
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Amazingly enough, the top people at Blizzard North were getting the vast majority of their information from Yahoo News, nothing from the parent company in New York or Paris," Roper said. "It was becoming a huge distraction from our work; chunks of each day were being dedicated to the latest rumor on the Internet."
Hoping to get some attention from Vivendi -- "to get some traction," Roper says -- Dave Brevik, Blizzard North's president, as well as Roper and two vps, co-founders Erich and Max Schaefer, tendered their resignations by e-mail.
An industry analyst reportedly estimated that the loss of the four could cost Blizzard $100 million in sales. But, said Roper, "to this day, we still haven't heard from anyone at the parent company -- which says something about why we left."
Subsequently, others followed, including Blizzard North director of business and operations Ken Williams, senior programmers Tyler Thompson and Peter Hu, and artists Phil Shenk and David Glenn. All nine now comprise the entire Flagship Studios staff.
More recently, designer Stefan Scandizzo and programmer Mike Scandizzo left to start Castaway Entertainment, where they are now vp and president, respectively. Last month, Blizzard's original president and chairman Allen Adham left, reportedly to launch a financial consulting firm.
------------------------------------------------------------
Note also this article didn't mention Blizzard's another trio - Patrick Wyatt,
Mike O'Brien, and Jeff Strain who left the company couple of years earlier to form a new studio now called ArenaNet.com currently developing GUILD WARS.
Now I'm really curious what forces are behind this major exodus and why these things are happening especially after such series of mega success of every game titles launched.
Wouldn't this supposed to drive Blizzard's growth?
Yes Blizzard still claims as quoted:
-------------------------
But Morhaime said he "doesn't foresee any significant delays or long-term negative effects on future projects or those currently in development.
"Blizzard's success has never been attributed to any individual or small group of employees," he maintained. "Development of our games has always been a collaborative effort of numerous individuals here at the company. Our senior management and development staff includes many long-standing employees who have played an integral part in making franchises such as "Warcraft," "Starcraft" and "Diablo" into global successes, and we remain confident in the company's ability to continue creating some of the best games in the world."
-------------------------
But that's so little of an attempt to explain what's going on. I think it's just so wrong for one to state "success has never been attributed to any individual or small group of employees"
There are always a key contributors in any project however small and large the project is. That's why we don't see another Blizzard's Warcraft, Starcraft, and all the aura behind its elegant art work. Blizzard itself is small few. We don't see WC3 from say I-M-NOOB Inc. or Baldur's Gate from I-M-ANOTHER-NOOB Inc.
Comments
I know im going to be hated for this but... I think Blizzard would be best with Sony... Sony holds no restrictions on thier developers (they can make whatever they want, good or bad, just check out 989) and they have more then enough money to back the company.
Before people blow up at how EQ changed when sony took over, this is because Verant is nolonger around... Its now sony... All seperate Developers of sony have free control, unless sony absorbeds the dev group into a 1st party...
Other then sony, I would say NCsoft or EA... MS would ruin the game worse then sony could and I would just have a heart attack if Interplay took over...
PS. VU sucks also...
I don't know anything about those companies, except SOE...and microsoft.
...So: "wang".
Heh
That's some disturbing information. I met Bill Roper, Dave Brevik, Max Shaefer and Peter Hu on ECTS 2000. Those guys were heart of Blizzard Entertainment and it's a real suprise for me to see them go.
It will definetly have an impact on WoW, whether good or bad that's for us to see. Truth of the matter is people come and go all the time.
==============================
And besides, like it or not, people do try to "win" massively multiplayer RPGs. The rules of engagement are something like this:
* If there is a status bar, make it grow bigger
* If there is a number, make it higher
* If it moves, either get a mission from it or kill it
==============================
And besides, like it or not, people do try to "win" massively multiplayer RPGs. The rules of engagement are something like this:
* If there is a status bar, make it grow bigger
* If there is a number, make it higher
* If it moves, either get a mission from it or kill it
This is all old news. Bill Roper and the rest left like a year ago and are now producing Guild Wars.
lets be honest, WoW will not meet the hype given to it.
Its the hard truth about hype. No game can meet it
Oskeosuw Ionsuw
Chief Of Communications, Ahazi Server
Oskeosuw Ionsuw
Chief Of Communications, Ahazi Server
Thanks for bringing this article to my attention it will definetly make me rethink my stance on WOW, i'm not saying i'm not going to buy the game; if nothing else it will be bought to fill the void in my game collection; but the amount i expect the game to deliver has definetly been taken down a notch or two.
" Now i'm really curious what forces are behind this major brain drain and why these things are happening especially after such series of mega success of ever game titles launched".....well nothing can turn creativity and optimism into apathy and despair faster than selling out to a huge mutlinational company that only cares about the return their latest purchase can bring them, it's no coincidence that some of the most creative people left the company.
I just hope that blizzard can still deliver a good product like the ones we've some to expect, if world of warcraft turns out to be crap i'll definetly have to reconsider my stance as a loyal blizzard consumer.
100% true
But if they have SOE help them out, then WoW will just become really really really really bad. It will go from "fun" to "POS" in 2 business days if SOE gets their hands on it
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
SOE doesn't help out, they either support (funding) or absorb the development team into SOE. I think if Blizzard would end up a 2nd party to SOE they could be in a very good position. Just look at sony's other 2nd party developers... Naughty Dog, Polyphony Digital or even not 2nd party developer who is funded by Sony for titles, look at Drakan 2 from Surreal Software or Rachet and Crank from Insomniac...
SOE from a developers stand point might not be the best (cant be the worse if EQ is doing so well), but as a funded 2nd party or just a funded developer I would so support them. Sony is going to be in the game industry for a long time...
you might ask the guys at http://www.sigilgames.com about how supportive and understanding SoE is/was.
Wait for the WOW beta before you start making aspersions. Heads of departments (Blizard) move on if they consider their efforts are not being properly compensated or their ideas are bastardized. Also by moving on it makes room for noobys to the field to demonstrate they can perform and brings in new ideas.
good articles, my one critique tho.
A brain drain is where people working for a branchplant (majority of examples being in Canada where the term originated) want to get higher paying jobs and move to the HQ of the company (usually US) draining the country they left (usually Canada) of there educated workers.
In blizzard they lost workers but they didnt leave the country, so it would be more of a....
umm...
loss of importaint staff?
</lecture>
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Hehe...yeah I knew what you mean.
I was just trying to avoid the flood of "you're lying" posts, and people taking the piss with "my friends, brothers, cousins, father works for blizzard and he said" posts..or the flood of "beta has started?? where can I get beta?? can your friends get me into beta???" types of posts
My intent was not to be an ass, sorry...I'm a teacher, making corrections is kind of a professional habit
ARE YOU CRAZY ??? SOE is the worst company for Giving a RIP about what thier customer base would like ..... HOW many games do you want to play that get totally nerfed every single patch and are constantly takeing AWAY Characters abilitys ???
I have played EQ from day one -- and Swg from Day one -- I can tell you SOE's Mind set is WE ARE IN CHARGE AND WILL TELL YOU what you will like and play ..... piss on you if you do not like it ... your puney 12 bucks a month will not make a dent in our megga millions we get each month from our other players ..... AND saddly they are RIGHT ... We as Gamers are so frikken up SOE's butt we can no longer see what is happening to US .....
They make statements on how it will get better and we hang in thier believing in them like we all did about Santa Clause .... ONE DAY you will realize you were Duped by your parents or others when they had you believe some jolly man in a red suit brought you presents each year .. (insert your own countries gift giver here) ....... SOE wants you to BELIEVE they have your best interest in mind ... BUT ! ! if you look at what they do each patch to your characters you will see that the EVIDENCE is overwhelming that they are in fact DOWN grading your fun through NERFING your characters and its Class and abilities .....
NOT TO MENTION they are the Worst TIME SINK inventors ON the Planet .... Half hour waits for Boats ?? 10 min waits for shuttles ?? mulitple ship transfers all with 10 min waits between trips ..... HOW about MONEY SINKS ?? do not even get me started on those.........
NO THANK YOU .... This person here will NEVER play another game with SOE attached to it ... Even if they took control of every single MMORPG out there -- I would then become a single player RPG fan once again ... or even back to Pen and Paper ... and once again my life would be fun again ....
SOE ... I want as far away from you as I can get -- When I see SOE on anything from now ON it will Signal to me .... NO FUN waiting here... This product Has SOE only in mind ..
Look to the stars to know HE is with us. HE hung them as markers, of times and of seasons.
its cool K2 i was just like wtf that that was corrected cought me off guard lol most of the time i post im half asleep so its understandable.
i see any game with SOE or EA i try my damnedest to stay away from it mmorpg anyways i cant complain about EA's sports games i love them though lol if there sports games went mmorpg i would do something dont know what but ... lol
There is a rumour around Blizzard doing negociation with Microsoft for WoW's exclusive first release for XBOX platform. However I have no way to verify the authenticity of this rumour. If anyone can verify this, it would be something I would really wanna hear about.
My personal opinion is that the day Blizzard is bought off by Microsoft is the day of Blizzard's end.
Check this link:
http://www.evilavatar.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3027
I don't care with Blizzard being bought off by other companies or stay with VU or go independant but not with MICROSOFTA.
This kind've reminds me of the whole Pepsi/Coke scheme.
two great companies, making great products.
if they were to join forces, then BAM! UBER COLA!
is soe, and blizzard were to join, im pretty sure we would all be playing better mmo's right now
http://www.facebook.com/murtb