Activision Blizzard monetizes Battle.net

[Emultra]

My concern is, why would Blizzard willingly sit by and watch as a good amount of people migrate from WoW to the non-subscription based D3 without doing something about it?

All previous Blizzard games were released without WoW on the scene.

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: Emultra
My concern is, why would Blizzard willingly sit by and watch as a good amount of people migrate from WoW to the non-subscription based D3 without doing something about it?

All previous Blizzard games were released without WoW on the scene.

Are that many people from WoW really going to cancel their subscriptions to play D3? If bnet is free for D3, wouldn't they just keep their subsciption in WoW and play both? I don't think the Diablo fanbase even intersects with the WoW fanbase to great extent.

 

[Emultra]

I hope so. It'd be all too easy for WoW to spoil whoever's getting to plunge their fingers into that sack of gold.

 

[Dangerer]

I will do my part and click bnet ads at least once an hour once starcraft 2 is released to support my favorite developer/publisher

 

[invidia]

Games are getting more complex and will be using more bandwidth/power. Don't be surprised if it's not completely free.


Ads have always appeared in Battle.net. But it's usually Blizzard's own ads or some affiliated merchandising company. If they expand their Ads, IE like Google AdSense or to other products......

 

[Molondo]

Originally posted by: Emultra
My concern is, why would Blizzard willingly sit by and watch as a good amount of people migrate from WoW to the non-subscription based D3 without doing something about it?

All previous Blizzard games were released without WoW on the scene.

There is a huge community that doesn't play wow and still plays old starcraft / warcraft games. I don't think Wow is going to suffer too terribly with the releases of the new games.

 

[TidusZ]

Everyone here has mentioned that B.net has had ads for many, many years - this is not news. This article is written with so much bias that sometimes its a chore to find out what's fact, from blizzard, what is their own bias, and what is twisted from blizzard to make them sound like greedy snake oil salesman. The article should of read, Blizzard has a new company to supply ads for battle.net, so you might see new ads instead of the same ones for months at a time.

Shame on the poster for posting this.

 

[LtPage1]

Guys, welcome to capitalism! Blizzard is a company that has a business plan based on making amazing video games. That's all it is: a business plan. I'm sorry if it's a rude awakening to discover that they're not your best pals, and that they actually want to (*gasp!*) make as much profit as they can. Blizzard never made a promise to not put ads on Bnet, and frankly I'm surprised it's taken them this long to put them up. They never promised to make a one-time-purchase MMO, and they never promised anything about how Starcraft 2 would ship. Either buy their product or don't, but enough with the dramatic emo rants about how you've been betrayed.

 

[I4AT]

There's already ads for more than just Blizzard products on Bnet, as long as it's just a banner I'm not too worried. There's ads all over AT as we speak... that's the nature of the internet.

 

[Tegeril]

Originally posted by: newb111
I would much rather they put ads in than microtransactions or monthly payments.

Nothing more need be said.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: I4AT
There's already ads for more than just Blizzard products on Bnet, as long as it's just a banner I'm not too worried. There's ads all over AT as we speak... that's the nature of the internet.

yup. i don't care what ads they put in the lobby, so long as they're unobtrusive. the ads as they are now don't take away at all (they're fairly easy to ignore) and if it generates more revenue for blizz to run bnet, so much the better

 

[CKent]

I don't care about ads or fees for name changing, etc. Ads in games aren't new, and don't be a dumbass and name your character Hairybutt.

Monthly fees are ok for MMOs, but you won't catch me paying one for a Diablo / SC style game, especially not considering battlenet is a laggy pile of shit.

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Molondo

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Guys, Battle.net is a large chatroom segmented into smaller chatrooms with programming to link players based on specified criteria. Its bandwidth costs cannot be that high. Packets exchanged between players do not go through Battle.net's servers, once the game has started, the bandwidth costs are entirely on you and other players in the game. And the packets shouldn't be consuming much bandwidth either, KBs worth.

If Bnet becomes Pay2Play, it'd just be another slap in the face by Blizzard to their customers. Remember, the management at Blizzard has changed, when Vivendi merged with Activision and renamed themselves Activision Blizzard.

I don't ever remmeber being slapped in the face by blizzard.

World of Warcraft.

In WoW, you're actually having a game that is continuously hosted by Blizzard Servers, so it makes sense that you pay money for the server upkeep. Bnet Starcraft/WC3 has and will always be free because Blizzard is not hosting any games for us.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: ed21x

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Molondo

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Guys, Battle.net is a large chatroom segmented into smaller chatrooms with programming to link players based on specified criteria. Its bandwidth costs cannot be that high. Packets exchanged between players do not go through Battle.net's servers, once the game has started, the bandwidth costs are entirely on you and other players in the game. And the packets shouldn't be consuming much bandwidth either, KBs worth.

If Bnet becomes Pay2Play, it'd just be another slap in the face by Blizzard to their customers. Remember, the management at Blizzard has changed, when Vivendi merged with Activision and renamed themselves Activision Blizzard.

I don't ever remmeber being slapped in the face by blizzard.

World of Warcraft.

In WoW, you're actually having a game that is continuously hosted by Blizzard Servers, so it makes sense that you pay money for the server upkeep. Bnet Starcraft/WC3 has and will always be free because Blizzard is not hosting any games for us.

Could he be referring to the fact that an MMORPG is worth paying a monthly fee for, while dueling 10 times a week for the best gear available, win or lose, is not? :laugh:

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Guys, Battle.net is a large chatroom segmented into smaller chatrooms with programming to link players based on specified criteria. Its bandwidth costs cannot be that high. Packets exchanged between players do not go through Battle.net's servers, once the game has started, the bandwidth costs are entirely on you and other players in the game. And the packets shouldn't be consuming much bandwidth either, KBs worth.

If Bnet becomes Pay2Play, it'd just be another slap in the face by Blizzard to their customers. Remember, the management at Blizzard has changed, when Vivendi merged with Activision and renamed themselves Activision Blizzard.

You seem to have a wealth of knowledge as to exactly what data is passed through battle.net servers and exactly how much bandwidth is required to host a "chat server" for millions of users. I think you'd be surprised if you actually had real world numbers.

Also, Battle.net has always had advertising. Personally, I'd like the option to pay them a small fee instead of being advertised to constantly. But it's not a big deal to me. The advertising should be less bothersome now that it's not a fixed res client, hopefully.

 

[ViviTheMage]

why does it say clog up your arteries? :S

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: newb111

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Molondo
I don't ever remmeber being slapped in the face by blizzard.

World of Warcraft.

Clearly the gaming market disagrees with you.

Clearly, the majority of consumers are idiots who shop at Walmart and trample temp security workers.

No, they are people just like you, but happen to enjoy playing World of Warcraft...


It is pretty clear at this point that you have a grudge against Blizzard and you wish more people shared your feelings on that matter. Tell me..why did you create this thread? Don't just say that you posted it strictly for unbiased informative purposes either because your replies highly suggest otherwise.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: newb111

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Molondo
I don't ever remmeber being slapped in the face by blizzard.

World of Warcraft.

Clearly the gaming market disagrees with you.

Clearly, the majority of consumers are idiots who shop at Walmart and trample temp security workers.

No, they are people just like you who, but happen to enjoy playing World of Warcraft...


It is pretty clear at this point that you have a grudge against Blizzard and you wish more people shared your feelings on that matter. Tell me..why did you create this thread? Don't just say that you posted it strictly for unbiased informative purposes either because your replies highly suggest otherwise.

Yes! Explanation please, why do you hate blizzard bateluer?

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Yes! Explanation please, why do you hate blizzard bateluer?

It's pretty obvious. He hates neo-Blizzard. He hates the Blizzard that came after WoW. The Blizzard that is so focused on WoW, a game he obviously does not enjoy, that they can't make much else. AND when they finally do make something else, they have to make it similar to WoW in ways annoying to him.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Dumac

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Yes! Explanation please, why do you hate blizzard bateluer?

It's pretty obvious. He hates neo-Blizzard. He hates the Blizzard that came after WoW. The Blizzard that is so focused on WoW, a game he obviously does not enjoy, that they can't make much else. AND when they finally do make something else, they have to make it similar to WoW in ways annoying to him.

Yes, damn them for using 3d engines now! They need to keep starcraft and diablo in 2d sprites!!

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Dumac

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Yes! Explanation please, why do you hate blizzard bateluer?

It's pretty obvious. He hates neo-Blizzard. He hates the Blizzard that came after WoW. The Blizzard that is so focused on WoW, a game he obviously does not enjoy, that they can't make much else. AND when they finally do make something else, they have to make it similar to WoW in ways annoying to him.

WoW is a good game. Hate it or love it its a very good game, and blizzard is the same company its always been, making high quality games for its fanbase which it cares about.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Dumac

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Yes! Explanation please, why do you hate blizzard bateluer?

It's pretty obvious. He hates neo-Blizzard. He hates the Blizzard that came after WoW. The Blizzard that is so focused on WoW, a game he obviously does not enjoy, that they can't make much else. AND when they finally do make something else, they have to make it similar to WoW in ways annoying to him.

Except...they are not making any games similar to WoW. D3 and SC2 are not going to be similar to WoW and will be a huge success. Yes, they might implement a few ideas in D3 which are similar in concept to that of very case specific portions of WoW, but that doesn't mean it will feel like the same game at all.

 

[Dumac]

Everyone replied to me like what I stated was my own opinion! I was just guessing at how bateluer feels, and I could be completely wrong.

However, it is true that Blizzard was focused on WoW for a long time, which makes sense since WoW was a huge endeavor (a very well timed one too, with EQ dying down). But I don't feel like Blizzard was aiming for it's pre-established fanbase with WoW, even if the game is based off Warcraft. However, thats just my opinions.

In regards to similarities, the most obvious ones are the art direction of WoW, D3, and SC2. WoW and D3 are extremely similar (I saw a couple D3 screenshots and thought it was WoW), while SC2 is slightly similar, with it's blocky cartoon style. Smilin, is not as much that the new games are 3D. You can make a 3D game without it looking blocky, cartoony, or having a color palette remarkably similar to WoW.

Anyway, like I said, I was trying to guess his opinions, not stating my own The opinions I guessed are very commonly held ones by those who now hold a growing grudge against Blizzard.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Yes! Explanation please, why do you hate blizzard bateluer?

He gives money to the Great Devil, Sony, every month for EQ2. They are one of Blizzard's biggest, yet still badly losing, competitors in the MMORPG market. He feels allegiance to his dark overlord so he badmouths their competitors here quite a bit.

Don't get me wrong, WoW was so-so to start and has devolved into pure crap now, but it's still a billion times better than the complete shit Sony/SOE creates & turns new acquisitions into. They are a virus which kills all it touches.

 

[txrandom]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: pontifex
sorry, but that revenue from wow isn't profit. they still need to pay to keep wow running, which i'm willing to bet isn't cheap.

this is 100x preferable than pay2play for bnet. if the ads are "just in a text chat room" then why the fuck are you complaining?

It doesn't cost anywhere near 165M to run an MMO, even one with as many servers as WoW. Even with the most pessimistic estimates, Blizzard would still pull in more than 150M per month in profit on that game.

I'm complaining because I'm stick and tired of publishers slowly destroying electronic gaming.

Originally posted by: Maximilian

Originally posted by: novasatori
how about sc2 shipping in 3 boxes as the first slap in the face

How can you moan about getting 3x the amount of content for starcraft?! They would have to significantly scale back the campaigns to fit it into 1 box in a reasonable amount of time. If you dont like 3x starcraft II's dont buy them.

The game hasn't been released yet, so that's entirely just speculation. It could still be released with a 10 mission campaign.

Hiring developers, managers, technicians, and support monkeys, advertising, etc doesn't cost anything.