Food For Thought/Thought For Food No. 21: The Ghost Of Blizzard

I remember when I was 9 years old. Dad was into PC Gamer back in the day, and in an August issue in 1996 as usual was the included CD that had demos. It was one in particular that kept me glued to the computer monitor. One demo that was dark, gothic, filled with nightmarish creatures that seemed to come from the recesses of shadows just past the corner of my eye, and a lone warrior wading through a decrepit cathedral. It was all capped by one of the most striking & iconic intro cinematics I’ve ever saw at that time.....and maybe still to this day.

Diablo – Opening Cinematic

Yeah, I’m definitely talking about the whole Blizzard situation. I wanted to wait a week or so to see if anything else would develop this dumpster fire of a collapse, and sweet baby Jesus things have been crawling out of the dumpster! In a way, we all should have seen this coming: the past few years we’ve seen their quality sink, and their reputation being ruined outside & within. Not only that, but many parts of the fanbase have become increasingly apathetic and leaving WoW for incredibly greener pastures. Again, I definitely wanted to wait for more info to pop up before I said something, and now that there’s enough out there, it’s time to say something.

For starters, I gotta talk about quality. For untold ages, Blizzard was known for the high craftsmanship of it’s games. Diablo 1 & 2, Warcraft 1 to 3, Starcraft, and even the first few years of World of Warcraft were landmark games that show off how good you can be. Hell, even later titles like Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch (The last good thing they’ve made in my opinion) were still example of what you can do when you care! Now? Nothing is being done with Starcraft, Diablo 3 started out incredibly flawed (But ended up being pretty damn good), HotS is effectively dead, WoW’s track record of expanions in recent memory has been awful (Shadowlands anybody?), and even Overwatch was unnecessarily been tampered with! It’s absolutely frightening that the quality has slipped up so much, to the point where I have to wonder if future releases (Especially D4 and OW2) will come fucked up right out of the gate! Shape up Blizzard!

Secondly, I gotta talk about the apathy & attitude that the Blizzard staff seems to show to it’s fanbase on nearly a constant basis these days. Now I’m not talking about the twits and assholes in this case. Those idiots shouldn’t be listened to, despite the company occasionally doing so (I’m looking at you Mercy rez nerf). I’m talking about gamers like you & me. I’m talking about the various streamers across Youtube & Twitch who’ve made it their career to play and talk about your games! Blizzcon 2018 should have been the signal that maybe they don’t care that much, and as time moved it only seemed to get worse. The various teams seem to think that their shit don’t stink, and they at times seem to actively hate the gamers that play their games. Dafuq!?  

And then there’s the matter of the treatment of the female staff. Anyone who knows me knows I love the ladies. Whether in real life or in Anime/Manga/Gaming, and in more.....adult situations, the female form is a work of art. You know what I’m not? A fucking jackass! I don’t ditch my work on girls/women, just to be a lazy prick or go off and get drunk! You know what I don’t do? I don’t try to perv on the ladies in an effort to get laid! And the one thing I don’t do!? DRIVE A FEMALE STAFF MEMBER INTO OFFING HERSELF! I’m not exactly a MeToo person, as I have issues with the political side of the movement, but if there was ever a time where I would align myself with the movement in even a remote manner, it would be this! To any of the male staff members that participated in any of this, I hope your cock & balls shrivel off into dust!

Finally, I gotta say a few words about dear Bobby Kotick. Bobby, you business-minded fuck. You sure as shit know nothing about games. Hell, Forbes has said that you don’t even like video games, and are more concerned about cash than quality! For ages, you’ve proved you’re a sad little man with a sad little dick. Time & time again you’ve shown your true colors: that of a pathetic business man with no passion for anything that isn’t green. You’d rather drain a beloved company dry, than actually show care for the product you make. Oh, and being in Epstein’s little black book doesn’t help with your image either. When you finally & rightfully croak and rot in a grave, the 4th circle in Hell takes you in with flaming open arms and you’ll burn for the rest of existence.

In conclusion, Blizzard is nothing more than a ghost now. The poison that Activision injected into them over a decade ago has finally put our once beloved game company in hospice. Quantity over quality, not listening to the playerbase, showing increasing dislike towards said playerbase, and horrendous attitudes & actions towards the female staff are just a few of the things that have been happening over the years, and really came into the light in the last 3. If Blizzard manages to somehow live through this, they will more than likely look & feel like nothing we once knew. They will probably be almost completely gutted out, and filled in with who knows what. It could be good, or it could somehow be worse than it is. The point is.....Blizzard as we’ve known since the 90s.....is all but gone.

And that’s how I feel about the ghost that is Blizzard. I genuinely don’t want them to die, as there’s still some tiny part of me that likes them in a strange way, but at this point maybe death is a good thing. Perhaps as the company we once loved is resting in the grave, maybe another will take it’s place and rekindle that love we once had. With that said, we’re finally off to the last few destinations of our metallic journey through Japan, and they’re definitely off the beaten path. See you in a few days!