Vote: Jay Wilson Leaves Diablo 3
Posted 18 January 2013 by FluxAfter yesterday’s surprise announcement that Jay Wilson would be leaving his position as the Diablo 3 Game Director, here’s the mandatory vote to gauge community opinion on the change. Do you guys think things will improve with a new Game Director? Do you think Jay did more good than harm, or vice versa? Do you think most D3 dev decisions stemmed from team consensus and input from executives with an eye on the RMAH and that Jay got way more praise and blame than he deserved? Do you think we’re all 95% in the dark since we have no idea who actually makes final decisions on anything inside of Blizzard?
So many possible opinions, but we can at least see what most of you guys think. Pick the option that best matches your PoV and hit the comments to explain or argue as needed.
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Jay Wilson was also lead designer of …Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40.000 Dawn of War…
He also played a very important role in Homeland 2.
Diablo 3 is his third successful mlti million selling game in a row.
… Just telling.
Sure, but what does that have to do with this poll about Jay on D3? That we cannot vote ‘terrible’? Which I din’t by the way, I voted ‘poor job’
Blizzard has sold millions of copies of Diablo 3. That’s a fact all right mate. A fact that doesn’t truly reflect on the quality of the game, which is rather low in my opinion.
Jay is that you again?
Fack tht l0llzer!~!
Spoken like a true corporate shill, putting monetary interests before and above the quality of the art/product and the reception of the customers.
By the way,
“There’s no way outsiders can hold an informed opinion pro or con.”
This is an asinine choice. WE ARE ALL INSIDERS by the mere fact that we not only paid for the product but are witnesses and consumers of the art/product they created. If I went to a restaurant and I was served rotten vegetables and I taste the rottenness, I am well within my rights to demand he answer for allowing I be served such rotten vegetables and to challenge the chef’s competence in his craft, which is exactly what the community at large has done.
Yes, because D3′s success had nothing to do with the popularity of its beloved predecessors nor the Blizzard brand name. It was all a direct result of Jay Wilson’s immense experience and proven success as a RTS developer that D3 became such a hit ARPG title. His experience in those RTS games, obviously, was a major boon for such a completely different genre of gaming.
Besides, amazing game developers can’t possibly put out a subpar or ****ty game. I mean, look at how amazing Hellgate: London was or Daikatana. Best of their genres.
Also, popularity and monetary success is the ultimate indicator of quality. I mean, look at McDonalds, Twilight, Transformer movies, Jersey Shore TV series, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, CoD4:MW76, Zynga games, Madden franchise, all of the new FF games, RE6… I can go on forever.
I picked “poor job.” There’s some truth to the argument that we, as outsiders, can never really know exactly who or what forces were responsible for which decisions, but I’ll paraphrase a comment that was made in the previous article.
At some point, Jay was the game director. The buck stops with him. Ultimately, if there’s a team consensus for a decision he knows is bad or if executives are pressuring him to make a decision he knows is bad, it’s his job to convince them otherwise. I realize that’s somewhat idealistic, and on a decision by decision basis, I think it’s probably completely idealistic, but over a 7 year period, the big picture is his responsibility.
If you think D3 was kind of disappointing, that’s Jay’s fault. If you think D3 was an abject failure, that’s Jay’s fault. And if you think D3 was unbelievably awesome, that’s Jay’s fault too. It’s all his fault whether he made the decision or allowed the decision to be made.
I agree completely. Diablo III has improved dramatically post launch, but the long development time was full of missteps, back tracking, removal of features and other factors that inevitably diminished the game’s quality at launch. There’s no way to prove his overall performance, but as the game director he becomes the public figure for the game’s development and as such, must take the credit/blame as applicable.
Voted “poor” for the same reasosn as Dr Elmer Jiggle. Game development is not democracy – the director says No or Go.
Seriously though, if the GAME DIRECTOR is not responsible for the product they are producing, then who is? A bit of accountability goes a long way and I think it is the lack of accountability that contributed to the state of D3.
Therefore, I have no sympathy for the fellow.
At the end of the day, Jay Wilson’s job as “Game Director” was to make sure that the general creative vision behind D3 was solid and that all of his employees were working on the right track. That being said, D3 is generally broken, so it is very reasonable to place a lot of that blame upon Jay’s shoulders for not having a proper vision for what D3 needed to be, and needs to strive for in the future.
The buck stops with Jay is correct.
They can fix the item system, they can’t ever fix Diablo : The Phantom Menace. This game was a complete disaster, and only made money because of the history. The total lack of atmosphere in the game, the terrible story and writing, the generic music, online only, dozens of broken/useless skills. With all its years of development it somehow managed to have less interesting zones, items and skills than D2 classic, obviously the story is like comparing steak to spam.
I have never felt gaming disappointment like it before, it left me reeling with uncertainty about my hobby as a gamer, did I seriously wait 4 years for this crap? fool me once Blizzard….
You are right Token but they can always get it right in the next diablo game. Maybe Diablo 4?
You’re right, Max Branning, I mena Token.
On an early Diablo podcast flux mentioned how much he loved EastEnders
And yeah maybe Diablo 4 will be better, I might be as frail as Cain by the time it comes out though.
wow (6) is like the first poll option in like 10 polls i can identify with. I don’t think he is the devil people make him out to be. but in interviews he also shows lack of understanding of what made Diablo 2 the game that we love.
on the other D3 was a group project – so i don’t imagine that Jay Wilson just brawled his BS Ideas through all opposition.
That would be decremental to his person but it would be the best case scenario when it comes to “second chances” for Diablo3 future. it would mean that there is a realisitc chance that diablo 3 will change a fundamental fashion.
whoever will take his place – we’ll see whether it changes for better or worse.
Option 6 doesn’t belong in this poll.
If you need to be an insider first, then I guess 100%(yes not even 99.99%) of this site should not vote at all.
It also indirectly invalidate the purpose of this poll.
I mean this a poll that have an option that basically said: “You have no right to vote in this poll”
That option is simply there for “I’m reasonable and smart” types to reduce “Jay was terrible” votes. Simple damage control. Flux does it for every controversial poll to somewhat prove incgamers does not only contain haters.
As for the poll’s topic, Diablo community (I’m included) don’t see any quality problem for Diablo 3. It’s all about design decisions. It seems nearly all of the decisions that were made for D3 is awful. Then who are we going to blame? Artist X, Programmer Y or the Game Director?
If some of those smart-wannabe types claim that upper Blizz management pushed Jaw for decisions like RMAH, it’s even worse for him to stay and accept being a puppet for 7 years. Then Jay has no social skills to be assigned as the game lead for a facebook game or any game, let alone Diablo 3.
People don’t have to play Devil’s advocate right?
Yeh, who are these people with that opinion?!? There is no place for them here.Rational. Smational.
How can we vote anything else if we’re not even able to qualify why we selected another option. If only there was some means to convey our thoughts, elaborate why we thought Jay did a bad job. Damn it to hell with these insurmountable hurdles.
As nearly the most popular answer, I’d say literally hundreds of people disagree with you.
Podcast/roundtable with some community folks please, Flux.
op barbs, loot diarrhea, **** build diversity for monks, ah 2 win, I blame it all on this guy. good riddance, where’s the option **** that loser?
I now predict a barb nerf… they’re OP due to being Jay’s favorite char
Only 28% say there is no way the public can make an informed decision but 72% are saying they can make an informed decision. So could the 72% share with the rest of us how they have access to make an informed decision of what goes on behind closed doors?
Well, you seem to be a little slow on the uptake. Being a game director, JW had a responsibility and had to take decisions. Wrong decisions, naffing game. End off. Would you rather I elaborated on that?
No thanks. You’ve made your grasp of the situation clear.
You know, there’s a difference between voicing an opinion and believing and stating it as being an informed one. I’ve voted 4), because that’s my opinion. This opinion is made from the big talk made public combined with my experience of the game. That the result is in no way an informed opinion and influenced by personal taste is quite clear. Still, it is my opinion.