View Full Version : Why announce in June...Paris...hmmm.
Just to kind of change the tone, and I know people love these kinds of threads. So, does anyone wonder why they announced D3 when they did? Why June in Paris, and not October in Los Angeles at a much bigger event? Does it give you any sense of curiosity?
My first suspicion is this: They announced in Paris in June, because they expect to have a working demo by October. Companies love to time things out to perfection to maximize publicity. In October, what will Blizzard have that could really bring in a lot of press? I suspect that they will want to provide something, otherwise what is really the point of having this convention? While the fans may enjoy it, Blizzard does this really for the business end.
So speculate away, am I nuts? Or do I maybe know something muhahahaha!
Sein Schatten
30-07-2008, 21:33
They just love us europeans. :P
Hmm... had D1 and D2 a demo before release? I can't remember.
I suspect that they will want to provide something, otherwise what is really the point of having this convention?
Starcraft II
Apocalypse
30-07-2008, 21:41
there wont be a demo in october, i am sure of that. they will probably have new gameplay footage and announce a few new things like character/s. i personally expect some nice new info and probably lots of it from the event
Blizzard W.W.I. is a big as it gets. They do this for the same reason anybody does any convention: it gets attention not to mention loads of money. They get money from the admittance and other products... and then imagine how much more money they get by people buying their older games. How many do you think bought SC when SC2 was announced? Or D2 when D3 was announced? More than you think.
D1 and SC had "Spawn" versions of the game that were found on the retail CDs and were later available on magazine demo discs.
Blizzard doesn't release demos of their games before release. In fact, not many companies do.
Why do people think Diablo 3 is coming out any time soon? People expect "demos and betas" before the end of the year already?
Helooo? This is Blizzard?
My guess is that because they announced they would not be attending E3 and would only be using their own events to announce products.
Apocalypse
30-07-2008, 21:49
e3 is worthless now anyway
LearnToSwim
31-07-2008, 00:10
The WWI was held on the anniversary weekend of D2 being released. I also read somewhere that France is one of the countries that Diablo sold the most copies in or something to that effect, can't find the source now though.
Yeah I remember reading somewhere that Paris is to Diablo like Seol is to SC. And yep I was one of those succers that bought SC when SCII was announced.
e3 is worthless now anyway
Heh I saw some random dev during this years E3. Someone asked him how it was going. He said something about no booth chicks and everyone is in suits, its like a real job!
I wouldn't get too suspicious about it. Maybe Blizzard will have the same gameplay video we've seen, playable to the public just to see how it plays. Blizzard mentioned that gameplay video was entirely made up just for the demonstration to show things off. I don't see why they can't tweak it here and there to make it sort of like a sandbox for people to demo at the event. Just to get the new "feel" of the game. I don't expect much else though and that would be pushing it when blizzard is very secret on things.
It probably also didn't hurt Blizzard's leverage during negotiations with Activision to announce Diablo III at that time.
It probably also didn't hurt Blizzard's leverage during negotiations with Activision to announce Diablo III at that time.
Leverage? I thought the deal was finished?
Also, I thought I read that they were now in the stage of just adding content. So what that means exactly is......? Content could include anything from different Acts to items to creatures.
I am still curious though as to why they did not wait until October in a much bigger event.
why not milk it for all its worth...
Dragnskull
31-07-2008, 07:56
Just to kind of change the tone, and I know people love these kinds of threads. So, does anyone wonder why they announced D3 when they did? Why June in Paris, and not October in Los Angeles at a much bigger event? Does it give you any sense of curiosity?
My first suspicion is this: They announced in Paris in June, because they expect to have a working demo by October. Companies love to time things out to perfection to maximize publicity. In October, what will Blizzard have that could really bring in a lot of press? I suspect that they will want to provide something, otherwise what is really the point of having this convention? While the fans may enjoy it, Blizzard does this really for the business end.
So speculate away, am I nuts? Or do I maybe know something muhahahaha!
honostly, the chance of a demo being out by octobor is pretty much one in a thousand. Its been admited by Bashiok that DiabloIII simply isnt built that far up yet (that is, smooth "Playable" gameplay)
the highest theory is that its because DiabloIII was announced on that day in Paris. they did it on LOD's birthday.
Leverage? I thought the deal was finished?
Also, I thought I read that they were now in the stage of just adding content. So what that means exactly is......? Content could include anything from different Acts to items to creatures.
I am still curious though as to why they did not wait until October in a much bigger event.
The merger with Activision closed after the WWI. Even with a deal that big, companies will often negotiate down to the last minute. It may not have panned out like that, but announcing Diablo III when they did would certainly boost Blizzard's market value.
And regarding content, they did say that the bulk of it was fleshing out the levels (hence the jobs for environmental artists). They also mentioned that they're still tweaking/adding skills for the other characters, and I bet they'll continue to add other polishes in the meantime while level art is being generated.
They wanted to get their game announcements in before other games were debuted at E3. (no big games were, and the whole show was pretty much moribund, but blizzard didn't know that for sure months earlier, when they were planning the Paris WWI).
They wanted to get their announcements out there some months before blizcon, so news from that event in October would be big news and people wouldn't be like, "another blizzard convention already?"
Blizzard didn't negotiate with Activision. Activision purchased Vivendi's Games Division, which included Blizzard and some other companies. (The whole reason the Diablo founders and original D3 team quit bliz north was because they couldn't get any straight communication with Vivendi, during the early days of the games division being on the block.) Blizzard is by far the largest piece of that pie now, but that was as true 3-4 years ago when sales talks first began. WoW's mega success changed the balance of power.
Global companies negotiating to purchase properties from other global companies for hundreds of millions of dollars don't do it based only on publicly announced info. They conduct extremely thorough audits and inspections, and certainly receive briefings on all ongoing projects, whether public or otherwise. Activision's lawyers knew all about D3 and the unannounced next gen MMO and everything else Blizzard has on their drawing board, long before we got word of D3 at the WWI.
Obviously the fact that D3 was well under way had an effect on the negotiations, but i can't conceive of of the game being announced yet, or not, having any real importance on the overall business matters. Besides, WoW makes more in 2 months than D3 will in its first year (barring some yet-unannounced D3 P2P features); Lich King and other WoW activities had to be vastly more important to Activision than anything to do with D3.
On the other issue, there is absolutely no way on earth we'll see any word of a d3 demo/beta before this time next year. SC2 is coming out before D3, and it's not even near beta yet. Think happy thoughts about D3 if you want to, but don't delude yourselves to the point that you're driven mad by the de rigueur 2-4 year wait between announcement and delivery of every Blizzard title.
I think you guys are over analyzing things... D3 is a game featuring Good Vs Evil.
Which month is the most evil month on the calender? June.
Where is the most evil place in the world? Paris, France.
The next location will be the nicest month at the nicest place. It's all common sense, really.
Mizantrop
31-07-2008, 17:29
I think you guys are over analyzing things... D3 is a game featuring Good Vs Evil.
Which month is the most evil month on the calender? June.
Where is the most evil place in the world? Paris, France.
The next location will be the nicest month at the nicest place. It's all common sense, really.
So the next big announcment will take place on April 1st in Disney World?!:ponder:
So the next big announcment will take place on April 1st in Disney World?!:ponder:
The Nicest place on earth, not the Happiest place on earth :)
April Fools!
Obviously the fact that D3 was well under way had an effect on the negotiations, but i can't conceive of of the game being announced yet, or not, having any real importance on the overall business matters. Besides, WoW makes more in 2 months than D3 will in its first year (barring some yet-unannounced D3 P2P features); Lich King and other WoW activities had to be vastly more important to Activision than anything to do with D3.
Don't get me wrong - there's no way D3 alone would be a deal maker/breaker. Just pointing out that Vivendi SA is a publicly traded company and stocks fluctuate based on publicly released info. Trying to bring up their stock up a few points before closing a $1.7B acquisition can't hurt. =]
Schwalker
31-07-2008, 20:14
Paris is Tristam...Or rather when they made the original map of sanctuary it was modelled on a pre-medieveal map of Europe which they blurred and contorted a bit.
It´s not a french france though, but a Saxon one..hence the names like Talandsee, Loric etc.
Take a look on the map and you´ll find that Westmarch is very similar in shape to England/Scotland and boosts places like Bramwell, Duncraig, Kings Port etc.
Einsteig sounds German, is a German word actually...Germany?
The sundered Barbarian lands now corresponds with Scandinavia who was home to the ferocious vikings..and so it goes on, Blizzard is not the first company to find that people like to have their "mental" maps of a particualr world confirmed in games.
Take a look at Caldeum for example..The artwork is inspired by old Babylon and Istanbul, the mages look Babylonian (Chaldean) with their beards and Caldeum in Latin would mean Chaldean I think.
The three wise men of the Bible was Chaldean mages some claims, Chaldean oracles was important in hellenistic culture etc etc.
They announce games where they sold most, since europe is more of the traditional classic gamers and love adventure, rpg and generally more classic games, diablo 2 sold most copies there and they announced it in europe.
SC sold most copies in Korea and they announced it there.
WOW sold most copies in the US and they announced the expansions there.
Very simple actually!
Schwalker
01-08-2008, 00:24
They announce games where they sold most, since europe is more of the traditional classic gamers and love adventure, rpg and generally more classic games, diablo 2 sold most copies there and they announced it in europe.
SC sold most copies in Korea and they announced it there.
WOW sold most copies in the US and they announced the expansions there.
Very simple actually!
We will never get this thread going if you are going to get sensible on us...lol
We will never get this thread going if you are going to get sensible on us...lol
What are you saying?
I'm just stating the obvious facts, or do you know something I don't?
What are you saying?
I'm just stating the obvious facts, or do you know something I don't?
He's saying you rose the "Oh, Duh! That's right" factor, and killed the goof factor.
They announce games where they sold most, since europe is more of the traditional classic gamers and love adventure, rpg and generally more classic games, diablo 2 sold most copies there and they announced it in europe.
SC sold most copies in Korea and they announced it there.
WOW sold most copies in the US and they announced the expansions there.
Very simple actually!
I would actually disagree the strongest I can! The North American market (US/Canada combined) is the worlds largest. The U.S. has the world's largest economy. There are states like New York and California that have economies larger than the majority of nations on this planet (California alone ranks 8th in the world!). There are U.S. companies that have more wealth that many nations.
One reason why the U.S. is so dominate in for example television shows exported is simply the size. Hollywood produces more movies per year than the whole world combined.
So you see if a company wanted to base their decision on location based on these factors, they would do it in Los Angeles over any place.
So do you really want to say that Europe comes even close to the U.S.?
they announce games where they sold most, since europe is more of the traditional classic gamers and love adventure, rpg and generally more classic games, diablo 2 sold most copies there and they announced it in europe.
Sc sold most copies in korea and they announced it there.
Wow sold most copies in the us and they announced the expansions there.
Very simple actually!
i would actually disagree the strongest i can! The north american market (us/canada combined) is the worlds largest. The u.s. Has the world's largest economy. There are states like new york and california that have economies larger than the majority of nations on this planet (california alone ranks 8th in the world!). There are u.s. Companies that have more wealth that many nations.
One reason why the u.s. Is so dominate in for example television shows exported is simply the size. Hollywood produces more movies per year than the whole world combined.
So you see if a company wanted to base their decision on location based on these factors, they would do it in los angeles over any place.
So do you really want to say that europe comes even close to the u.s.?
I'm confused, he explained that they announced the games at places they sold best. What's that have to do with their economy again?
well, it could just be like LOTR.. in Denmark, they sold the most books, and therefore, the third movie was announced in Denmark.. the people from the movie came to Denmark to see it, and so on..
there is a connection between most selling, and announcing.
I would actually disagree the strongest I can! The North American market (US/Canada combined) is the worlds largest. The U.S. has the world's largest economy. There are states like New York and California that have economies larger than the majority of nations on this planet (California alone ranks 8th in the world!). There are U.S. companies that have more wealth that many nations.
One reason why the U.S. is so dominate in for example television shows exported is simply the size. Hollywood produces more movies per year than the whole world combined.
So you see if a company wanted to base their decision on location based on these factors, they would do it in Los Angeles over any place.
So do you really want to say that Europe comes even close to the U.S.?
Man the U.S can be the largest economy in the universe for all i care, number of sold games doesn't have to do anything with economy, if you want to simplify things like that, it has to do with numbers.
EU combined(26 countries) has more people than U.S and arguably on an overall level pretty much similar string economy to the U.S.
But lets not make this a political or national thing.
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