Activision Blizzard had an investor call last night. They’re always fun because it’s the only time to see publishers being honest (to their only true customers). Activision has revealed that Destiny 2 disappointed them, failing to meet sales expectations. Their response is to be more content and more monetization.
One assumes more microtransactions are en route.
None of this should be surprising by now. Games are now constantly failing to meet expectations, and the answer’s always going to be squeezing more cash from the same udders. It’s gonna be fun seeing what they do to Destiny from now on.
Source article: https://kotaku.com/activision-says-its-not-happy-with-destinys-sales-1830322804
#Destiny #Destiny2 #Activision #Blizzard #FPS #MMO #PS4 #XboxOne #PC #JimSterling #IndustryBS #Bungie
Its my Destiny 2 never play this game.
The reason they didn’t get what they wanted with Destiny is absolutely, blatantly and hilariously obvious. The developers made HALO to be a GOOD GAMING EXPERIENCE and people flocked to it because they loved every minute they spent in the game and genuinely appreciated the developers for giving them this experience.
They made Destiny to milk the cash out of that same audience of appreciative gamers. The tragic thing is that they actually succeeded. They DID sell millions of copies of vastly inferior, bugged and problem-ridden games simply by dint of having been the developers of the previous games and carried by a huge marketing campaign. The problem is that they expect those same people to form the same attachment to this cynical cash-grab as they did to the HALO series, despite having given them nothing to cause them to want to.
They’re pulling their hair and yelling at the sky “WHY?!”, yet everybody knows exactly why. Nobody wants to feel like they’re being milked for money. Nobody. We may grudgingly accept it if it comes from a product we otherwise enjoy, but in the back of our heads we always remember when we’ve been treated like ambulant wads of cash in need of pruning. That very feeling is what makes people disconnect from developers, that makes them step back and say “Sure, I had fun with this game, BUT…”.
Until they start making games again that put the enjoyment of the player first and monetizing said enjoyment second, they’ll never see a dedicated fan base again. And until they understand that fact, they won’t be able to “fix” what ails games like Destiny 2.
It had fantastic graphics, beautiful music and an engaging game-play loop, but every mechanic in the progression of the game and every seasonal event and DLC was blatantly designed to strong-arm you into paying money. I could have accepted the other problems of the game if that hadn’t been the case, but this clearly shows that they had all the money and man-hours in the world to come up with more ways to make me pay them, but none for the people they’d have needed to fix gameplay bugs and actually provide a fun long-term gaming experience, and that I just can’t forgive or forget.
They put more importance on making me pay than they did on giving me reasons to want to.
Ever since Activision put its finger in Blizzards pie, Blizzard has entirely across the board reduced confirmable quality and fan engagement.
It is time if Slacktivision legitimately engaged in maintaining Blizzards reputation (of which has always generated a very loyal player base) through disengaging in their business practices and allowing them to be their own entity, that includes removing their terrible shit off Bnet. Activisions stock dropped with Diablo Immortal because people thought it was just them, until the current useful idiots at Blizzard (clearly talking heads for activision to everyone) said they put their “best devs” on fucking MOBILE games and then Blizzard’s stocks dropped far worse and thought that was a positive thing to state.
Activision has fallen SO damn far from the 1.0 original version and as some one that grew up with Activision being just as passionate and focused as Blizzard was, it is so sad to see. They went from gamers to pathetic money grubbing stock cock holding fuckwits that dgaf about their customers and prefer to TELL people what they want instead of listen, which is the ANTITHESIS of what Blizzard was…. and i mean was since Slacktivision jammed its fist up Blizzards rectum. And i am some one that wasn’t even mad at Blizzard for Immortal…. just disappointed yet slightly optimistic it might be fun. The decline in quality is and has been noticeable since slactivisions fisting…. might have been a better experience if they bothered to think about some lube aye?
Do you know why that Destiny 2 went free just recently? It’s because they want to compete with warframe that have just released their new Open World today with alot of content and its free.
The difference between today and twenty years ago is that they can. These companies always saw gamers as pay piggies.
Obligatory positive comment about Destiny 2: The game is in a very good state right now. The game’s leveling system is near perfect now and the microtransaction system is currently so fair to the players that it might as well not be there. If they continue to deliver good content I won’t mind if they beef up the microtransaction aspect cosmetically. As long as they’re upfront about it and say they need to do it to keep investors happy instead of claiming it’s for ‘player choice’ and whatnot.
Mr.Krabs is running the gaming industry
Happy some of these franchises are dying. it will be good for the industry if games like Destiny and Call of duty disappeared.
There have been two emerging trends in the gaming industry this year – (i) well crafted, immersive, good quality single player games have broken or set sales records, e.g. God of War, Marvel’s Spider Man, Red Dead Redemption 2; (ii) poorly conceived, repetitive and recycled ‘service based’ games have fallen short of expectations. This is not coincidence, it’s the market responding – no matter how hard the monetisation agenda is pushed, gamers in the main do not want it.
Activision : *makes destiny free*
DE: heh watch and learn * releases Fortuna*
Companies should start doing what Square-Enix did with Nier Automata. Get a talented team lead by a creative mind with a clear vision, and give them a budget to get their vision made, but not so much that you can never make your money back. Square expected Nier Automata to sell around 600,000 units, and budgeted according to that estimate. It ended up selling closer to four million. Huge success. However, if they had budgeted it with an estimated five million units sold, it would have been a flop.
Gust is another example, they never expect to sell anything more than a couple hundred thousand units, and they budget their games accordingly. Same with Idea Factory, Nippon Ichii, and Falcom. That’s how these companies have been able to stay in business, and make profits off their games. These companies have a small but very dedicated core audience, and they cater to that audience.
In the end, no amount of money will make up for talent and vision. Destiny 2 is a very good example of a game that had all the money thrown at it, with hardly anything to show for it. There wasn’t a clear vision for what the game should be, and it suffered for it. Same with Mass Effect Andromeda, and many other AAA games these days. They lack vision.
The game is friggin’ great at this point, and it’s still unraveling over time. I cannot blame those that were burned (really, all of us) from D2’s launch.
Investors are just insane. What this situation tells me is Activision has more a hand in this title than Bungie has when it comes to the monetization practices.
Next time it doesn’t do well comes back to Activison. We’re seeing what Bungie is capable of thanks to Forsaken. Done.
Rockstar made damn near a billion with RDR2 no microtransactions (yet) and its a complete single player experience.
I am not buying anymore games from Blizzard/Activision, EA, Bethesda or Ubisoft. Finally I am at a point that I dont care anymore.
Is that why they gave me the game (on pc) for free? lol still not playing it! nice try Activision Blizzard
_”We’re not selling well because of our greed, better add more greed.”_ – ActiBlizzard
Destiny 2 topped September for Digital Sales over Spider-Man, Fifa 19 and Fortnite. Still not enough apparently.
Acitivision/Blizzard : Do you guys not have asses?!
Me : But, I don’t want to be Screwed.