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Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios

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Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and I love all things tech. And

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Speaker 1: we are now in the home stretch, my friends, least

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Speaker 1: as far as Blizzard Entertainment's story so far is concerned.

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Speaker 1: So in our last episode, which was longer for me

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Speaker 1: than for you because I had a week of vacation

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Speaker 1: between that episode and this one, I ended that episode

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Speaker 1: just as Blizzard was launching what would become one of

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Speaker 1: its major successes. In fact, it's biggest success, the m

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Speaker 1: m O RPG, World of Warcraft. Now, I figured before

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Speaker 1: I go on, it would help to explain what an

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Speaker 1: m m O RPG is for those of you who

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Speaker 1: may not know. So those letters stand for massively multiplayer

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Speaker 1: online role playing game. That helps break it down when

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Speaker 1: you look at it that way. It's massively multiplayer because

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Speaker 1: every server which you connect to over the Internet, that's

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Speaker 1: the online parts, So that part sinking care of. But

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Speaker 1: every server could have up to thousands of players on

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Speaker 1: it um. The early version of World of Warcraft had

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Speaker 1: servers that supported between around to players, at least according

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Speaker 1: to most accounts. I couldn't find an official Blizzard source

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Speaker 1: that nailed it down, but somewhere between players per server.

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Speaker 1: Later versions of World of Warcraft would hike that number

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Speaker 1: up further, and private servers could potentially hold more players,

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Speaker 1: but there's a diminishing returns problem because an overloaded server

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Speaker 1: would not run the game as smoothly and could have

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Speaker 1: stability issues. On top of that, Blizzard runs this game

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Speaker 1: on hundreds of servers, and Blizzard calls them realms, which

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Speaker 1: means you and your fellow gamers would have to choose

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Speaker 1: which one of your characters will um live on whichever

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Speaker 1: realm so as you could all play together. You know,

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Speaker 1: if you were on one realm and your friends were

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Speaker 1: in a different realm, you would be in different instances

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Speaker 1: of these fantasy worlds, so you wouldn't be able to

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Speaker 1: interact with each other. The worlds would all be the same,

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Speaker 1: but you wouldn't be in the same instance, so you

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Speaker 1: had to make sure you were all picking the same

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Speaker 1: server to play on. Role playing games, for their part,

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Speaker 1: they involve a player taking on the role of a character,

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Speaker 1: so to some degree you could argue that all games

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Speaker 1: in which you control some sort of avatar are a

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Speaker 1: type of role playing game, but stuff like simple arcade

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Speaker 1: games like you know, Mario Brothers or something, or action

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Speaker 1: adventure games like tomb Raider have some limited role playing,

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Speaker 1: but it's very limited. You're really just controlling a digital

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Speaker 1: character to maneuver through some sort of environment in those games.

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Speaker 1: Role playing games generally have you taken on more of

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Speaker 1: the digital avatar's actions, including stuff that isn't so pivotal,

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Speaker 1: like jumping or attacking or something. And some people take

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Speaker 1: this further than others. They will type out and chat

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Speaker 1: using character appropriate phrasing and language, and so they're actually

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Speaker 1: acting out a role. In fact, there are some servers

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Speaker 1: that were better known for that kind of play. Other

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Speaker 1: types of players find that kind of behavior really cringeworthy,

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Speaker 1: and they'll just chat and modern language and slang. They'll

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Speaker 1: use you know, abbreviations and stuff to communicate things quickly

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Speaker 1: to each other, using it more as a strategy game,

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Speaker 1: and looking at the game is sort of a series

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Speaker 1: of achievements to to accomplish, and not so much of

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Speaker 1: playing out a role. Now. I'm not saying either version

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Speaker 1: of gameplay is better or worse than the other. They're

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Speaker 1: just different and they appeal to different types of gamers.

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Speaker 1: I certainly have been the type who have enjoyed role

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Speaker 1: playing games where I play a role, But I've also

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Speaker 1: been the type who have I've seen some very awkward

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Speaker 1: examples of that, and I have wanted to avoid it,

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Speaker 1: So I get both schools of thought. Now, these games

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Speaker 1: typically have missions in the form of quests that are

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Speaker 1: handed out by n PC's or non player characters. These

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Speaker 1: are computer controlled characters. Players can also join with other

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Speaker 1: like minded players to form their own groups or guilds,

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Speaker 1: and they can go on coordinated missions or raids together.

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Speaker 1: They can also wage war against players from opposing factions.

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Speaker 1: So m m O RPGs present a real challenge to

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Speaker 1: game developers because, on the one hand, you want players

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Speaker 1: to feel as though their actions matter, and it sort

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Speaker 1: of breaks the illusion that you're inhabiting a fantasy world.

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Speaker 1: If you, for example, you just finish a quest to

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Speaker 1: return I don't know a frying pan to an elf,

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Speaker 1: and then that elf turns around and offers that same

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Speaker 1: lost frying pan quest to the person who's standing right

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Speaker 1: next to you in the game, that kind of breaks

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Speaker 1: the illusion because you literally just did that. But on

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Speaker 1: the other hand, you can't really let the world change

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Speaker 1: that much because not everyone in the game world would

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Speaker 1: be there at the same time, right, so they wouldn't

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Speaker 1: see the world change until they logged in again, and

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Speaker 1: then suddenly there would be content that would be unavailable

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Speaker 1: to them because the world had literally changed at that point.

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Speaker 1: New players should get the same chance to experience content

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Speaker 1: the way everyone else does. Now, most of the time,

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Speaker 1: m m O RPGs air on the side of making

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Speaker 1: sure everyone gets a chance to play the game the

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Speaker 1: same way. That means that the game world tends to

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Speaker 1: be pretty static from day to day, with some minor changes,

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Speaker 1: like World of Warcraft in particular changes throughout the year

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Speaker 1: to reflect certain seasonal things like around Halloween, you'll see

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Speaker 1: some seasonally appropriate stuff appearing in the game, but otherwise

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Speaker 1: the game world doesn't really change that much unless there's

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Speaker 1: a major expansion rolled out, and that is one way

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Speaker 1: that game developers can make big changes to the world.

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Speaker 1: They can release expansion packs. World of Warcraft has done

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Speaker 1: this multiple times, and in some cases has made truly

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Speaker 1: dramatic changes to the online world in the process. The

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Speaker 1: mythical World and World of Warcraft is called as a roth,

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Speaker 1: and the game's events generally take place a few years

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Speaker 1: after the events that were depicted in the real time

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Speaker 1: strategy game Warcraft three, So that story ends and then

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Speaker 1: you typically here that four years later you've got the

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Speaker 1: events of World of Warcraft. Early on, when the game

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Speaker 1: was first released, players had access to two continents that

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Speaker 1: they could explore, but later expansion packs increase the game

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Speaker 1: areas dramatically and then transformed some of the existing ones

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Speaker 1: quite extensively. Players could choose to play as one of

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Speaker 1: several races of beings, which in turn determined which faction

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Speaker 1: they belonged to. So in the original game, you could

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Speaker 1: be human dwarf or a night elf uh or Gnome

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Speaker 1: and that represented the Alliance faction. Or you could play

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Speaker 1: as an orc, a troll, a turn which is a

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Speaker 1: humanoid with bull like features, sort of like a minotaur

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Speaker 1: uh and the or minatar if you prefer, and or

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Speaker 1: the Forsaken, which were a race of undead creatures. They

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Speaker 1: made up a faction called the Horde, and they still do.

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Speaker 1: The choice of Alliance versus Hoarde determines lots of stuff,

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Speaker 1: not just who your allies are and who your enemies are,

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Speaker 1: but also which areas of the map you are able

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Speaker 1: to explore, and which quests will be available to you,

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Speaker 1: and which bits of lore you will encounter as you

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Speaker 1: play through the game. Later expansion packs would increase the

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Speaker 1: number of races players would have access to, as well

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Speaker 1: as the types of classes you could play, so not

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Speaker 1: just your race, you also have to determine what class

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Speaker 1: you are. This is sort of like what type or

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Speaker 1: occupation your character has, so a player of either faction

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Speaker 1: could become either a druid, a hunter, a major, a priest,

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Speaker 1: a rogue, a warlock, or a warrior. And in addition,

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Speaker 1: alliance players could be a paladin and Hoarde players could

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Speaker 1: be a shaman. Again, later expansion packs would increase the

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Speaker 1: number of playable classes, so for a monthly fee, players

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Speaker 1: can create a character and go on quests throughout a

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Speaker 1: persistent online world. They can form alliances with other players,

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Speaker 1: and they can unlock the somewhat complicated and frankly confusing

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Speaker 1: story of asar Roth. Now I say confusing only because

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Speaker 1: I never really got into these games, so I didn't

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Speaker 1: get an introduction, and by now the lore is so

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Speaker 1: deep that I can't really suss out what it means.

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Speaker 1: Blizzard executives hope that the company would be able to

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Speaker 1: sell around four hundred thousand copies of the game within

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Speaker 1: its first year of release. They thought, if we can

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Speaker 1: sell four hundred thousand copies in the United States eights,

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Speaker 1: then this will be a viable business and we can

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Speaker 1: run the game. They actually managed to hit four hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand copies within the first month. That far outperformed their hopes.

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Speaker 1: Of course, that also meant that they had to quickly

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Speaker 1: ramp up more servers to host games because they were

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Speaker 1: starting to fill up to capacity pretty quickly. That's not

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Speaker 1: a bad problem to have, except in those cases where

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Speaker 1: players who were joining the game relatively late, we're having

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Speaker 1: trouble linking up with friends because their friends were on

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Speaker 1: more crowded servers and there was no availability for them

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Speaker 1: to log into those same servers. The later expansions, by

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Speaker 1: the way, include here are all the names. The Burning Crusade,

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Speaker 1: Wreath of the Lynch King Cataclysm. That's the one that

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Speaker 1: really dramatically changed the online world and made new areas

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Speaker 1: accessible while eliminating some traditional areas in the base game.

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Speaker 1: Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of dran Our Legion, Battle of Azaroth,

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Speaker 1: and then there's the upcoming shadow Lands expansion. I'm not

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Speaker 1: going to go into all of these because honestly, I

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Speaker 1: could do a full episode just dedicated to World of

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Speaker 1: Warcraft and all these different expansions, but that's really going

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Speaker 1: too far. But this was generally away for Blizzard Entertainment

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Speaker 1: to provide ongoing content for dedicated players who might otherwise

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Speaker 1: have experienced pretty much everything the base game had to offer.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you have advanced your character to as

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Speaker 1: maximum a level as is allowable in the game, and

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Speaker 1: you've pretty much explored the whole world, you might not

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Speaker 1: have any reason to keep playing that game. And this

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Speaker 1: is one of the major differences between an m m

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Speaker 1: O RPG and a standalone game, right because with a

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Speaker 1: traditional standalone game, the old style standalone games, you would

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Speaker 1: go out and purchase the game and that would be it.

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Speaker 1: You would play the game, and you play it as

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Speaker 1: long as you wanted, and maybe you finish it, maybe

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Speaker 1: you don't, whatever, but you've already purchased it. You've you've

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Speaker 1: laid down your money, and that is the end of

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Speaker 1: the revenue stream in that traditional app coach. Companies like

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Speaker 1: Blizzard began to develop expansion titles to generate additional revenue. Right,

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Speaker 1: you would expand the base game, and typically those expansions

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Speaker 1: required the player to own the original copy of the

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Speaker 1: game itself. So in those cases, you would sell the

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Speaker 1: base game to players. They hopefully love the game, they

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Speaker 1: want more of it, So you create an expansion that

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Speaker 1: keeps those players happy. They stay in the game world

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Speaker 1: they love, and they get to play more content, and

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Speaker 1: they buy the expansion. That's the most important part. They

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Speaker 1: put down new money to keep playing the game they've

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Speaker 1: already played. Plus you might even attract new players to

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Speaker 1: your game. But those folks have to buy both the

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Speaker 1: expansion and the original game if they want to get

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Speaker 1: all the content. They can't just buy the expansion because

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Speaker 1: the expansion is built on top of the existing game.

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Speaker 1: So with an m m O RPG, you also have

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Speaker 1: a monthly subscription fee, and that is a healthy stream

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Speaker 1: of revenue coming into the company. At its peak, World

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Speaker 1: of Warcraft had about twelve million active player accounts around

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Speaker 1: the world. When it originally launched, the base game of

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Speaker 1: World of Warcraft cost about fifty dollars, and there was

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Speaker 1: also a collector's edition if you wanted to pony up

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Speaker 1: eighty bucks a princely Some either version of those games

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Speaker 1: included a one month subscription, but after that month you

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Speaker 1: would have to subscribe at one of three plans. The

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Speaker 1: month to month plan, where you're just paying for each

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Speaker 1: month of service as you're playing, was fifteen dollars every month.

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Speaker 1: A three month package would knock that down to being

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Speaker 1: equivalent to about fourteen dollars per month, and if you

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Speaker 1: committed to six months of a package it would be

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Speaker 1: it would even out to more like thirteen dollars per month.

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Speaker 1: So you know, you buy in bulk and you save money.

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Speaker 1: I guess. The game was a huge hit, and so

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Speaker 1: every month those subscriptions were rolling in as additional revenue.

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Speaker 1: But it was also clear that Blizzard would need to

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Speaker 1: keep adding or content to keep the players engaged or

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Speaker 1: else they were likely to become bored and disenchanted and

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Speaker 1: walk away once their subscription lapsed, and that's where those

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Speaker 1: expansions came in. The first one, the Burning Crusade, launched

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Speaker 1: three years after the base game it launched in two

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Speaker 1: thousand seven. Blizzard had announced it way back in October

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Speaker 1: two thousand five and intended to launch it earlier, but

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Speaker 1: as is the case with Blizzard, they wanted to make

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Speaker 1: sure that the expansion was absolutely as good as it

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Speaker 1: could be before they pushed it out the door, so

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Speaker 1: they delayed its launch in order to make sure that

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Speaker 1: it was right. This is one of those things about

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Speaker 1: Blizzard that becomes like a an ongoing thing with that company.

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Speaker 1: They frequently would delay launches in order to try and

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Speaker 1: get something just right, and I think more often than

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Speaker 1: not that ended up benefiting the company, because while it

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Speaker 1: is frustrating to see a launch date get pushed back,

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Speaker 1: it's way more frustrated to get a broken game and

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Speaker 1: have to wait for something to get patch so it's playable.

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Speaker 1: The expansion, The Burning Crusade, sold two point four million

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Speaker 1: copies in the first twenty four hours. Not keep in

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Speaker 1: mind the original game sold four hundred thousand copies in

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Speaker 1: the first month. This expansion sold two point four million

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Speaker 1: copies in twenty four hours. It broke PC game sale

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Speaker 1: records back in uh those days, so it was the

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Speaker 1: fastest selling PC game at that time. Now, like the

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Speaker 1: base game, players would have to cough up some dough

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Speaker 1: to buy this expansion pack like thirty bucks, and then

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Speaker 1: they would also then have to maintain their subscription to

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Speaker 1: continue playing the game. In two thousand and eleven, Blizzard

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Speaker 1: chose to roll in all the content from the Burning

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Speaker 1: Crusade into the base game, so if you went and

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Speaker 1: bought World of Warcraft from two thousand eleven on, the

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Speaker 1: Burning Crusade was included with it, you wouldn't have to

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Speaker 1: go out and purchase the expansion pack, and this would

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Speaker 1: be the start of a trend that the company would

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Speaker 1: follow over time, leading up to the present practice where

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Speaker 1: the base game includes all of the previous expansion packs

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Speaker 1: except for whatever is the most recent one, and that

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Speaker 1: one you would have to purchase to get access to that,

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Speaker 1: but everything else would already be included in the base game.

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Speaker 1: In two thousand eighteen, the company also made the base

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Speaker 1: game free to all players, so you don't even have

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Speaker 1: to buy World of Warcraft anymore. You can play the

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Speaker 1: game for free, or at least you can get access

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Speaker 1: to the game for free, but you have to pay

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Speaker 1: for the monthly subscription so that you can actually continue

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Speaker 1: to play the game. So if you wanted to play

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Speaker 1: World of Warcraft right now, you would not have to

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Speaker 1: buy the base game. You would just have to pay

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Speaker 1: for the monthly subscription to be able to do so.

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Speaker 1: Blizzard also let players advance up to level twenty without

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Speaker 1: having to subscribe to the game, giving players a taste,

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Speaker 1: maybe just enough to get hooked before the players would

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Speaker 1: hit a level cap that they could not go beyond

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Speaker 1: without subscribing to the full game. Another thing Blizzard introduced

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Speaker 1: in World of Warcraft were micro transactions, which really got

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Speaker 1: started back in two thousand nine. The company allowed players

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Speaker 1: to spend real world money, you know, cash money, to

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Speaker 1: buy in game pets for their characters, and the pets

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Speaker 1: were cosmetic additions that meant that they didn't change the

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Speaker 1: game play at all. They didn't give advantages to players.

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Speaker 1: They're just sort of cute additions to the game. And

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Speaker 1: this was when a player could opt to have a

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Speaker 1: Pandaran monk with a Pandaran is sort of an anthropomorphic panda.

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Speaker 1: You could have that as a pet, which is a

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Speaker 1: bit weird because later on, in another expansion, The Mists

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Speaker 1: of Pandaria, you could play as a Pandaran. Yikes. Later on,

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Speaker 1: Blizzard would introduce many other potential micro transactions, and the

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Speaker 1: company didn't do this, you know, universally. Uh, some in

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Speaker 1: game items were only sold in certain markets, such as Asia.

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Speaker 1: Asia had consumables in World of Warcraft that they could purchase,

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Speaker 1: but in other markets that was not an option. So

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Speaker 1: it Blizzard was kind of weighing out where these strategies

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Speaker 1: would work best, and uh, you know, maximizing that revenue

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Speaker 1: the expansion packs and micro transactions would become an enormous

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Speaker 1: sea change in the world of video games. Developing games

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Speaker 1: is expensive. One estimate for the cost of developing World

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Speaker 1: of Warcraft, the base game of World of Warcraft was

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Speaker 1: around sixty five million dollars to develop that game, and

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Speaker 1: of course, businesses exist in order to create profits, so

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Speaker 1: business owners are always interested in finding new ways to

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Speaker 1: generate streams of revenue. When it's done well, then it

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Speaker 1: can enhance the experience of a game, and players typically

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Speaker 1: are are happy to get more of what they love.

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Speaker 1: When it's done poorly, it creates a sense that you

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Speaker 1: have to pay to win the game, and that players

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Speaker 1: who have more cash to burn end up with an

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Speaker 1: unfair advantage over everyone else who might really be into

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Speaker 1: the game, but they might not have the spare change

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Speaker 1: to buy all the do Dads and nick next. Interestingly,

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Speaker 1: this tied back to an idea that the original Diablo

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Speaker 1: team had if you remember from my previous episodes, and

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Speaker 1: that concept players would end up buying a physical CD

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Speaker 1: that would contain in game items that they could use

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Speaker 1: to enhance their characters, like weapons and armor and that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff. This was early enough that delivering stuff

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Speaker 1: digitally online wasn't as popular as using physical media. People

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Speaker 1: still went out and bought CDs, and some people still do,

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Speaker 1: but it's increasingly rare and now it's almost all digital delivery. Well. Ultimately,

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Speaker 1: the Diablo team did not pursue that strategy, which was

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Speaker 1: probably for the best, since the rampant cheating in that

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Speaker 1: game would have made that additional material moot Anyway. Recently,

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Speaker 1: Blizzard Entertainment released World of Warcraft Classic, which updates many

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Speaker 1: things about the original game, but brings back the game

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Speaker 1: world and the quests the players could find if they

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Speaker 1: had logged in way back in two thousand four when

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Speaker 1: the game for launched. The version of World Warcraft UH

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Speaker 1: is now running parallel to, but but separate from, the

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Speaker 1: ongoing official World of Warcraft game that has evolved over

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Speaker 1: the course of all those expansion sets. So now you've

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Speaker 1: got two flavors of World of Warcraft. You've got the

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Speaker 1: one that has evolved over the time since two thousand

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Speaker 1: four with all those expansion packs, and you have World

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Speaker 1: of Warcraft Classic. That is the way the game came

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Speaker 1: out originally, with some enhancements thrown in, and it's a

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Speaker 1: nod to those loyal fans of the series who missed

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Speaker 1: the good old days of the original World of Warcraft.

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Speaker 1: The games subscription fees and the number of active players

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Speaker 1: means that a rough estimate of the revenue generated by

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Speaker 1: this game is at its peak around a billion dollars

345
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Speaker 1: per year, which is crazy. Uh. That number has fluctuated

346
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Speaker 1: over time. It peaked at twelve million, and it went

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Speaker 1: into decline afterward, but it's still an incredibly popular M

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Speaker 1: M O RPG and still a healthy moneymaker for Blizzard.

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Speaker 1: All right. So that's our basic rundown on World of Warcraft.

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Speaker 1: And of course we could spend a lot more time

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Speaker 1: going over all of the details, but instead I'm going

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Speaker 1: to take a quick break and then get back to

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Speaker 1: what was happening to the company in general over the

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Speaker 1: last decade or so. So let's take a quick break.

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Speaker 1: The enormous early success of World of Warcraft had a

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Speaker 1: downside because it meant that projects like StarCraft two and

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Speaker 1: Diablo three would actually receive less attention so that Blizzard

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Speaker 1: could cater to the Wow community World of Warcraft community. Then,

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Speaker 1: if you listen to my last episode, you know that

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Speaker 1: two major camps from Blizzard North that was the team

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Speaker 1: responsible for creating Diablo and Diablo two. Two camps had

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Speaker 1: split off from Blizzard North to form new video game

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Speaker 1: development studios, and that left the Blizzard North team severely

364
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Speaker 1: understaffed and without key leadership. Diablo three, as a result,

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Speaker 1: was floundering in development. The art design was stuck at

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Speaker 1: least a generation behind, the team was having trouble creating

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Speaker 1: a good game, and Blizzards new owner Vivendi was still

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Speaker 1: kind of a scary shadow over the whole company. So ultimately,

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Speaker 1: the leaders at Blizzards South decided that to make games

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Speaker 1: up to the standards of Blizzard, they needed to be

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Speaker 1: able to oversee the whole process that and they couldn't

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Speaker 1: really do that from southern California for a team that

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Speaker 1: was located in the Bay Area in northern California. This

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Speaker 1: is exactly the kind of thing that Blizzard North was

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Speaker 1: trying to protect itself from in its early days. And

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Speaker 1: so with all those considerations, Blizzard South decided to shut

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Speaker 1: down Blizzard North, and that was the branch that had

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Speaker 1: formerly been known as on Door. So Blizzard South offered

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Speaker 1: jobs to the team's up at Blizzard North. They said,

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Speaker 1: you can still work for Blizzard, but to do it,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna have to move down to southern California. So

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Speaker 1: some people, but not everybody, took them up on that offer.

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Speaker 1: So that meant that it would almost be an entirely

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Speaker 1: new team working on Diablo three, and as part of that,

385
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Speaker 1: they decided to start over from scratch, so that's set

386
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:30,960
Speaker 1: that project back considerably. In October two thousand five, Blizzard

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Speaker 1: hosted the first blizz Con in Anaheim, California. This was

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Speaker 1: a convention for fans of the company's games, so attendees

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Speaker 1: got early looks at games and development, including StarCraft Ghost,

390
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Speaker 1: which would ultimately be canceled, so some people got a

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Speaker 1: chance to kind of get some hands on time with

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Speaker 1: early builds of games that just never came out. They

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Speaker 1: attended presentations that were given by Blizzard employees about the

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Speaker 1: games and the lore around the games, the art design,

395
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Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff, and the company would hold

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Speaker 1: another one in two thousand seven. So between two thousand

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Speaker 1: and five and two thousand seven was the year. Two

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Speaker 1: thousand and six. There was no blizz Con that year,

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Speaker 1: but from two thousand seven onward it would become an

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Speaker 1: annual event. It became so popular and so useful that

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Speaker 1: eventually Blizzard decided that in two thousand nine it wouldn't

402
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 1: go to E three anymore. It didn't need to because

403
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Speaker 1: it had its own promotional event with a very engaged

404
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Speaker 1: group of of users. The community of Blizzard was really

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Speaker 1: passionate about this, so why would they go to E

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Speaker 1: three where they would just be another company competing for

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Speaker 1: attention from press and retailers. And we've seen other companies

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00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 1: follow blizzards lead, and many of them now hold their

409
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Speaker 1: own events and either they also attend E three or

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Speaker 1: they skip E three entirely. Uh. Their events tend to

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Speaker 1: be a little less elaborate than blizz Con tends to be,

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Speaker 1: so they don't tend to be full on conferences the

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Speaker 1: way blizz Con is, but they are similar in effect,

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Speaker 1: and that it's a company holding its own event on

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Speaker 1: its own terms instead of sticking with the three. In

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Speaker 1: two thousand six, the year without a blizz Con, Blizzard

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Speaker 1: made another big announcement. The studio revealed that it had

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Speaker 1: entered into a project with the movie studio Legendary Pictures

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Speaker 1: for the purposes of developing a Warcraft motion picture. Now,

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00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: the original plan was to script and shoot a movie

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Speaker 1: in time for a two thousand nine release, and this

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00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: whole move to doing a film wasn't that surprising because

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Speaker 1: since two thousand Blizzard had been publishing novels that were

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Speaker 1: set in the Warcraft universe, and they were also exploring

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Speaker 1: opportunities and other media like comic books. So the original

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00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,760
Speaker 1: plan was that Sam Ramy, who had just recently finished

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00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 1: directing Spider Man two, to come over and direct the

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00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: Warcraft movie. However, like some other Blizzard projects, this one

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00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,680
Speaker 1: hit more than a few snags in development and would

430
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 1: not launch in two thousand nine. There were issues with

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00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,680
Speaker 1: the script and there was a real struggle to turn

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Speaker 1: the film into something other than just another generic fantasy epic.

433
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 1: The Lord of the Rings films had set a pretty

434
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,760
Speaker 1: high bar, and there was a real danger of being

435
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 1: viewed as sort of a copycat of that franchise. So

436
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,520
Speaker 1: as time went on, Sam Raimi would leave the project

437
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 1: to pursue other opportunities, and Duncan Jones, the son of

438
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 1: David Bowie, signed on to direct the Warcraft movie. Jones

439
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 1: worked with Blizzard to create a new script, reportedly because

440
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: he felt that the initial draft fell into the cliche

441
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 1: of humans are the good guys Orcs are the bad guys,

442
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: and they fight. He wanted there to be more ambiguity

443
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: in the story and for both sides to have motivations

444
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 1: that the audience could get behind. Actually, ultimately some critics

445
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 1: would say that the Orcs got a much deeper presentation

446
00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,200
Speaker 1: than the humans did, and so almost aired on the

447
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 1: flip side of what Jones was concerned about. Now, all

448
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,959
Speaker 1: of this meant that the movies released was delayed multiple times.

449
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 1: It missed the initial plan to premiere in two thousand nine,

450
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 1: it missed another date in two thousand and eleven, and

451
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 1: Blizzard remained tight lipped about the film for a good

452
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: long while. Like after they announced it, they didn't really

453
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 1: talk about it so much. But while progress was slow

454
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 1: and intermittent, it was at least happening, and in two

455
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen, the movie was finally ready for audiences, a

456
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 1: decade after it's been announced, and a hundred sixty million

457
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 1: dollars reportedly for the budget. It's global box office got

458
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 1: a little close to half a billion dollars, but it

459
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 1: was still largely viewed as a commercial failure. It actually

460
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 1: made less than fifty million dollars in the United States. Now,

461
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,919
Speaker 1: I cannot comment on the quality of the movie because

462
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,479
Speaker 1: I never saw it, But on rotten Tomatoes it has

463
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 1: a twenty eight percent approval rating, meaning it's a rotten film.

464
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: But just a quick reminder for you guys, on rotten

465
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: Tomatoes does not mean that the movie is way worse

466
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: than say, a different movie that got a forty percent rating,

467
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 1: because the percentage doesn't actually tell you how good or

468
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,440
Speaker 1: bad a film is. Rather, it tells you the percentage

469
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 1: of critics who gave the film either a positive or

470
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,639
Speaker 1: a negative review. And these are critics that Rotten Tomatoes

471
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,400
Speaker 1: recognizes as legitimate critics, So it's not all critics, it's

472
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: a selection of them, And it's really more like saying

473
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:40,120
Speaker 1: around thirty of the critics who reviewed the film gave

474
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,879
Speaker 1: it a mediocre to positive response, but it doesn't necessarily

475
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 1: mean that the movie is objectively better or worse than

476
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 1: other movies that have similar scores, or even scores that

477
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,199
Speaker 1: are slightly higher slightly lower. Also, I should add that

478
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 1: the audience score for the film is much higher at

479
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: seventy six percent. So the critics weren't thrilled with it,

480
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,920
Speaker 1: but you know, audiences seemed to be more positive about

481
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 1: the whole thing. Now, considering Blizzard Entertainment's reputation for highly

482
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: produced cut scenes and video games, some of which featured

483
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,200
Speaker 1: animation that could easily rival that of the c g

484
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: I you found in feature films, I'm sure this came

485
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: as a major disappointment to the company. It's still exceeded

486
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 1: the performance of most other video game film adaptations, but

487
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: that bar wasn't set terribly high to begin with. I mean,

488
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 1: just watch the Super Mario Brothers movie, so maybe that

489
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 1: wasn't such a stretch goal. The critical consensus was that

490
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: the movie was just too deeply mired in mythology that

491
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,040
Speaker 1: might be familiar to hardcore warcraft players but not to

492
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: anyone else, and so there are entire sequences that were

493
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 1: inscrutable and absurd to someone just viewing the material. For

494
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,720
Speaker 1: the first time. While Duncan Jones expressed a desire to

495
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 1: continue the storyline in two thousand eighteen, he we did

496
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: that such a possibility was at best unlikely. Okay, so

497
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: let's rewind again to two thousand seven, and you may

498
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 1: wonder why I'm not talking about other games that Blizzard

499
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 1: was making right now. That's because Blizzard was really dedicating

500
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 1: the vast majority of its focus on World of Warcraft,

501
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 1: which again makes sense when you realize how that game

502
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,400
Speaker 1: was responsible for the financial performance of the company overall.

503
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: So two thousand seven would be a really big year

504
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 1: for Blizzard. Part of that was because they launched the

505
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: Burning Crusade, which was the World of Warcraft first expansion

506
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 1: pack that year. Another reason was that the World of

507
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 1: Warcraft game would hit eight point five million subscribers, big milestone.

508
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 1: Blizzard also announced that StarCraft two would officially become a

509
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: thing in two thousand seven, and they did that during

510
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:55,520
Speaker 1: their third Worldwide Invitational event, as an event that takes

511
00:29:55,520 --> 00:30:00,160
Speaker 1: place in South Korea, where StarCraft competition is huge. But

512
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 1: above all of that was another big corporate move outside

513
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: of Blizzards direct control. So Vivendi, the parent company, announced

514
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,360
Speaker 1: that it was going into a merger deal with the

515
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: video game company Activision, and that would happen towards the

516
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: end of two thousand seven when they announced this. The

517
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: actual acquisition happened into two thousand eight. So Activision and

518
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 1: Vivindi Games, the division of Vindy that was all about games. Obviously,

519
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: they would come together and they would form a new

520
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 1: kind of parent company, publishing company really, and it was

521
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 1: going to be called Activision Blizzard, non Activision Vivendi Activision Blizzard.

522
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: That's how much clout Blizzard had. They could demand that

523
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: their name would get equal billing with Activision. So this

524
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 1: new company would still trade on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange

525
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 1: under the Activision ticker of a t v I, and

526
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 1: the merger would make Activision Blizzard the world's largest video

527
00:30:56,240 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 1: game publisher. Activision was writing high at that time from

528
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: the release of Call of Duty for Modern Warfare. Vivendi

529
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 1: Games was enjoying the tremendous financial success of World of Warcraft,

530
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 1: and the company, Vivendi Games had a value of eight

531
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 1: point one billion dollars at that time, and according to

532
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,040
Speaker 1: UH a lot of sources, they would contribute about one

533
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 1: point seven billion dollars towards this acquisition deal. So when

534
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 1: you lump that cash offering along with the value of

535
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: the company, that comes up to nine point eight billion dollars.

536
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 1: That's a lot of cheddar right there, A princely some

537
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 1: if ever there was one. In return, Vivendi would get

538
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: a fifty two steak in Activision Blizzard. Activisions CEO, a

539
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: guy named Bobby Kodik would head up the new company,

540
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: and the two companies completed the acquisition. As I said

541
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,320
Speaker 1: in two thousand eight, now skipping ahead a bit just

542
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 1: to stick with this particular part of the story. About

543
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: six years later, Codek would lead an investment group to

544
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 1: purchase most of the fifty of the ownership from the Vindy,

545
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 1: and they did it with an offer of eight point

546
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 1: two billion dollars. Now, remember Vivendi Games when it went

547
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:14,520
Speaker 1: into this acquisition was worth eight point one So they

548
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 1: offer eight point two billion dollars and buy back most

549
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 1: of that steak. The Vendi would still hold on to

550
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: a little bit more of its ownership of Activision Blizzard,

551
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,959
Speaker 1: but it did divest itself of those shares in two

552
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 1: future transactions. One happened in two thousand fourteen and one

553
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 1: for two thousand sixteen, and together they accounted for about

554
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:40,200
Speaker 1: two billion dollars combined um, which I realized I just

555
00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 1: said in a redundant and repetitive way. I just want

556
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 1: to reiterate that, as Brendan Sinclair of Games Industry dot

557
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,960
Speaker 1: Biz would observe, that would mean that the Vendi itself

558
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 1: would effectively hand over nine point eight billion dollars that

559
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 1: would be the value of the company and the cash

560
00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 1: they paid during the acquisition, and in return ten years

561
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 1: later it would net ten point one five billion dollars.

562
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: That's a net gain of around three hundred fifty million bucks,

563
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:10,960
Speaker 1: which is a princely sum, but it represents just a

564
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,360
Speaker 1: three point five percent gain in value over a decade,

565
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 1: Whereas if you had just purchased shares in the company

566
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 1: back when the acquisition happened and sat on them and

567
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 1: then sold them when Vivendi sold off the final shares,

568
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,320
Speaker 1: you would have seen a return of three hundred sixties

569
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 1: seven percent. So not a great move on Vivindy's part.

570
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 1: They made this decision, by the way, because the company, Vivendi,

571
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 1: was in thirteen billion dollars of debt around that time,

572
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 1: so they needed to be able to sell off assets

573
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,720
Speaker 1: in order to settle some of that debt. Now, granted,

574
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,120
Speaker 1: none of that is really a concern for Blizzard the

575
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 1: video game development company. It was more of a questionable

576
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 1: mark on Blizzards parent company and the decisions of its

577
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 1: executive team, up being Vindi Games. As for Blizzard, the

578
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 1: company was able to operate almost as if it were

579
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:10,320
Speaker 1: an independent studio even under this merger because the revenue

580
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:17,319
Speaker 1: was bringing in made it an incredibly valuable asset, so

581
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:19,759
Speaker 1: it just made sense not to mess with it too much.

582
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,840
Speaker 1: So while Activision Blizzard would publish the games, Blizzard the

583
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 1: development company, because it's a different thing, would otherwise operate

584
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,239
Speaker 1: without too much interference from anyone higher up on the chain,

585
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,600
Speaker 1: at least for the time being, because Blizzard had that

586
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:37,759
Speaker 1: much clout. In two thousand and eight, it was more Warcraft,

587
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,160
Speaker 1: with music from the game's becoming tracks on iTunes and

588
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,880
Speaker 1: the second expansion for Wow, that being Wrath of the

589
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:47,719
Speaker 1: lich King that launched at the end of two thousand eight,

590
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: and like its predecessor, the expansion pack broke PC sales

591
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 1: records for most copies sold within twenty four hours, and

592
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: around that time, while hit a subscription base of eleven

593
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:03,480
Speaker 1: million players almost at its peak. Blizzard would not release

594
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 1: another title until and that's when StarCraft two Wings of

595
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: Liberty finally came out, twelve years after the original title

596
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,919
Speaker 1: had published way back in now. Along with the game,

597
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:22,480
Speaker 1: Blizzard released an updated version of its battle Net service. Eventually,

598
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,799
Speaker 1: Blizzard would update battle nets so that it was sort

599
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: of a universal log in for all Blizzard games, including

600
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 1: World of Warcraft. Eager gamers Zurg rushed the stores to

601
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 1: get their copies of StarCraft two. Oh and you know what,

602
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,400
Speaker 1: I never even talked about the Zurg rush and the

603
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 1: previous episode, but I guess I should because it's a

604
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: meme that goes beyond the games itself. So here we go.

605
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,240
Speaker 1: So in the StarCraft games, one of the three faction

606
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,680
Speaker 1: or races that you can control as a player are

607
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 1: an insectoid race called the Zerg z e r G.

608
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,760
Speaker 1: An early unit that you can produce with the Zurg

609
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,799
Speaker 1: are these zurg Lings, which are not terribly powerful, but

610
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:06,840
Speaker 1: if you're fast, if you're really a fast player, you

611
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 1: can produce a whole bunch of them early on in

612
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 1: the game. So there's a tactic that was really developed

613
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:16,440
Speaker 1: in South Korea where StarCraft is a popular sport, and

614
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,200
Speaker 1: that tactic is to produce as many Zurglings as you

615
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:22,280
Speaker 1: possibly can early in the game, and then you send

616
00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 1: them to overwhelm and wipe out an opponent while your

617
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,920
Speaker 1: opponent is still just getting set up. It's called a

618
00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:33,080
Speaker 1: zerg rush. Also in the lore is that Korean players

619
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: who use this tactic would end up responding to opponents.

620
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:38,960
Speaker 1: Their opponents would cry out an alarm, they say, oh

621
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,360
Speaker 1: my god, zurg rush, and the South Koreans would respond

622
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,400
Speaker 1: with key ki ki k e k e k e.

623
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:49,320
Speaker 1: That's similar to how you would write l O l

624
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,319
Speaker 1: O l L, you know, laugh out loud, over and

625
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: over lola la la uh. And it was meant to

626
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 1: convey a kind of mischievous chuckle. The meme got popular

627
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,759
Speaker 1: enough for Google to use it in an Easter egg

628
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,160
Speaker 1: in two thousand twelve. And if you search the term

629
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 1: zerg rush and Google to get a little playable game

630
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 1: in which lower case oh letters start to come out

631
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:13,920
Speaker 1: and destroy all your search results. It's adorable anyway. The

632
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 1: general reception was that StarCraft two was more than worth

633
00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:22,279
Speaker 1: the weight it delivered upon its promise. The game was

634
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 1: set just a few years after the events of the

635
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 1: StarCraft brood War expansion packs, So even though the actual

636
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,839
Speaker 1: game came out twelve years later, it was set four

637
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 1: years later. It would be followed by three expansion packs

638
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 1: of its own, the first two of which gave more

639
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 1: in depth treatment to one of the three factions in

640
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,319
Speaker 1: the game. The Human faction was actually taken care of

641
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,239
Speaker 1: in the initial release of the base game, which, you know.

642
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 1: Typical critics loved the game. They said it was one

643
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,719
Speaker 1: of the best RTS titles for the PC. Ever. Now,

644
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:55,680
Speaker 1: when we come back, I'm going to catch you up

645
00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:59,560
Speaker 1: on what's been going on since StarCraft two with Blizzard Entertainment.

646
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 1: But first let's take another quick break. StarCraft two debuted

647
00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:14,760
Speaker 1: in mid Blizzard Entertainment put out another expansion for World

648
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:18,520
Speaker 1: of Warcraft in eleven, but otherwise no new titles in

649
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 1: Blizzard published Diablo three to great anticipation, and once again

650
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:25,920
Speaker 1: the company saw one of its titles break records for

651
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,239
Speaker 1: the most copies sold within twenty four hours. Now, as

652
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, this version of Diablo three was different

653
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 1: from what the creators of Diablo had originally intended. The

654
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:40,840
Speaker 1: leaders behind the Diablo franchise had not been part of

655
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:44,480
Speaker 1: Blizzard since two thousand three, when they all left in

656
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 1: mass and UH and Blizzard North, the studio that had

657
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:52,759
Speaker 1: actually developed Diablo and Diablo two ceased to exist in

658
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 1: two thousand five. So the team that built Diablo three

659
00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:58,399
Speaker 1: included some folks who were famous for working on other

660
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:02,439
Speaker 1: big games for different companies. For example, Leonard Boyarski, who

661
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,440
Speaker 1: worked as a head designer on the game, had been

662
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,320
Speaker 1: one of the original creators for the game series Fallout.

663
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,240
Speaker 1: And there was also j Wilson, who worked on titles

664
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:14,279
Speaker 1: like Company of Heroes and Warhammer for d K, and

665
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: he served as the lead designer for Diablo three. In

666
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 1: some ways, the game was very similar to previous versions

667
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:24,600
Speaker 1: of Diablo. It had an emphasis on loot to boost

668
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:28,359
Speaker 1: a player's abilities and stats. It used an overhead view

669
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 1: that was similar to the isometric view that Diablo and

670
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,920
Speaker 1: Diablo two used. It also had some new things like

671
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:39,280
Speaker 1: destructible environments where you could have certain effects that actually

672
00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:41,799
Speaker 1: would affect the environment you were in. That was new.

673
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 1: All the other environments and Diablo and Diablo two, although

674
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,440
Speaker 1: they were randomly generated, were largely static, so that was

675
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 1: kind of cool. Um this was done. It was made

676
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 1: possible by the fact that Blizzard was using its own

677
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,440
Speaker 1: proprietary engine that had been built out of a previously

678
00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,840
Speaker 1: established game engine. One thing that Diablo three had that

679
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:04,080
Speaker 1: did not excite people too much was a requirement for

680
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 1: all gamers, which was, if you want to play the game,

681
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 1: you had to have a persistent online connection. Even if

682
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:15,000
Speaker 1: you were only playing as a single player. So you're

683
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,480
Speaker 1: playing a single player game, the game exists on your computer,

684
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,799
Speaker 1: you still had to have a persistent Internet connection to

685
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:28,280
Speaker 1: Blizzards servers. UH. This was a DRM feature. DRM stands

686
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,239
Speaker 1: for Digital Rights Management. It was meant to ensure that

687
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: the people who were playing the game, we're using authorized

688
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:36,239
Speaker 1: copies of the game, because Blizzard had seen many of

689
00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:40,520
Speaker 1: its titles pirated. StarCraft two in particular, had a huge

690
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:44,160
Speaker 1: problem with people pirating the game. So this was a

691
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,800
Speaker 1: way to make sure that the people who were playing

692
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 1: the game were doing so on authorized copies and they

693
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:54,320
Speaker 1: had purchased the game. The online requirement left some critics

694
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:58,560
Speaker 1: and some players unhappy. UH. Server issues during high demand

695
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:00,960
Speaker 1: made this worse. I mean, if a server goes down,

696
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,640
Speaker 1: you cannot verify that your copy is legitimate. You could

697
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 1: have gone out and bought a game, spent money supporting

698
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:11,359
Speaker 1: the video game company, brought it home and found out

699
00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 1: you can't play it because their authentication server is down.

700
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:19,400
Speaker 1: That's not great. That is an example of how legitimate

701
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,520
Speaker 1: players can feel like they're being punished for playing by

702
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,240
Speaker 1: the rules when they say, Hey, if I had broken

703
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:27,160
Speaker 1: the rules and I had found a way to get

704
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,680
Speaker 1: around this, I could actually play the game I I

705
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 1: paid for, So why are you punishing me? Which is

706
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,600
Speaker 1: a pretty legit argument if you ask me. Um, It's

707
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 1: it's not easy to explain to a player why they

708
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,320
Speaker 1: can't enjoy a single player experience on a game they've

709
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,160
Speaker 1: purchased and installed on their computer just because their internet

710
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:48,120
Speaker 1: connection goes down or a server goes offline. So that

711
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 1: was a kind of black mark against Diablo three. Now,

712
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,799
Speaker 1: since Diablo three, we've seen lots of other games used

713
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 1: this same method of DRN and I don't think gamers

714
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,680
Speaker 1: are any happier about this. A lot of them have

715
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,360
Speaker 1: sort of become used to it, just because it's become

716
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 1: kind of a common uh strategy among a lot of

717
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:10,880
Speaker 1: different game developers. Now between two thousand and twelve and

718
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:15,000
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen, Blizzard released expansion packs for StarCraft two

719
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:17,439
Speaker 1: and World of Warcraft, as well as a console version

720
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:20,359
Speaker 1: of Diabo three, but that was it. There were no

721
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:24,080
Speaker 1: other new games coming out in two thousand twelve to

722
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:27,719
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen, But in two thousand fourteen, Blizzard would

723
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:30,239
Speaker 1: actually release a brand new game. Now, granted, it was

724
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:31,920
Speaker 1: a brand new game that was still tied to the

725
00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:35,560
Speaker 1: Warcraft universe, so it wasn't totally original i p. But

726
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 1: the game was called Hearthstone, still an incredibly popular game.

727
00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:43,120
Speaker 1: This is a digital card games similar to physical trading

728
00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:46,440
Speaker 1: card games like Magic the Gathering. So in Hearthstone, you

729
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 1: are a player who's building a deck of cards. It

730
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:52,279
Speaker 1: contains various units and abilities, and you're using it in

731
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:54,799
Speaker 1: an effort to take down opponents who have their own

732
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 1: deck of cards, and your opponents might be computer controlled

733
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,399
Speaker 1: or there might be other human players. More importantly, it's

734
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:04,960
Speaker 1: a game that's absolutely married to the concept of micro transactions.

735
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,880
Speaker 1: Now you can play the game without making in game purchases,

736
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:12,520
Speaker 1: but the fastest way to augment a deck is to

737
00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:16,040
Speaker 1: buy packs of virtual cards, so it's like buying a

738
00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 1: booster pack, and then you can construct a deck of

739
00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:22,680
Speaker 1: thirty cards that best matches your playing style. You can't

740
00:43:22,719 --> 00:43:25,440
Speaker 1: guarantee that you're going to have any particular card in

741
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:28,439
Speaker 1: your hand when you start off, but you can create

742
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:31,160
Speaker 1: a deck that's more likely to be useful at various

743
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,920
Speaker 1: stages of a match. The game is free to play,

744
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,600
Speaker 1: so you can play Hearthstone without ever spending a dime

745
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:38,560
Speaker 1: on it if you want to. But if you're going

746
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,600
Speaker 1: up against other players who are purchasing booster packs, that

747
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 1: might prove to be a challenge because your odds of

748
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:48,399
Speaker 1: getting a card you might really need uh in order

749
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:51,319
Speaker 1: to build a good deck are low, and it takes

750
00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:54,600
Speaker 1: a lot more time to earn booster packs than it

751
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 1: does to just buy them out right. Blizzards released a

752
00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:00,399
Speaker 1: lot of new cards for the games several times since

753
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,240
Speaker 1: it has introduced Hearthstone, and in November two thousand nineteen,

754
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:08,320
Speaker 1: the company announced not only an expansion for the game,

755
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:12,920
Speaker 1: but also a new game mode within Hearthstone called Battlegrounds,

756
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:16,120
Speaker 1: which is what is called an auto battler. And I

757
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:18,920
Speaker 1: had to actually look this up because I had no

758
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:22,320
Speaker 1: idea what an auto battler was. I play video games,

759
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,239
Speaker 1: but I had not come across this term. So in

760
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:28,720
Speaker 1: an Auto Battler. There is a board upon which players

761
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:32,080
Speaker 1: can place pieces, and it's kind of like a chess

762
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,319
Speaker 1: game you but you can actually figure out where you're

763
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 1: going to put each piece, and the pieces they select

764
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:42,160
Speaker 1: and the positions that they take determine their side's strengths

765
00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 1: and weaknesses, and their opponent does the same thing on

766
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:50,840
Speaker 1: their side. Then they get matched up together and the

767
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:55,319
Speaker 1: conflict automatically resolves, So players are not directing anything at

768
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,919
Speaker 1: that point. They've already made all their choices based upon

769
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,760
Speaker 1: the pieces they've picked and the position as they've chosen,

770
00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 1: and the computer system determines which side wins based on

771
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 1: the criteria, and it all sounds like a type of game.

772
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:11,239
Speaker 1: I'd be really really terrible at As for Hearthstone, it

773
00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:13,680
Speaker 1: has been in the news recently as of the recording

774
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:17,640
Speaker 1: of this podcast due to some political controversies and Blizzards

775
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,840
Speaker 1: response to them. So in October two thousand nineteen, a

776
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 1: professional Hearthstone player express support for Hong Kong protesters, who

777
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:29,080
Speaker 1: as of this recording are still protesting against the Chinese

778
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,920
Speaker 1: government for reasons that are far too complicated to get

779
00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:36,680
Speaker 1: into in this podcast, but are very important. Blizzard banned

780
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:40,600
Speaker 1: the player who supported Hong Kong from the tournament that

781
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 1: the player was participating in and banned them from all

782
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:47,360
Speaker 1: future tournaments, and essentially you said you don't get to

783
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 1: earn any money off of Hearthstone anymore. And they cited

784
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:53,880
Speaker 1: a rule that said players are not allowed to do

785
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 1: anything that would bring the game or Blizzard into disrepute

786
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:01,120
Speaker 1: or to hurt their public imag in some way. But

787
00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 1: that really opens up an entire can of worms, because

788
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:06,320
Speaker 1: a lot of people suggested that it made Blizzard appear

789
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:11,080
Speaker 1: to be complicit with the actions and philosophy of the

790
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:14,440
Speaker 1: Chinese government, which if you've listened to my episode about

791
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,560
Speaker 1: why is everything made in China, you'll understand that's not

792
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,960
Speaker 1: necessarily a great thing. And after a lot of criticism,

793
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:25,320
Speaker 1: the company walked back some of the penalties it placed

794
00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:28,839
Speaker 1: on this professional gamer. They reduced those penalties, but they

795
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 1: didn't remove them entirely. And the situation was made more

796
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 1: complicated by the fact that the Chinese government Tencent, owns

797
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:39,040
Speaker 1: a stake in Activision Blizzard. So this led to a

798
00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:42,200
Speaker 1: big discussion about how more and more companies are at

799
00:46:42,239 --> 00:46:46,560
Speaker 1: least becoming partly dependent upon Chinese companies, and that Chinese

800
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:50,680
Speaker 1: companies by and large are state backed entities or even

801
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:54,760
Speaker 1: state owned entities, which means that the Chinese government itself

802
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:59,520
Speaker 1: has influence over those companies. And so you could argue

803
00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:03,800
Speaker 1: that through these Chinese companies, the Chinese government is exerting

804
00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:07,360
Speaker 1: political influence on companies that are in other parts of

805
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:10,560
Speaker 1: the world. UH, and that appears to be what happened

806
00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:14,600
Speaker 1: in this case. So it's still a situation that's unfolding

807
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,799
Speaker 1: as of the recording of this episode. UH. And it's

808
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:21,160
Speaker 1: something that has extended far beyond just Blizzard. There's been

809
00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:24,640
Speaker 1: a lot of discussion about this for other types of companies,

810
00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:28,319
Speaker 1: largely media companies. Let's get back to the timeline. In

811
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,680
Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen, Blizzard released Heroes of the Storm, which

812
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:35,960
Speaker 1: was a multiplayer online battle arena game or mobile UH.

813
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:39,360
Speaker 1: This game features characters from various Blizzard titles and pits

814
00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:42,440
Speaker 1: players in an arena in which teams try to establish

815
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:45,840
Speaker 1: control over the playing area. So generally speaking, with a

816
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:49,360
Speaker 1: mobile UH, typically you play as part of a team

817
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:52,480
Speaker 1: and you have a goal of protecting your team and

818
00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:55,839
Speaker 1: your little home base while you battle for control of

819
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:58,720
Speaker 1: the playing board, and your ultimate goal is to defeat

820
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:04,279
Speaker 1: the opposing team by either completely exhausting their resources by

821
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:07,799
Speaker 1: killing off all of their their units, or by invading

822
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 1: their side of the board and taking it over and

823
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:11,920
Speaker 1: making sure that they don't have control over any part

824
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,799
Speaker 1: of the board. There are various ways of getting to

825
00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:18,040
Speaker 1: a win scenario, so this game kind of marries strategy

826
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:21,759
Speaker 1: with action. In two thousand and sixteen, Blizzard released the

827
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 1: team based shooter Overwatch, and this game has lots of

828
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:28,640
Speaker 1: different modes of play, ranging from stuff like zone offense

829
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 1: or defense games or escort missions and other types of games.

830
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:35,880
Speaker 1: But it's all in the style of a first person

831
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:39,120
Speaker 1: shooter with a you know, team based first person shooter.

832
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,440
Speaker 1: So players take on the roles of one of several characters.

833
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:45,239
Speaker 1: I think there's up to thirty now. Each of those

834
00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:48,440
Speaker 1: characters have their own strengths and weaknesses and abilities, and

835
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,239
Speaker 1: play is really fast paced and a good team, like

836
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:54,200
Speaker 1: a team that actually knows each other's strengths, they can

837
00:48:54,239 --> 00:48:59,280
Speaker 1: really coordinate to be incredibly effective. Watching a team where

838
00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:01,040
Speaker 1: they really you know each other and they know how

839
00:49:01,040 --> 00:49:05,440
Speaker 1: to communicate, watching them play this game is insane. Um.

840
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:09,480
Speaker 1: I've played the game casually online with people I didn't know,

841
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:14,160
Speaker 1: and we are obviously nowhere close to as effective because

842
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,760
Speaker 1: we don't have that level of communication and familiarity. Also,

843
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:20,360
Speaker 1: I found out that I am most useful as a

844
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:24,440
Speaker 1: support class character, like someone who gives healing boosts and stuff,

845
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:27,120
Speaker 1: because it turns out people can move faster than I

846
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:30,680
Speaker 1: can see, and so if I land a shot on someone,

847
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:34,080
Speaker 1: it's almost always by accident. So I'm really impressed by

848
00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:36,440
Speaker 1: people who are really good at this game. Over time,

849
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:40,000
Speaker 1: Blizzard has released updates to Overwatch with new characters. It

850
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:42,080
Speaker 1: didn't start off with thirty, but that's how many it

851
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:45,760
Speaker 1: has now, and the company has reported that since its release,

852
00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:49,239
Speaker 1: the game has earned a billion dollars in revenue with

853
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:52,799
Speaker 1: more than fifty million players. And like many other Blizzard games,

854
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:57,040
Speaker 1: this one also has micro transactions, which players can purchase lootboxes.

855
00:49:57,719 --> 00:50:01,480
Speaker 1: Opening up a lootbox gives you a chance to win

856
00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:04,759
Speaker 1: certain types of items. You will get items in every

857
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:07,840
Speaker 1: loot box you open. It might not be the ones

858
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:10,800
Speaker 1: you want, but you'll get something, and they have different

859
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:13,759
Speaker 1: levels of rarity, so some you might just get a

860
00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:19,560
Speaker 1: bunch of common pieces of of cosmetic stuff like that's

861
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:22,520
Speaker 1: not meant to influence the actual gameplay. You're not supposed

862
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:24,480
Speaker 1: to get any advantages, like you're not gonna be able

863
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,920
Speaker 1: to jump higher or move faster or anything. You'll look different,

864
00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 1: or you might have a different catchphrase you can say

865
00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:33,200
Speaker 1: in the game, or a different pose you might make

866
00:50:33,239 --> 00:50:37,400
Speaker 1: before after a match, but otherwise it's not supposed to

867
00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:40,520
Speaker 1: really affect gameplay. So the idea is that, yeah, it's

868
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:42,719
Speaker 1: a way to make money, but you could play the

869
00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:44,880
Speaker 1: game without ever buying a lootbox and it's not going

870
00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:49,600
Speaker 1: to change the actual gameplay. However, lootboxes in general are

871
00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:53,040
Speaker 1: now a controversial topic. A lot of governments around the

872
00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:57,080
Speaker 1: world are investigating as to whether or not they constitute gambling,

873
00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:00,440
Speaker 1: since you cannot guarantee you're going to get a particular

874
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:03,319
Speaker 1: item when you purchase the lootbox. But these are things

875
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:06,799
Speaker 1: that are obviously of monetary value, or else they would

876
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:11,040
Speaker 1: not be able to sell lootboxes. It's um something that

877
00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:13,440
Speaker 1: has not yet been resolved, so we'll have to revisit

878
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:17,080
Speaker 1: that concept in the future. During blizz Con twenty nineteen,

879
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:20,400
Speaker 1: Blizzard announced that it was working on the sequel to

880
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:24,360
Speaker 1: Overwatch Overwatch two, and that it would allow players to

881
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:26,799
Speaker 1: port over the stuff they've unlocked from the first game,

882
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:29,400
Speaker 1: which is good because if you spend a lot of

883
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:33,239
Speaker 1: time and or money unlocking your favorite costumes for your

884
00:51:33,239 --> 00:51:36,160
Speaker 1: favorite characters, you'd probably be a little ticked off if

885
00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:40,000
Speaker 1: that didn't transfer over to the sequel. Other upcoming Blizzard

886
00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:44,120
Speaker 1: games include Diablo Immortal, which was it is a Diablo

887
00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:48,239
Speaker 1: game based for mobile devices like smartphones. When they announced

888
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:52,319
Speaker 1: that at blizz Con a while back, um it did

889
00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:56,879
Speaker 1: not get a good reception. Fans really unhappy because they

890
00:51:56,960 --> 00:52:01,040
Speaker 1: really wanted a full blown Diablo see quell and look

891
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:02,759
Speaker 1: like they were going to have to settle for a

892
00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:07,160
Speaker 1: what they viewed as a watered down experience for mobile. However,

893
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:09,560
Speaker 1: in blizz Con twenty nineteen, the company did announce the

894
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:14,960
Speaker 1: Diablo four, the the actual full PC sequel to Diablo

895
00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:19,759
Speaker 1: three uh, and that got a slightly better response. Some

896
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:23,120
Speaker 1: other little notes. In two thousand eighteen, Michael Mooreheim, one

897
00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:26,600
Speaker 1: of the three original founders of the company, announced that

898
00:52:26,640 --> 00:52:29,080
Speaker 1: he was leaving Lizzard, although he would remain on as

899
00:52:29,080 --> 00:52:31,920
Speaker 1: sort of an advisory role. He had been serving as

900
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:36,279
Speaker 1: president for you know, a couple of decades, and Jay

901
00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:38,839
Speaker 1: Alan Brack, who had been with the company since two

902
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:41,920
Speaker 1: thousand six and who had served as the executive producer

903
00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 1: of World of Warcraft, would take over as the president

904
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:48,720
Speaker 1: of the company the following summer. In two thousand nineteen,

905
00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:53,920
Speaker 1: Frank Pierce, the third original co founder, announced that he

906
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:57,919
Speaker 1: was retiring and would leave Blizzard as well. Now you

907
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:00,239
Speaker 1: might remember from a previous episode I mentioned and that

908
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 1: Alan Adham had left in the mid two thousand's he

909
00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:08,160
Speaker 1: wanted to pursue a career in in finance. He had

910
00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:11,360
Speaker 1: been totally burnt out on the process of developing games

911
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:13,799
Speaker 1: and he needed to kind of step away. Well, he

912
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:17,239
Speaker 1: actually returned to Blizzard in two thousand and sixteen, so

913
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:20,440
Speaker 1: he still serves as a senior vice president at Blizzard Entertainment.

914
00:53:20,440 --> 00:53:23,160
Speaker 1: So while he was the first of the original founders

915
00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:26,120
Speaker 1: to leave, he's now the last one to still be

916
00:53:26,239 --> 00:53:29,480
Speaker 1: there because he came back in sixteen. He's also the

917
00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:32,319
Speaker 1: founder that Pierce and Moreheim both credited with being the

918
00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:36,440
Speaker 1: actual force that brought the company together. So I just

919
00:53:36,520 --> 00:53:39,400
Speaker 1: find it interesting that he returned not long before the

920
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:42,799
Speaker 1: other two co founders decided to step away. Now, over

921
00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:45,839
Speaker 1: the last year or so, the company has been at

922
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:48,480
Speaker 1: the center of criticism not just because of the Hong

923
00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:52,440
Speaker 1: Kong controversy, but also because they cut jobs while they

924
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:57,040
Speaker 1: were also posting record profits, which that seemed weird to people.

925
00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:00,680
Speaker 1: There's been a concern that Activision is pushing a more

926
00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:05,520
Speaker 1: aggressive approach to managing costs and maximizing profits at the

927
00:54:05,560 --> 00:54:08,239
Speaker 1: expense of the quality of the games. You know, this

928
00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:11,840
Speaker 1: is tough for a company that really established a reputation

929
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:14,239
Speaker 1: of making sure a game is absolutely the best it

930
00:54:14,239 --> 00:54:17,800
Speaker 1: can be before it launches, So that's been an issue

931
00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:21,240
Speaker 1: for Blizzard recently as well. That being said, there's still

932
00:54:21,280 --> 00:54:24,920
Speaker 1: an enormous amount of anticipation for Blizzard games. That their

933
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:28,960
Speaker 1: games tend to be really well received by critics and

934
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:33,040
Speaker 1: by fans alike. It's not a guarantee in every case, obviously,

935
00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:38,040
Speaker 1: but they've got a really strong track record, so they're

936
00:54:38,080 --> 00:54:42,600
Speaker 1: still weathering some pretty rough criticisms, and the Activision connection

937
00:54:42,719 --> 00:54:46,040
Speaker 1: remains something that a lot of fans are very leery about.

938
00:54:46,719 --> 00:54:49,560
Speaker 1: But I expect that we're gonna continue to see a

939
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:54,440
Speaker 1: lot of passionate support and anticipation around their games, and

940
00:54:54,640 --> 00:54:58,000
Speaker 1: blizz Con every year is a testament to that because

941
00:54:58,360 --> 00:55:01,719
Speaker 1: it sells out within half an hour of tickets going

942
00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:05,560
Speaker 1: on sale. So I believe that it happens every year

943
00:55:05,560 --> 00:55:08,359
Speaker 1: in Anaheim, California. I have never been. I know I've

944
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:11,600
Speaker 1: got friends who go there or have gone there pretty

945
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 1: much every year. One of these years, I'm gonna have

946
00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:17,920
Speaker 1: to try and get my way over there. But you know, hey, Blizzard,

947
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:20,200
Speaker 1: if you ever want meet out there, let me know.

948
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:24,400
Speaker 1: Otherwise I'll just have to take some vacation time. Not

949
00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:27,560
Speaker 1: that I am above that. I'd be happy to, but

950
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,160
Speaker 1: if I can get there forming order, I'll just come

951
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:33,160
Speaker 1: out there, you know. So that wraps up this episode

952
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:37,719
Speaker 1: of text Stuff, this exhaustive look at Blizzard. It was

953
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:40,719
Speaker 1: fun to take a deeper look at this company and

954
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:43,759
Speaker 1: to really look at some of the things that drove

955
00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:47,920
Speaker 1: the decisions behind making those games, as well as some

956
00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:50,600
Speaker 1: of the stories, like the controversies behind them that I

957
00:55:50,640 --> 00:55:53,879
Speaker 1: wasn't really familiar with before I started researching this. If

958
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:56,480
Speaker 1: you guys have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff,

959
00:55:56,480 --> 00:55:58,920
Speaker 1: send me an email the addresses tech Stuff at how

960
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:01,360
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com or drop me a line on

961
00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:03,560
Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter. Hand over both of those is tech

962
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:07,600
Speaker 1: Stuff hs W. Don't forget we have our website tech

963
00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:11,360
Speaker 1: Stuff Podcast dot com that has our archive of every

964
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:15,479
Speaker 1: episode text Stuff has ever recorded, and you can also

965
00:56:15,600 --> 00:56:18,320
Speaker 1: find a link to our online store, where every purchase

966
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:20,719
Speaker 1: you make goes to help the show. We greatly appreciate it,

967
00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:28,840
Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff

968
00:56:28,880 --> 00:56:31,200
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.

969
00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:34,160
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i

970
00:56:34,280 --> 00:56:37,520
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

971
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:38,520
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.