Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia is reporting that Activision Blizzard is diversifying its interests, and appealing to younger gamers with games like Skylanders, the videogame that will have overt tie-ins with action figures.
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Blizzard has issued a series of hotfixes to tweak the recent Firelands 4.2 patch of World of Warcraft.
Taking place August 6th and 7th is the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational in Warsaw, Poland. It's where "eight of the top" EU StarCraft II players will battle. There'll also be "eight of the best" World of Warcraft 3v3 arena teams from all over Europe. Pro-gamers will compete for "more than $50,000 in prize money".
Fans of Blizzard's Warcraft lore will note that Pandaria is home to a race of humanoid panda warrior monks, and they were introduced in Warcraft III's expansions. A trademark for 'Mists of Pandaria' has been spotted, leading to high speculation that Blizzard will be introducing them into World of Warcraft soon enough.
Activision Blizzard outdid expectations for the second quarter of 2011, and the company is crediting their online community for them, as digital sales have skyrocketed.
The subscription numbers for World of Warcraft continue to fall as Blizzard president Michael Morhaime admits they're "seasonal and driven by content updates." It's "normal to see some declines" as we move away from an expansion's launch. The fans have become "much better and much faster" at consuming content.
More is better, yes? Well, no, NCsoft's Jeremy Gaffney of Carbine Studios 'worries' that a MMO mass market will actually scare studios into conformity. He said the "great thing" about early day MMOs like Asheron's Call and Ultima Online was that they "experimented" and "weren't afraid" of their differences.
Blizzard has announced a new feature that will be included in the World of Warcraft 4.3 update called Tranmogrification, which aims to correct a long-standing complaint regarding old gear. What it does is simple: it allows players to take an old piece of armor and give it the stats of a current piece of armor.
Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce has admitted if there was a team "free and available" for a StarCraft MMO then it could happen, if they were "really passionate". Right now though they've got their "hands full with everything" and so Blizzard hasn't the time to "to do anything beyond" StarCraft as a real-time strategy series.
Not only is the subscription base of World of Warcraft getting smaller, but the casual population is growing, with players so unfamiliar with the concept of an MMO that they struggle with the concept of looting bodies of slain enemies.
Mega MMO World of Warcraft was down 600k subscriptions according to its last financial report, but that was before Cataclysm "launched in China." Also the Blizzard MMO is "launching in Brazil this year" and the studio has "great expectations" for the South American market. It isn't waning.
Frank Pearce, a Blizzard co-founder, says while players not wanting to be online while gaming "is valid," they want their community "connected" however. That don't want separate groups online for each game but as an "overarching Blizzard community," so everyone is provided the "benefits" of a platform.
EA CFO Eric Brown says they "spent a lot of time" looking into World of Warcraft's first 12 months, and noted at launch they went "North America only." EA want the first Star Wars: The Old Republic group to get the "best experience," and quality of service is vital for a new MMO. Will sacrifice numbers short term.
Canadian World of Warcraft players have had their fears confirmed when Rogers Cable and Telecom, the country's largest broadband provider, admitted that the company had their bandwidth "throttled" when playing the MMO, and possibly other ultra-popular online games like Call of Duty: Black Ops. This had already been discovered back in March, but only now has the cable company 'fessed up, albeit claiming that it was all "inadvertent".
Last week, we reported that Canadian cable company and internet provider Rogers Communications had admitted that its customers playing World of Warcraft had been throttled - accidentally according to the company. Regardless of intent, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued an ultimatum, giving the internet provider until September 27 to find a way to stop throttling gamers.
Big bad boss Deathwing, the star of the Cataclysm expansion, is finally defeatable in World of Warcraft as patch 4.3 brings Azeroth its chance to take him down. Blizzard, who love a dramatic flair, have put together their most arduous raid killing yet. It all kicks off at the Wyrmrest Temple and ends, bloody, at The Maelstrom.
Blizzard North co-founder David Brevik, now working on Marvel Universe Online at Gazillion Entertainment, believes the MMO genre in general is a bit stale. He feels the genre is generally "in a rut," with little exploration beyond 'what's safe'. The MMO game "is a platform," and there's many ways to get people together.
World of Warcraft creator Blizzard also has another MMO project in the works, codenamed Titan. All we know is that it's not based on any current IP. Writer Chris Metzen says the expectation of "performing again or outdoing" competitors who've also "learned from your big hit", can be "very, very intense."
Blizzard has always worked to stamp out gold-selling operations in World of Warcraft, but now they've come up with a method of allowing it 'safely' for fans. The new Guardian Cub can be bought for real money from the Pet Store, and then sold in the Auction House for gold. Better than "black market and account theft."
Blizzard's senior vice president of creative development, Chris Metzen, admits it's "a little weird these days" creating new stories what with 11m fans. It's not just the sheer number but the "different skews of humanity," and what works in North America "may not translate all that well" in Asia's fan pool.