Phil Spencer: 'The Future of Blizzard is Brighter Than Ever' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 November 2023 / 5,591 Views
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer made an appearance during the BlizzCon 2023 opening ceremony to welcome Blizzard to the Xbox family.
"Now that Blizzard is part of Xbox, we will nurture the essence of what makes Blizzard unique," said Spencer.
"We are going to empower our new colleagues to continue what they do best - redefining existing genres, and creating new never-before-seen experiences. In Azeroth, in near-future-Earth, in Sanctuary, and beyond. I'm honored to be able to be here, to help welcome all of you to Blizzcon 2023."
He added, "The future of Blizzard is brighter than ever."
Microsoft in October completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King and CEO Bobby Kotick is set to step down at the end of the year.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I'm just glad he referenced StarCraft when Mike Ybarra didn't lol. I'm hoping that's the one area Phil pushes Blizzard into. Making more StarCraft.
I believe Blizzard only has 1 big team that creates these games. Most times these teams have been working on WoW and recently D4. Hoping now that D4 is finished, they move to a StarCraft 3.
Blizzard actually has lots of big teams.
Team 1: StarCraft. + Heroes of the Storm.
Team 2: World of WarCraft.
Team 3: Diablo.
Since 2004 Blizzard added:
Team 4: That focused on Titan, then Overwatch.
Team 5: Hearthstone.
Basically whenever Blizzard makes a new title that requires a substantial amount of resources, they make a new Team.
They used to have a "Classics Team" which was focused on remasters/re-released but got shuttered after WarCraft 3: Reforged.
Since they have leveraged Vicarious Visions (Pinched from Activision) to do remasters and assist various teams with development.
Im sure they have multiple teams for maintenance and building Expansions but from there releases, there is always a gap. Seems they tend to get everyone on board to create a new game/foundation like Starcraft 2, than switch to WoW than Overwatch than to Diablo 4. Hopefully we see Starcraft 3 next in the works
I wouldn't say in dire need of a new entry when it's still the most refined RTS out there 13 years later. I would definitely be down for another entry though, but not as much as I'd like to see Warcraft 4
With Age of Empires, Homeworld, Company of Heroes, Sins of a Solar Empire 2, Total War and more... I don't consider StarCraft on top, especially with Age of Empires on the scene and getting tons of support.
Well that's up to you I guess, but I only said it was the most refined, not the most popular.
StarCraft 3 would have a better chance of selling well compared to WarCraft 4 unfortunately.
Looking forward to seeing what they do!
This is probably the first time a buyout gives my hope for the future. Blizzard with Microsoft parenting seems like an upgrade compared to Activision,
Frankly, I think every studio under the Activision is now in a better position. Gaming is a much smaller business at Microsoft than it was it Activision, where it was the entire company. There is still lots of pressure to make money, but there's likely a lot less pressure to hit specific dates.
Even the biggest game launch will barely move the needle for quarterly results at a company the size of Microsoft. So, it's not a crisis if a game has to get pushed back a couple of quarters. At Activision, losing a major launch for any time at all would have meant posting terrible financial results. And publicly traded companies will do damn near anything to avoid having to do that.
Also, while Activision was certainly a big business, with lots of resources, it's pockets were nowhere near as deep as Microsoft's. As it stands now, under the Microsoft umbrella, if an idea is good enough, Microsoft has the resources to bring it to life. So if one of these teams has something that they think is a home run, there's not going to be any question of whether they can get the help they need to make it happen.
Currently playing D4, and Blizzards production value is some of the best iv seen even to this date. D4s artstyle, CGI cutscenes and polish is nothing short of A+. If thats the value we will get with future releases than count me in, everytime.
Are they scrapping the monetisation hole Blizzard are in? Because I'm not sure that was the 'redefining existing genres' people wanted from them. Wait, no, sorry, that costs £20 extra to know.
Somehow I just don't believe it.
''I promise.''
There's a VG247 article: "Xbox’s Activision deal is already working: data suggests more US adults are becoming interested in Game Pass"
This is according to data collected by consumer analytics firm CivicScience, which has conducted polls of US adults with the aim of determining the effect that the deal could have in terms of helping to stoke more interest in Microsoft’s gaming offerings.
In order to try and gauge “the potential reach of Microsoft’s deal”, CivicScience has also polled some people who aren’t currently subscribed to Game Pass regarding which Activision Blizzard titles they play regularly.
Among a sample of 791 such people, 9% responded that they play Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, or Diablo at least once a week, with Hearthstone and Overwatch having mustered an additional 8% and 5% respectively. This looks like some potential good news for Microsoft, with CivicScience arguing these groups to be “audiences that could convert and subscribe to Xbox Game Pass.”
I hope that Blizzard can return to it's former greatness, but i'm not holding my breath for that.
Blizzard are a shadow of their former self. They have literally been doing everything wrong. It's hard to see how Microsoft will screw things up even more, so yeah the future probably is going to be brighter. By how much though remains to be seen
I mean they are beating a lot of their records lately (last was with Diablo 4), and their games are very successful :) This is what you call "literally been doing everything wrong"?
I get that people on social medias are following the unhappy minority crowd (like the D2 hardcore fans who wanted a clone of D2 etc...), but Blizzard IS a successful company and their games are def. very successful too... So you may want to review your definition of doing literally everything wrong :D
Diablo 4 launched well, however it has a lot of issues regarding scaling, loot, battlepass, skills etc. Skins cost $20 each! Overwatch 2 bombed hard, Warcraft 3 reforged was a disaster, Heroes of the storm is dead, Diablo immortal exists, the D4 & COD crossover is an absolute joke, do I need to say more? They have made so many mistakes. Yes they are breaking records, like the most overwhelmingly negative game in Steam's history
It does not. People are finding issues EVERYWHERE.
Today if a game, or anything for that matter, has a little thing not perfect, it is trash.
And if a minority is bitching something somewhere, it becomes "most overwhelmingly negative". And if you look at Steam a lot of those "reviews" are actually coming with a comment either stating that it is from Sony fans because fuck the aqcuisition or Diablo 2 fans who wanted a clone. I mean, Dìablo 4 is a very good game, very successful and you saying that Blizzard is literraly doing everything wrong", is simply, plain wrong. And numbers shows it... I'm talking about a business here, not an painting...
Skins do cost that much, have you even seen the store? Overwatch 2's backlash is entirely justified, over 200,000 people is not a "minority". They shutdown Overwatch 1, something people PAID for, and scrapped the promised PVE mode. Overwatch 2 is an inferior product. You didn't even bother to respond to my other criticisms regarding the other games. I agree, Diablo 4 had a good launch but that doesn't mean Blizzard is in good state, stop being in denial. Look at the rest of their franchises!
We did get a clone of Diablo 2.
It was Diablo 2 remastered... And it was actually an amazing game... Was definitely not a WarCraft 3 reforged moment.
Yah :) I meant the people crying about Diablo 4 who wanted a clone. D2 Remaster was perfect and exactly that.
They’ll likely give Blizzard more time & money, but as we’ve seen recently that is not good enough to make great games.
Xbox needs people competent to give good feedback and make sure the games are headed on the right direction. This hands off nonsense leads to failure.
That Matt Booty is anywhere near any developer is shocking. Tell me what has he done well for Xbox exactly? Halo infinite debacle was Booty prime responsibility , but after that massive failure he gets a promotion !!!!!!
Just like Zenimax Bethesda family having a bright present? Haha
No need for sarcasm when it's the truth. We've already seen the leaked lineup of games and it's looking good. Along with hits like Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield, and Quake 2 remaster this year. Arkane Austin is going back to their roots with the next game so things are looking very bright.
Im not buying this from phil.. blizzard is like bungie dependent on gaas and they might suffer soon.
