Diablo Backlash Isn’t Entitlement, It’s Passion Says Blizzard


The internet has had a few days to cool down from the announcement of Diablo Immortal, the mobile game announced and BlizzCon and rather negatively received by Blizzard’s community within and without the convention center. But while certain parties may be eager to paint the negative reaction as entitlement from spoiled gamers, Blizzard isn’t one of them.

In an interview with Kotaku, co-founder Allen Adham admitted that Blizzard expected a negative reaction to the mobile Diablo game, but perhaps not as vocal as the one following their announcement last week. Adham refused to call the reaction entitlement, instead noting the community’s passion.

“They love what they love and want what they want,” he said of the fans raging at BlizzCon and across the internet. “That passion, it’s actually what drives us, and we feel it too. It’s why we make games and why we’ve made games for almost three decades now—and why our community is so passionate about our franchises. I understand their feeling and wish we could share more about all the amazing things we’re doing, not just with the Diablo franchise but across the company as a whole.”

Diablo 3 recently launched on the Switch and while Diablo 4 is still on the horizon, the game is an inevitability.

(Source: Kotaku)

Red Dead Redemption 2 Infographic


The above infographic was sent over to us by Enlightened Digital, and contains some fun facts about Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar decided to integrate a more advanced artificial intelligence into RDR2, one that responds to the player based on a number of context clues, allowing every interaction to be unique from the next.

This post is not sponsored and is purely for infotainment purposes.

Bad Press: Disappointed With Diablo? You Are Toxic and Hate Women


The next Diablo game has been announced and this is only the second time that Blizzard is playing damage control. Yesterday at BlizzCon, Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal, a mobile spinoff set in the franchise universe between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. The game will be coming to Android and iOS devices, with pre-registration already open as of this article’s publishing.

Needless to say, the crowd was not amused after Blizzard revealed the title, and it looks like the developer was caught heavily off guard by the overwhelmingly negative response. The BlizzCon announcement was met with heavy booing from the crowd, several sarcastic questions during the Q&A (“Is this an April Fool’s joke?”), with Blizzard’s reps eventually shouting at the crowd. The Youtube videos have been heavily downvoted with the cinematic trailer sitting at 227k downvotes to 7.6k upvotes, and Blizzard went as far as to reupload the trailer in an apparent effort to reset the like/dislike ratio.

But this wouldn’t be a Bad Press article without examining how certain members of the games media have used this as an excuse to show their contempt for gamers, like Gamespot’s Mike Mahardy who in response to the April Fool’s joke stated:

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Don’t be too harsh on Mike, his company has bills to pay and the Blizzard advertising coffers are enormous. Madeleine Rose over at J!nx, where you can buy hundreds of Blizzard-branded products at a fantastic markup ($70 for a Diablo III hoodie), was astonished and grossed by the “entitlement” of the community.

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IGN’s Sean Finnegan went on the offensive, calling gamers the “most cynical, toxic, and entitled fandom in all of entertainment.” Sean fights for the users, just not the ones who don’t like the products made by the guys who advertise for the website he gets a paycheck from.

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Over at Mashable, the website for superfans and not for the casually curious, Adam Rosenberg penned the Op-Ed “Diablo Immortal controversy is really just entitled gamers shouting,” where he proceeds to call gamers assholes for not responding positively to the announcement. (Archived link to article)

“A segment of the Blizzard fan community is mad because of some stupid bullshit they’ve manufactured entirely out of their own ignorance. That “April Fool’s joke” guy was an asshole for asking that question. And if you’re holding that guy up as some kind of a hero, or even just attacking Blizzard for making something you’re not into, you’re an asshole too.”

Mashable’s Kellen Beck responded to a self-described tantrum by throwing a tantrum with an op-ed titled “Diablo Immortal is actually fun, you entitled babies.”

“From what I saw and played, Diablo Immortal is a fun, quality Diablo game that retains that special something that makes the franchise so special. You don’t have to play it, but whining online makes you sound like a literal infant.”

Professional public relations account director Will Powers (formerly DeepSilver and Playstation)

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Thankfully there are plenty of members of the press taking a level headed approach and actually discussing the game itself. Polygon’s Ryan Gilliam wrote “Diablo: Immortal feels like a Diablo game, just not one that’s for me.” Owen S. Good of the same Polygon wrote a piece noting concern that the game is being developed by NetEase and looks a lot like a reskin of another one of NetEase’s mobile titles. James over at IGN posted a hands-on noting that the controls are intuitive, the dungeons are impressive with more complicated bosses, however characters do not show armor changes in this development build and there is no resource pool.

A number of photos have circulated of the Diablo: Immortal booth at BlizzCon being virtually disregarded with hardly anyone in line or using the demo units.

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Of course, this is just a small snippet of what can be found on the web. It’s always good to have a reminder of how quickly some people in the press get angry when customers don’t just shut up and get excited about products.

[Blizzcon 2018] Destiny 2 Free On PC Until November 18


Destiny 2 launched on October 24, 2017, and Activision is celebrating its one year anniversary by making the game free. Log in to Battle.net and grab yourself a free copy of the game before November 18 and the game is yours to keep forever*.

The copy includes the base game and nothing else, you’ll still need to drop some simoleons in order to pick up the expansions and DLC. On the plus side, the Forsaken expansion now includes the two expansions that came before it, so for $40 USD you can grab Forsaken, Curse of Osiris, and Warmind. Forsaken also includes a character boost to get you into the new content right away.

(Source: Battle.net)

*not actually forever

Old School RuneScape Launches Mobile Today


The world mourns its loss of collective productivity today as Jagex has officially launched Old School RuneScape out of beta in its mobile form. The classic MMORPG hits Android and iOS devices following months of beta testing, with over one million users having pre-registered. Users are able to log in with their existing PC accounts and continue on either platform continuing to level up their characters.

Jagex CEO Phil Mansell stated:

“Today’s launch of Old School RuneScape on mobile leads the charge as we bring two of the world’s most popular MMORPGs to the world’s most popular gaming devices. We believe in taking our living games to wherever our players want them and, with the mobile editions offering full and seamless cross-platform play with PC, players can now continue their adventures on either platform and on the move. The arrival of Old School RuneScape on mobile, and our ongoing work to also bring RuneScape to mobile, is testament to our investment in the continued growth for both titles and building our vision for living games.”

No Man’s Sky Pushes Abyss Update Today, Go Underwater


The latest free update for No Man’s Sky is now available. Dubbed The Abyss, players are introduced to a new aquatic environment rich with additional flora and fauna, new vehicles, updated graphics, and more.

  • Aquatic Missions and Narrative: A new story, The Dreams of the Deep, brings a new context to the depths and a dark narrative to No Man’s Sky. Players are invited to discover the fate of a troubled crew stranded from a freighter crash by the rising tides or explore underwater ruins to uncover the tale of a lost soul trapped deep beneath the waves.
  • Submarine Vehicle: Master the depths of planets using a new Exocraft, the Nautilon. This submersible vehicle gives new meaning to underwater navigation, combat and mining – and can be summoned to any ocean on the planet, as well as docked at underwater buildings. Players can upgrade the submersible with installable Submarine Technology and customise the Nautilon to stand out from their fellow explorers.
  • Submersible Building Modules: More than a dozen new base parts have been added to unlock more creative possibilities underwater. Players can construct the new Marine Shelter for brief respite from the oceanic pressure, and use its protection to reach new depths. New glass corridors, viewing bays and multi-storey submersible view domes provide travellers the perfect view of the surrounding ocean. Players can now bring their aquatic life into a habitat with a decorative indoor aquarium.
  • Flora and Fauna: The variety and visual quality of underwater biomes has been greatly improved. Players can now experience rare exotic aquatic biomes as they explore new depths. Underwater creatures have become more frequent, and more interesting. Aquatic life inhabits the full depth of the ocean, and unique terrifying creatures can be encountered on the ocean floor.
  • Sunken Wrecks and Ancient Treasures: Investigate sunken ruins and find ancient treasures or dive to submerged buildings to find remnants of their lost occupants. Discover and scavenge lost cargo from gigantic freighter wrecks. Use the terrain manipulator to excavate treasures buried in the nearby ocean floor. Find and repair rare crashed star ships to restore them from the seabed to the skies.

The Abyss update is the first major content update since No Man’s Sky NEXT dropped earlier this year, and is available on all platforms.

Trion Worlds Tells Court: Company Disbanded, All Employees Terminated


(Update 10/31/18): Files from a case management conference held on 10/26 have been published. It looks like the council will continue discussing a plan of action moving forward. A CMC has been scheduled for November 19, and we will post an updated piece should anything important be confirmed.

The new document has been uploaded to the Google Drive folder linked at the end of the article.

“The situation was discussed in general among counsel and the Court, and it was agreed that counsel would continue to discuss the situation to keep up to date and formulate plan of action for this case under the circumstances. Defense counsel agreed to seek approval of the Defendant client to provide information about the subject transactions to Plaintiffs’ counsel under confidentiality order. It was agreed to defer setting of class certification, and discovery plan until the next CMC.”

Original Story: One week ago, we learned that Trion Worlds had been acquired by Gamigo with at least 75% of the staff laid off. MMO Fallout has come across a document filed with the San Mateo County Court on October 26 describing that Trion Worlds has disbanded, all of its employees have been terminated, and its directors are gone.

Defendant’s counsel reporter that Trion Worlds has suddenly disbanded this week. All assets and
property were assigned to Trion Worlds (ABC) LLC, and they proceeded to sell the assets and intellectual
property to others, particularly Gamigo, a Germany-based game publisher. All of the employees of Trion
have been terminated effective October 22, 2018, i.e. immediately upon the announcement, and its
directors and officers are gone and the company will be dissolved.

In another case management conference statement filed October 25, Trion’s lawyers noted that they themselves were not aware of the transfer or dissolution until October 18.

Defense counsel first became aware on October 18, 2018 of the transfer of assets of TWI to take place on October 22, 2018 and the corporate dissolution of TWI to follow shortly thereafter. Defense counsel has been actively investigating and assessing since that time the status of TWI-ABC with respect to the claims presented in this action.

Lawyers for the former Trion Worlds have requested a 14 day continuance in order to allow the defense to advise the court and plaintiffs on the impact of the dissolution.

As always, MMO Fallout has made the dockets available via Google Drive at the link below.

(Source: Google Drive)

[Not Massive] Alan Wake Returns To Steam, On Sale 80% Off


Back in May 2017, we reported that Alan Wake would be permanently leaving Steam following a license dispute with Remedy Entertainment. As it turns out, the game had a few pieces of music that were expiring and Remedy was either unable or unwilling to pay up to have said license renewed. The game was put on sale at 90% off and has remained off the store ever since.

Until today, when the title unexpectedly returned. There hasn’t been an official news statement posted, however Remedy Entertainment commented on Twitter to thank Microsoft for renegotiating the rights to the licensed music, allowing the game to return to store shelves.

Big thanks to our partner and Alan Wake’s publishers who were able to renegotiate the rights to the licensed music in Alan Wake, so that the game can be sold again.

If you for some reason did not pick up Alan Wake during its initial 90% off farewell sale, you can get it now for 80% off, or $3 USD (Your local prices may vary). You can also find it on Good Old Games at an 80% discount. Spinoff Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is also 80% off if you’re into that sort of thing. Peter Calloway is directing an Alan Wake TV show.

XLGames Resolving Unspecified Issues Regarding Trion Worlds Buyout


Rev up the rumor mill.

In a surprising bit of news, XLGames has posted an announcement on the ArcheAge forums announcing that the 5.0 update release date is still being decided, and that the company is currently working to resolve some issues that have popped up in the recent acquisition of Trion Worlds by Gamigo. The 5.0 update was slated to launch today, with the announcement coming late yesterday afternoon that it would be delayed.

The full message has been placed below.

Dear ArcheAge players,

You may be aware that there has been a business transaction involving Trion Worlds. XLGAMES is currently resolving issues to ensure that there is no harm done to the users since our ArcheAge fans are of the utmost importance to us.

XLGAMES will do its best to settle any matters with the involved parties in a speedy manner. The release date of the Relics of Hiram 5.0 Update will be decided and notified to you soon.

Thank you for your support.

-XLGAMES Team

Editorial: Stop Preordering Things


Since some of you are going to get about three sentences into this article before saying “but that doesn’t apply to me,” I’m going to say this from the start: If this article doesn’t apply to you, I’m not referring to you. Thank you.

This week’s nontroversy stars Square Enix, Lara Croft, and once again the Steam review system. I hesitated to even write anything about this the other day because the mainstream gaming media loves taking any shot at Steam that it can, especially when it comes to reviews. If you don’t know why, Valve has made an enemy of the gaming press because 1.) the refund policy has made life a lot harder for their indie developer roommates pushing out low quality experimental garbage, 2.) Valve refuses to pull the rug out just because a few members of the press find its content triggering, and 3.) posting outrage bait doesn’t get nearly enough advertising dollars these days because the people who read said articles out of disagreement mostly use ad blocker and archive.is, and per-click advertising has lost a lot of its value.

Now let’s talk about you, the customer. If I was a Youtuber, this is the part where I’d tell you to stop complaining and how you have no right to be angry if you pre-ordered. Frankly I’m not in the business of telling people what they should or should not be angry about.

Is it valid/justified to be angry that Square Enix dramatically reduced the price of a AAA, full priced game and its DLC after a single month? Before much of the DLC even released? Sure. Are you justified in leaving a negative review solely for the complaint of bad business practices? Of course. Is it Valve’s prerogative to flag or remove the reviews as abusive? Nah. Are you overreacting if you pledge to boycott Square’s games forever? No judgement here. So what’s the catch, I can hear you wondering. Here’s my take.

Certain gamers need to stop acting like the industry has your best interest in mind. They don’t, they truly don’t. They care enough to the extent that they think the profits of their action/inaction outweigh the costs, and will say virtually anything to the extent that the law allows in order to keep your cash flowing. In some cases, they’ll actually go far over that line with the knowledge that the chances of punishment for said statements are pretty low.

I’m not ignorant, either. It’s completely understandable that a company is going to put a product on sale if it isn’t selling well, and apparently Shadow of the Tomb Raider isn’t selling well. Square Enix doesn’t have a legal obligation to burn potential profits because they don’t want early adopters to feel scorned. They do however have an actual legal obligation to maximize profits for their shareholders, and I’m not being hyperbolic. It’s an actual legal obligation that they can be taken to court for not fulfilling. If people getting burned is the cost of recovering some of the title’s massive budget, well that’s a problem that will be dealt with.

So with that in mind, let me be the ten millionth person to suggest that you stop preordering video games if this is going to be a major problem for you. I’m not going to make a blanket statement that nobody should preorder ever. If you’re one of the people who buy games day one, or preorder them, and you’re familiar with the developer, you like the franchise, and the game is worth $60 or whatever you pay for the special edition and you’re pretty confident that the game isn’t going to be trash and are willing to forego reviews to play early, then you’re golden. You got your money’s worth, even if other people paid less a month down the line.

The value of luxury goods like video games is 100% subjective, you pay because you think it’s going to be worth it. If you don’t, you wait. In America, this is how our commerce works. If I think the Camaro is worth $25, I’ll probably never own a Camaro. On the other hand, if you say “$25? That’s a deal” and sell yours to me, the courts generally won’t side with you if you decide you want the car back because the value of a trade is up to the parties involved.

Great thing about games is that if you have a bit of patience, you can save a hell of a lot money. Games go on sale, especially on PC, at massive discounts several times a year as Steam has taken every opportunity to have the kind of discounts that you normally only see when the company is going bankrupt and liquidating assets. I especially point this out in the case of paid betas, and that most people shouldn’t take part. Why pay money for exclusive access to a buggier version of what you’ll have to start from scratch anyway, for a game that in the case of what we cover here at MMO Fallout is probably going to be free to play? Again, if you’re into that, cool. Otherwise, why bother?

And always presume that when a PR person is making promises, they’re probably lying or at the very least talking about things that they have no real confidence in. I’ve talked about this before, but I can’t stress how many times we here at MMO Fallout have noted developers outright lying in the past decade. Think about how many times we’ve been lied to over pretty drastic things. Our game isn’t going free to play. Our game isn’t shutting down. We’ll never include a cash shop. Our cash shop is only cosmetic. We’ll never sell boosts. Those boosts will never be overpowered. Our cash shop will never sell armor. Our cash shop will never sell the best armor. Our cash shop will never sell armor better than what is in game. We have no intention of selling our business to a higher publisher. We have complete creative control over our content. Nobody is being laid off.

Games are a service and a product, and that means if you’re going to jump on board you really need to know what you’re getting into. Online components for games will eventually die out and shut down, whether it be the developer pulling the plug or simply that nobody plays it anymore. Games fail, it sucks when it’s something you’re really into. I know this, I have a physical library of MMOs that I bought over the past two decades that have shut down for various reasons. Products go on discount, and most retailers for the purpose of keeping your patronage will let you get the discount if you purchased the item a week or two beforehand.

That said, when you bought the game at its full price, you did so because you thought it was worth that cost. Would you have not bought it knowing that the price would be 50% off a month later? Hindsight is 20/20, but expect it. You should be doing this for every product you buy, because anything could go on clearance the next week. If that makes it not worth buying, don’t buy it. You probably don’t need it right now.

I worked at Gamestop for a few years and nothing kills me more than the pre-Black Friday crowd. I actually had a gentleman come through one year and buy an Xbox One and Gears of War 4 at full price on November 23. November 23, two days before Black Friday. I told him this is going to be on sale in two days, you can get a special edition of the console plus the game for $249, that’s $100 off what you’re paying now. Don’t want to come into the store? Buy it online, it’ll be there. He said no, I want to buy this today, so I sold it to him with no protest. Here’s the kicker, he showed up on Saturday to complain about how he felt ripped off buying the console right before the sale. Tough shit, by the way we’re out of that version now.

In conclusion, an exercise of self control is a blessing. You’ll come out a much more satisfied consumer and less vindictive person overall.

Other than that I have no opinion on the matter.