Tag: Blizzard

Diablo III Under Investigation In France, Germany, South Korea


Those of you paying attention here at MMO Fallout know from a previous article that Blizzard is currently under investigation by the South Korean Fair Trade Commission over complaints that Blizzard did not deliver on service for Diablo III players, and refused to offer refunds for those who could not access the game due to consistent server downtime. Blizzard’s offices were raided and the investigation is currently ongoing, but likely to end up in favor of the consumer.

In France, Blizzard was given 15 days by the consumer bureau to fix connections regarding Diablo III, an issue which still plagues the game in every continent. They are also asking Blizzard to compensate players for damages accrued due to downtime, and are requesting a formal investigation into the use of always-on DRM. If the server stability is not met, the consumer bureau intends on taking Blizzard to court.

In Germany, however, the issue is a little different. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations has stated that Blizzard is being held accountable for anti-trust violations. Diablo III is being investigated for not disclosing on boxes that the game required an internet connection to play in single player, as well as not disclosing that the game was unable to be resold due to the permanent connection with one’s battle.net account. Or if you want to use the original German translation, Blizzard are being investigated for Wettbewerbsverstöße abzugeben, which sounds a whole lot more threatening.

Granted, neither of the French or German groups have the power to impose punishments on Blizzard, they will have to take the company to court and have a judge hand down a verdict.

(Source: Incgamers)

Activison Blizzard Up For Sale? For $13.2 Billion


Can someone loan me $13 billion? According to Bloomberg, executives from Vivendi SA will meet later this month to determine if the company will sell off its majority 61% share in Activision Blizzard. The report came from anonymous sources, noting that the meeting is secret and the details of what is discussed may or may not be shared with the public.

With Activision’s sales of $4.6 billion, and the launches of Diablo III and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria this year, I can see why Vivendi may not be interested in the company anymore. After all, there are only so many places to store the massive amounts of dough that Blizzard alone brings in on a yearly basis, let alone including Activision with the Call of Duty franchise.

Of course, I jest. Bloomberg notes that this would be another move to distance Vivendi from the spend-happy disaster that was CEO Jean-Marie Messier, who was booted out of the company in 2002 after a $77 billion spending spree that left the company nearly bankrupt. As for what Vivendi would do with the $13 billion that their share of Activision is worth, well I believe this picture provides one alternative:

(Source: Bloomberg)

Blizzard Being Investigated In Korea Over Diablo III Refund Refusals


Gaming return policies are a double edged sword. You can’t return games because, on one hand the policy stops people from burning the games to a disk and simply returning them. On the other hand, and this goes equally for digital downloads, if the game is broken or unplayable at a fundamental (the game on the disc, not the disc itself) level, the customer has no recourse other than to hope one day that the company patches out the problems. In other words, once the company has your money, they have your money. Unless, of course, you’re willing to go the chargeback route.

South Korea has taken issue with Blizzard’s policy of “no refunds,” raiding the Blizzard offices this afternoon to gather evidence in an investigation as to whether or not the company violated South Korean law by refusing refunds. Dissatisfied Diablo III players, unable to log in to the game, were denied refunds under Blizzard’s terms of service. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission, who conducted the raid, did not comment on the matter further than admitting that there have been numerous complaints filed.

Blizzard apparently believes they are in the right, as the company has not changed its mind on refunds.

(Source: Korea Times)

Blizzard Investigating Account Theft, Denied Authenticator Hacking


I know what you’re thinking: Sure, denial is exactly what someone would do when they have something to hide. Well take a moment to remember that denial is also something a person will do when they are truly innocent of the charges, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Coming off of the release of Diablo III was the well-expected surge in accounts being stolen and stripped clean. Some of those people also happen to have authenticators, raising suspicion as to whether or not the security method has been successfully cracked. I have good news:

Blizzard wants you to know that you are a liar, if you claim to have been hacked with an authenticator already on the account. According to Blizzard, not a single case has been filed where an authenticator was already on the account.

While the authenticator isn’t a 100% guarantee of account security, we have yet to investigate a compromise report in which an authenticator was attached beforehand.

On the other hand, you can rest assured that the Blizzard servers have not been breached. And once again to the paranoid conspiracy theorists who think Blizzard compromises/sells accounts to scam/scare users into buying authenticators, you are still wrong.

(Source: Blizzard Forums)

World of Warcraft Subscriber Bleeding Stemmed: 10.2 Million


It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about the possible, perhaps, maybe imminent death of World of Warcraft at some point in the near or far foreseeable horizon of an unpredictable future just out of our gaze but right under our noses. Over the past few months, Blizzard has really revved up the promotion machine, offering free upgrades to Cataclysm and level 80 characters for returning, offering a free copy of Diablo III for promising Blizzard you would delay the divorce for another twelve months.

Well the promotions must be working, because World of Warcraft’s subscriber loss seems to have shorted out: From 10.3 million reported in November to 10.2 million reported in Blizzard’s latest report. You can check out the report at the link below for more information on Diablo III, Call of Duty, etc.

(Source: Blizzard Finances)

Drakensang Relates To Diablo III and Torchlight 2


Bigpoint’s dungeon crawler Drakensang Online doesn’t just have the big mouth of its developer to back it up, it drives around in its Lamborghini waving around the wad of dosh to anyone willing to take a glance. I took a look at the game back in February and found it to be an enjoyable game despite its focused reliance on the cash shop and regular sales.

But Bigpoint went even further in its latest press email, detailing everything that Drakensang Online is that Diablo III and Torchlight II are not. It might be a bit unfair to throw in comparisons of “weekly content updates” and “frequent community events” in relation to two games that haven’t even been released yet, but then again Bigpoint isn’t known to be subtle in their advertising.

We’ll see if Bigpoint is writing a check its tush can cash when Diablo III launches in a few weeks, with Torchlight following hopefully this year.

The Old Republic Responsible For WoW Subscriber Losses


Talking to Eurogamer, Producer John Lagrave admitted that the launch of The Old Republic has had an effect on World of Warcraft’s subscription numbers. Lagrave goes on to talk about possibly extending the current World of Warcraft unlimited trial (up to level 20) to level 40, or even level 60, but with a firm reminder that Blizzard has no plans to take the MMO to a free to play model, as Blizzard still feels that the game runs best as a subscription.

“Of course people are trying Star Wars – our development team are trying Star Wars! I’m one of the few people who’s still playing it actually, but yeah we’ve seen a dip in subs. It certainly has to at least be attributable to The Old Republic, but it’s also attributable to people who want to wait and get Mists of Pandaria, so it’s not surprising.”

Blizzard is one of several developers to be very open about their loss of subscribers, and one of the few companies to actually post a base figure of how many are still playing. Up until recently, a major portion of Blizzard’s dropped subscribers have been attributed to losses over in China where the rate of income per user is lower than in the West, in territories including China where users pay for World of Warcraft like a prepaid phone (adding hours). Blizzard also attributes some of the loss to players to a need to release more content at a faster pace, as players complete it. Meanwhile, the expansion of the cash shop has more than made up for the loss of subscribers, leading to higher revenue each quarter.

In the face of 1.7 million subscribers for The Old Republic, Blizzard is looking to entice its previous customers to return and current customers to remain so. Back in October, Blizzard launched the expanded Annual Pass offering a free copy of Diablo 3, a spectral mount, and guaranteed access to the Mists of Pandaria beta (The Diablo 3 promotion ends May 1st, if you were thinking about signing up). Just recently, Blizzard launched the Scroll of Resurrection campaign, offering an upgrade to Cataclysm, a free level 80 character, and free faction/server changes for the recipient.

All of this on the heels of Blizzcon 2012 being cancelled so Blizzard can focus on its development, and laying off 600 non-developmental workers.

You can read the rest of the discussion at the link below.

(Source: Eurogamer)

World of Warcraft on iOS Still A Possibility


As a reasonable person, I’ve always said that the day that major MMOs like World of Warcraft and Everquest are readily available on mobile platforms will be heralded as the day productivity died. That being said, Blizzard will not accept no for an answer, and is always on the lookout for a way to bring World of Warcraft to the iPhone.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Senior WOW Producer John Lagrave discussed the challenges involved in bringing a massive online game to such a small platform, from UI to controls, to chat and beyond.

“So we certainly look at that, but we just haven’t solved it. What we’ve done with WOW on mobile devices is very simplistic: view the armoury, you check your auctions – not just on mobile but also on web.

So it might be a while before you are explaining to your boss that you were only late from lunch because the Lich King was tanking more damage than usual, but if Blizzard has any say in it that time will be sooner than you think.

(Source: Eurogamer)

Free Diablo 3 Ends May 1st: WoW Annual Pass


Diablo 3 is here! Well, the release date and ability to pre-purchase is. While many of you who subscribed to the World of Warcraft annual pass (monthly payments, but locked in for a year) did so for the free mount and beta access to Mists of Pandaria, you may have also done so for the free copy of Diablo 3 that comes with it. Possibly, I don’t want to assume anything.

Now that Diablo 3 has a release date, May 15th, Blizzard has announced that the promotion is coming to a close. If you want that free Diablo 3, you will need to purchase the World of Warcraft annual pass by May 1st, after which your commitment will only net you a free mount and beta access to Mists of Pandaria.

(Source: Battle.net)

Need A Scroll of Resurrection? Comment Below


If you’re like me, you would like to have a scroll of resurrection for the Cataclysm upgrade, free level 80 character, etc, but don’t know anyone who still plays World of Warcraft. Luckily for myself, I’m already subscribed to the twelve month annual pass and ineligible for this promotion anyway, but as a service to our good friends out there MMO Fallout is offering scrolls of resurrection.

For me to send you a scroll of resurrection, submit your realm name and character name in the comment box below. I need both, and this will only work if your account expired before March 4, 2012, and the reward will be transferred once you purchase a subscription. Your comment will be held in moderation and will not be approved, your username/realm will remain private and only visible to myself.

Note: The invitations were working before, but it appears that they are now restricted to my area. North America/Canada/Latin American players only.