Think we are about to see another wave.

[Theodric]

Well, WoW is a pretty old game at this point and it had a lengthy run. It's been steadily losing subscribers for a while now and after a certain point ceased revealing the number of active subscribers despite gleefully doing so in the past. For a while, it seems as though the game leaned on optional purchases to make a profit but that isn't likely to be enough after a string of very public controversies. I can't imagine the company wanting to burn down everything they own, so they may very well be prepared to discontinue World of Warcraft, lay off/fire a number of employees and focus on Call of Duty which is probably much more profitable and valuable.

Of course, not everybody playing WoW is going to come over to FFXIV. Some will, others may decide to make GW2 or ESO their new home instead. Or wait for one of the new, upcoming MMO's such as Pantheon, New World, Blue Protocol and Ashes of Creation.

[Goji1639]

Hopefully Blizzard gets this figured out and it doesn't impact development of Diablo4. I need that game.

[Wavaryen]

My wow friends are being annoying with all the jokes about it, but I guess that is part of their charm also. If I hear one more, no wonder shadowland is bad, they had all the women work on it. Or, Blizzard needs to learn from raiders. Females and hardcore raiding don't mix. Men act stupid around women.


Either way, Blizzard response was so clueless, not only that they got the female leader who only been working at the place for four months to come out and say it is not true.

[Wilford111]

Well, WoW is a pretty old game at this point and it had a lengthy run. It's been steadily losing subscribers for a while now and after a certain point ceased revealing the number of active subscribers despite gleefully doing so in the past. For a while, it seems as though the game leaned on optional purchases to make a profit but that isn't likely to be enough after a string of very public controversies. I can't imagine the company wanting to burn down everything they own, so they may very well be prepared to discontinue World of Warcraft, lay off/fire a number of employees and focus on Call of Duty which is probably much more profitable and valuable.

Of course, not everybody playing WoW is going to come over to FFXIV. Some will, others may decide to make GW2 or ESO their new home instead. Or wait for one of the new, upcoming MMO's such as Pantheon, New World, Blue Protocol and Ashes of Creation.

I highly doubt WoW is going offline after this controversy. I doubt it will even lose most of it's playerbase. This is just how things go. Already the controversial hype is dying down and people are forgiving and/or forgetting. Diablo 2 remake and Diablo 4 will probably sell like hotcakes, and WoW will continue to be a terrible MMO with a substantial playerbase.

[Wilford111]

...crap. Disregard my last post, as I just heard that WoW development has basically been suspended for the time being.
This being reported around the same time yet another big WoW YouTuber quitting the game.
idk, these are interesting times.

[TeraRamis]

Oh my God, this is getting so pathetic. This is from one of the developers:

https://twitter.com/azgaz/status/1419398240105996288

Geesh. GEEEEEESH. I mean, yes, I get that they need to get their house in order. But people are paying you for a product, and you're now using your own internal turmoil - stemming from an issue that no responsible corporation EVER sees at this level - to makes excuses on delays, and then turning around and calling players who had absolutely nothing to do with this disaster 'part of the problem' because they have the audacity to suggest that you need to do your job?

Bro, you accidentally got some face on that ugly.

[Pirana1]

Oh my God, this is getting so pathetic. This is from one of the developers:

https://twitter.com/azgaz/status/1419398240105996288

Geesh. GEEEEEESH. I mean, yes, I get that they need to get their house in order. But people are paying you for a product, and you're now using your own internal turmoil - stemming from an issue that no responsible corporation EVER sees at this level - to makes excuses on delays, and then turning around and calling players who had absolutely nothing to do with this disaster 'part of the problem' because they have the audacity to suggest that you need to do your job?

Bro, you accidentally got some face on that ugly.

Just read that, deflection 101.

Laughable and pathetic.

[Vipes]

Oh my God, this is getting so pathetic. This is from one of the developers:

https://twitter.com/azgaz/status/1419398240105996288

Geesh. GEEEEEESH. I mean, yes, I get that they need to get their house in order. But people are paying you for a product, and you're now using your own internal turmoil - stemming from an issue that no responsible corporation EVER sees at this level - to makes excuses on delays, and then turning around and calling players who had absolutely nothing to do with this disaster 'part of the problem' because they have the audacity to suggest that you need to do your job?

Bro, you accidentally got some face on that ugly.

I can’t even read that because apparently they blocked me?

[Ronduwil]

I can’t even read that because apparently they blocked me?

They blocked everyone. I'll bet the backlash was worse than they expected. Then again, I don't know what else they were expecting. Seriously, if my company was being sued for something like this, I would know to keep my opinions about it off of social media if I wanted to keep my job. It's common sense for anyone who has been working in the corporate world for longer than a couple of years.

[Theodric]

It's a fairly common tactic, unfortunately. There's a relationship between a customer and a business as well as between a business and an investor where the expectation is for a service to be provided in exchange for financial transactions. If that obligation is being obstructed, especially by avoidable drama, then the criticism is entirely valid.

In other words, money is being exchanged with the expectation of results. Many businesses operating in the present day have forgotten that and actively sabotage the goodwill that exists between those willing to give them the time of day. I strongly suspect that the company in question has become a little too confident in being able to hide behind a rabid fanbase willing to defend their every move. However, that in itself is not a finite resource and such an attitude will risk backfiring with increasing frequency.