Out of the Loop: What’s Going On with Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal?
“Don’t you have a phone?”
This week, the gaming circles of the internet are buzzing with fresh controversy, mostly revolving around a recent bit of news from Activision-Blizzard, the gaming behemoth responsible for incredibly big-name games including World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and more.
I’m not much of a gamer, but I’ve been swept up in watching the controversy unfold, seeing this as yet another example of a big business feuding with its customer base. What’s particularly amazing are some of the angles chosen by media coverage, and how quickly the arguments on both sides have spiraled out of control.
But first, a little background.
Blizzard, A Gaming Industry Goliath
Blizzard has been around for years, and has produced some of the most popular and enduring pieces of gaming IP. World of Warcraft (an online role-playing game set in a fantasy universe) currently has more than five million subscribers. Overwatch, a more recent release where players engage in team shoot-em-up battles with iconic characters, boasts more than 40 million active players worldwide. The most recent installment of Call of Duty, a first-person shooter made by Blizzard’s parent company Activision…
