Not good enough

Blizzard have finally taken the time to respond to their Diablo fans directly, and have apparently chosen to do so in the most minimal and ineffective way possible.

That’s it. After years of disappointment, and days of full-blown fan rebellion, Blizzard have sent their community manager out to say, "We hear you," and nothing else of substance. No apology, no news about future PC content for the franchise, no word from the Diablo developers, or anyone in a leadership position at Blizzard, just PR pablum with zero substance. It’s literally EA’s messaging playbook.

Nevalistis is popular enough on the forums that a few of Blizzard's Diablo fans have responded to this nothingburger with reflexive gratitude, but others aren't nearly as grateful.

 

The rest of the forum thread basically amounts to 45 pages of mostly this.

That there are only 45 pages of forum thread, on a topic this hot, that the fans feel this passionately about, speaks volumes about how disengaged the Diablo fanbase have become. Somehow, I don't think that Blizzard is going to get away with one post of PR pablum, another week of radio silence, and then a return to the corporate message about how exciting Diablo Immortal is.

Seriously, Blizzard, you need to apologize. The Diablo fans' reaction should be a damn sight more than just "interesting" to you, at this point. The people responding to this fiasco should be the people responsible, the top leaders of the Diablo franchise, and maybe even the top leadership of Blizzard overall, and not just a community manager who isn't empowered to offer actual substance in response, and whose word carries no actual weight as a result. This just isn't good enough, Blizzard, and you damn well know it.

After all these years, you'd think that I'd have exhausted my capacity for disappointment at the corporate bullshit of AAA video game publishers, but it seems that disappointment is still possible. I don't care if Diablo III gets a mobile port. I don't care if Blizzard ever release a Diablo II remaster, or a Diablo IV, having very little interest left in the Diablo property as a whole. I'm just offended by the contempt that Blizzard have shown for their paying customers, as a matter of principle. Blizzard's customers deserve better. Gamers, in general, deserve better.

Get your shit together, Blizzard. Or continue to watch your Diablo franchise wither and die, while your competitors make hay at your expense. It makes no difference to me which one you choose, but I have a feeling that you're only going to get one of those two options.