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A new interview is up at
Voodoo Extreme
One interesting quote: "Our leaving Blizzard was almost as big a surprise to us as it was to everyone else in the world. Our intention was never to leave Blizzard, but to try and open a dialogue with Vivendi Universal. They made the decision to not afford us that opportunity, and we found our resignations submitted over the issue had instead been accepted."
So it sounds like an ultimatum over an issue that Vivendi simply said "no" to.
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Quark,Oct 28 2003, 01:02 AM Wrote:So it sounds like an ultimatum over an issue that Vivendi simply said "no" to.
I agree, it sounds like there was an ultimatum. But since Vivendi owns/owned, something like that, sort of, Blizzard -- what else could it have been but going over the heads of Blizzard management? But I thought at least some of these folks were Blizzard management??
The sad part is that there will unlikely be a Diablo III.
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If the Blizzard Classic series is anything to go by, then it's less bleak than it seems. Interplay are notorious property whores, if you've published a game under Interplay, then you haven't got a snowball's chance of getting that liscense back to do what you wish with it.
The fact that Blizzard wrestled The Lost Vikings and Rock & Roll Racing back from Interplay is a good sign that the guys at Flagship have the ability to seize control of the Diablo liscense from whomever will own Blizzard.
That is of course assuming that they want it back.
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I don't see any good managerial reason to let these people go. Except that Vivendi "can now get rid of those troublesome creative guys who ask too much and don't do as told." Or something like that. Now they can replace them with some average guys... and you know what it leads to... average games.
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It's a shame to see those guys leave Blizzard, as I now have serious doubts about the future quality of thier games. However, it is not suprising. Code Myster (from the classic days of the DSF for anyone who remembers) was lead programmer on Brood War. After he was done with that project he vowed never to have anything to do with Blizzard ever again beacuse of some of the ways they run things there. Of course that was 5 years ago, so maybe things are different, but I wouldn't think that turnover was something that was ever really a problem at Blizz.
