Blizzard Entertainment Inc. always makes a splash at the BlizzCon fanfest in Anaheim; this year’s iteration of the gamer convention, held at the start of the month, was no exception.
Orange County’s largest software company by employee count presented the long-awaited “Diablo IV” role-playing online game on the first day of its annual event held at the Anaheim Convention Center, while the company’s president took a conciliatory tone after a recent flap over a Hong Kong professional esports player.
The company said fans at BlizzCon were eager to try out a demo of Diablo IV, adding that it “is currently in development and will be coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One” without naming a date.
“Diablo IV will deliver visceral combat, gruesome and varied monsters, an epic hunt for legendary loot, and endless playability and progression,” Blizzard said on Nov. 1 at the event that draws tens of thousands of people each year. The new version “pushes the franchise to dark, new depths.”
Its last version of the franchise, “Diablo III,” was released in 2012 and sold more than 30 million units in three years, according to news reports.
Hong Kong Apology
The conference counted its share of political interest this year.
Blizzard attracted unwanted attention last month for suspending professional esports player Blitzchung for his vocal support of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, drawing strong international criticism.
“We moved too quickly in our decision-making, and then, to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you,” Blizzard Entertainment President J. Allen Brack told the BlizzCon crowd.
He said the company “didn’t live up to the high standards we really set for ourselves” and “failed in our purpose,” Brack said.
“I am sorry and I accept accountability,” Brack added.
Chinese gaming and entertainment company Tencent reportedly owns 4.9% of parent company, Activision Blizzard of Santa Monica, leading to suspicions of pressure from Beijing. Blizzard is seeking to broaden its presence in the Chinese market.
A week before BlizzCon, Mike Ybarra, formerly vice president for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming platform, said in a Twitter posting that he was joining Blizzard as executive vice president and general manager.
‘Our Energy’
“We will work with all our energy to serve gamers with incredible content and experiences,” Ybarra wrote in his tweet on Oct. 23.
The company’s had its share of stumbles the past year. Activision Blizzard in February laid off 800 people, or about 8% of the company’s workforce, with Blizzard’s Irvine campus getting its share of cuts. Gamer website GameSpot quoted Brack as saying in an interview this month that the company has “2,800 people in Irvine.” A year ago, fans reacted badly to the introduction of mobile game “Diablo Immortal.”
Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATV) has risen about 17% to $55 a share since the beginning of the year, for a market cap of $43 billion.
