It's about marketing budget, not marketing skills. Those other companies don't have $50M lying around to market their game.
But I also agree with someone earlier (Archangel iirc) who said it was hype leftover from earlier Diablo games. I suspect that played an even bigger role than the marketing.
In any case, the two combined are the reason D3 sold well at release. At the time it was released it was a god-awful game. Sure it had a lot of flash and polish, so the reviews were decent, but once you got past your first run through all the acts, you realized how truly bad it was rather quickly. Obviously, it's been improved a lot since then, so that criticism is lessened, but the game set sales records right off the bat, and that was completely undeserved.
You missed part of my point from my previous post. The game sold something like 3.5M copies in pre-orders/first day alone. Before anyone had even played it. So, yes, they really can push millions of copies, whether or not the game is terrible, based purely on the hype from previous Diablos + their marketing budget. That is also why I brought up the "on release" sales to begin with.No amount of hype and marketing could have pushed that many copies (and kept millions playing for a prolonged period) if the game was terrible.
Exactly, which was Cacheperl's point in the original message you replied to that kicked off this line of conversation. The game sold well (at least partially) thanks to marketing and other related factors, not its merits. So it sounds like we don't really even disagree anyway.So? It had a ton of pre-orders because of marketing and the fact that it was a sequel to a very popular game.
It doesn't. Although I think it fairly obviously was. But that wasn't the point.How would that support someone's opinion that the game was terrible at release?
Path of Exile is the last place you want to look for inspiration as it is a giant steaming pile of horrible gameplay and design. Grim dawn is where you want to look for inspiration! Hell even Van Helsing games are vastly superior to PoE.
Ahh, good ol' ramses and his love for action…wait, Grim Dawn is good?
In contrast, I found Titan Quest & Grim Dawn both terribly boring, but Path of Exile very fun in how fast-paced it is (not to mention the ever-evolving content). They are definitely two different styles of A-RPG, so to each their own.
Nevertheless, D3 was utterly forgettable - in large part due to how Blizzard turned the somewhat grim setting of D2 into a very mediocre WoW-like experience with horrible writing and limited skillchoice. It was such a disappointment after the years of development.
I shall forever remember D3 as the hundred million dollar game that had a demon acting like some James Bond villain comedy act as he mystically taunted you. "Ooh, you will never make it to that location, oh no. Here, fight my lieutenant. Here, fight my other lieutenant."
Exactly, which was Cacheperl's point in the original message you replied to that kicked off this line of conversation. The game sold well (at least partially) thanks to marketing and other related factors, not its merits. So it sounds like we don't really even disagree anyway.
It doesn't. Although I think it fairly obviously was. But that wasn't the point.
It is so bad its playbase keeps rising with every league and Tencent bought it for over 100 million $ just recently… sure buddy. And that is without a brand name recognition like what Diablo/Blizzard had.Path of Exile is the last place you want to look for inspiration as it is a giant steaming pile of horrible gameplay and design. Grim dawn is where you want to look for inspiration! Hell even Van Helsing games are vastly superior to PoE.
Wow just wow, you didn't mention Starcraft 2 ... and it still has professional tournaments and it is more popular than Heroes of the Storm and Diablo 3 (atm).Blizzard already have:
- a MOBA (Heroes of the Storm)
- a mobile game TCG (Hearthstone)
- a MMORPG (WoW)
- a PvP multiplayer shooter game with heroes (Overwatch)
- a co-op looter series with Diablo.
But they hinted last month at doing a Battle Royal game…
If it makes lots of $$, you can bet Blizzard is going to make one of it and about a year after their game is released the internet will believe they invented the genre.
It is terrible when compared directly with Diablo 2. On its own it is an average game that can be fun for casual crowd that don't expect much.Except there are plenty of people (millions actually) who would disgree with that opinion.
Also, I don't believe we were talking only about sales at release but overall sales, and D3 continued to sell well over time.
Imo, the game is very average. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. I seem to be in the minority here as most people apparently feel very strongly about it one way or the other. I get a kick out the the people who'll talk until they're blue in the face about how terrible the game is though. It isn't and never was. No amount of hype and marketing could have pushed that many copies (and kept millions playing for a prolonged period) if the game was terrible.
I share the opinion that Blizzard has went downhill over the years. They used to be one of my favorite developers back in the day, and now I barely pay any attention to them. Still, I find the over-the-top hate for them amusing sometimes. On the other hand, I also don't get how anyone could still consider them great.
On its own it is an average game that can be fun for casual crowd that don't expect much.