Blizzard’s president has mentioned the challenges concerned in satisfying gamers “who need new content material actually virtually each single day”.
In an interview with The Verge, Mike Ybarra stated Blizzard needs to fulfill this demand, however not on the expense of releasing high quality content material.
“Gamers don’t have any persistence,” he stated. “They need new stuff every single day, each hour. We’re making an attempt to react that means whereas holding the Blizzard high quality bar excessive.”
Blizzard introduced three new World of Warcraft expansions at BlizzCon final week, the primary of which can launch in 2024, when Cataclysm may also come to World of Warcraft Basic.
“We all know gamers need new content material actually virtually each single day,” Ybarra continued. “On the identical time, it takes massive groups to have the ability to ship that. So you must monetise it in the correct methods.
“On the identical time, I all the time inform the groups, ‘When somebody spends one greenback or a penny with Blizzard, I need them to really feel good after they try this. How will we get to a world the place we all know that’s all the time going to be the premise of what we’re doing?’”
Ybarra urged Bizzard remains to be looking for the right steadiness for its content material launch technique.
“I feel we’re nonetheless fine-tuning a number of these issues as we go ahead,” he stated. “However it’s one thing prime of thoughts for me as we go ahead.”
Blizzard introduced in January 2022 that it was creating “a brand new AAA survival sport” for PC and unspecified console platforms.
Whereas circuitously referring to this venture, Ybarra reportedly informed The Verge that Blizzard has wrestled with the thought of releasing a sport that isn’t a stay service.
“We’re not afraid to create new IPs. We’re not afraid to show fashions the other way up,” he stated, including that he can be receptive to “somebody that has an concept for a four-hour expertise or a 400-hour expertise”.
Xbox maker Microsoft accomplished its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard final month, within the course of taking possession of franchises together with World of Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch.
Ybarra, who joined Blizzard in 2019 following virtually 20 years at Microsoft, was joined by Xbox boss Phil Spencer on stage throughout BlizzCon’s opening ceremony.
Microsoft’s head of gaming informed attendees: “We’re going to empower our new colleagues in a tradition of belief, inclusion, and collaboration, to proceed what they do greatest: redefining present genres, creating new, by no means earlier than seen experiences, and uniting gamers globally in new methods – in Azeroth, in Sanctuary, in near-future Earth, and past.”
