But the good news is...it really doesn't matter if they are done. That simply creates a market for smaller, more innovative companies who actually care about games and customers. And maybe some of those companies will hold off on selling themselves to Activision.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Harsh words.
While I have my nitpicks about World of WarCraft and while I don't look the idea of buying StarCraft II three times (though, to be fair, I don't recall any of us complaining when we had to pay $30 for Brood War), I think it's unfair to assume that Blizzard employees don't care about games or customers. All evidence suggests
Kotick doesn't care about games except as profit-generating machines, but it's unclear (likely
intentionally unclear, given Kotick's reputation among informed gamers) how frequently and to what extent Kotick and other members of Activision leadership exercise authority to override Blizzard head employees' decisions or make decisions for them.
As for innovation: Well, I'd like to see it, too, especially in the MMORPG genre. It's possible that Blizzard will introduce significant innovation in their as-of-yet unannounced MMO title. But even if they don't (and, being honest, Blizzard excels at improving on established ideas rather than delivering new ones), they've proven themselves capable game designers in the past.
Not everything Blizzard does is gold. WarCraft III multiplayer was a disappointment. The progaming scene, in general, seems to be hesitant to accept StarCraft II as an e-sports platform in its current state. And I don't know enough about Diablo III to nitpick about it.
But I think their reputation for making wildly popular games speaks for itself. It's hard to imagine only a minority, let alone zero percent, of Blizzard employees not caring about games or customers and still producing classic games.
