Activision Blizzard has been making headlines for two weeks now due to a lawsuit over its internal policies.
Accused, with substantial evidence, of numerous instances of labor and sexual abuse of women and members of minorities within several of their studies, the public reaction has been quite notorious. With a negative vision surrounding everything, we can already see its effects on their video games.
Stories of all kinds are visible on social networks. World of Warcraft players are deleting their accounts, showing their rejection of the company in the way that hurts them the most: their cash inflows.
However, the focus remains on World of Warcraft, the game that has been the most successful brand in the last 15 years of Blizzard’s life, as well as being a reference in what longevity and a dedicated community can offer a video game. , leaving aside the rest of the company’s brands.
A community touched
The most famous MMORPG in the world was not living its most stellar moments. The pillars that supported the franchise – story, progression systems, and balance – weren’t looking good in the current Shadowlands expansion.
The transformation of the game into a constant pursuit of pieces of currency in exchange for objects of greater power to stay competitive, as well as an increasingly distorted story, which they even confessed that it was improvised on the fly.
On the other hand, World of Warcraft Classic made the jump to the Burning Crusade expansion, but it was accompanied by the controversial decision of level increase tokens, to enjoy the new content without developing a character from scratch, in exchange for money.
The growing presence of micropayments, complications with subscription payments, and an atmosphere that made players feel less at home within Wow with each passing day. But this would remain superfluous once the abuse cases were made known.
The titan falls
If one thing held up the World of Warcraft fandom, it was the fact that the Blizzard name still carried real weight in the gamer’s perspective to a large extent. There is a long relationship between what is classic Blizzard and fans of the Warcraft saga, which enjoyed an even more intimate nuance than with other franchises.
This is all going to hell when the demand for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing towards Activision Blizzard. In a very strong blow, fans discovered that the developers of their favorite game had predators and abusers in their ranks.
The departure of names like Alex Afrasiabi and members of the Cosby Suite exposed the dire circumstances in which management made employees work, as well as the fact that it was the “rockstars” who were idolized for creating Wow. Veterans like Mike Morhaime or Chris Metzen had looked the other way as the worst happened and human resources services were tasked with blowing away the scandals.
The effect is immediate. Longtime fans and gamers went public with their departure from World of Warcraft, leaving behind the internal protest in the game and moving on to a much stronger blow: the cancellation of their accounts. Content creators such as Preach Gaming gave voice to the general sentiment of the community, with scandal being the last straw.
An exclusive divorce?
One of the most interesting curiosities in the Blizzard Case is how the main affected is World of Warcraft, considering that his team is not the only one dotted with the lawsuit.
Among the statements presented in the document, reference is made to a team that delegated its daily activities to female staff, while the men played Call of Duty exclusively, apart from other labor abuses. Subsequent reports They pointed out that it was allegedly Treyarch, authors of multiple editions of the Activision shooter.
If the CoD fandom was affected by this situation, their regret has been kept inside, since the title remains with a usual response despite the situation. It can be seen, to a large extent, that the “Activision” side dismisses this as a problem on the “Blizzard” side of the company.
The response in games like Overwatch or Hearthstone has been more noticeable, although tepid compared to Wow. It is the MMORPG fandom that is suffering the most from this situation, being the longest relationship between company and players and, consequently, the hardest divorce.
The end?
The exodus continues, with players migrating to other titles of the same style. Final Fantasy XIV has become the favorite space for Wow user migration, but it is far from the only one. The Elder Scrolls Online is also among those favored by the fandom, due to its deep story content (despite the fact that its staff includes Paul Cazarez, a noted member of the Cosby Suite club).
For more selective users, there have been migrations to games like Guild Wars 2, Black Desert Online, Neverwinter or even Genshin Impact, among many more. While others are waiting for what is coming with the brand new New World, which in its test mode continues to attract attention.
For those of us who have lived the adventure in the world of Azeroth, there are no simple answers to this situation. Many people directly involved with the abuses suffered within the company remain active players of Wow, because such is the love they feel for the title, just as there are others who are willing to turn a deaf ear, since it is the only space that gives them peace and happiness.
The journey, like that of our champion, is unique and, although we are capable of sharing it with a community of equals, the route we take is a decision of each person.
Although it is not the official end of World of Warcraft, what we do have before our eyes is the end of an era for what this game has been. Blizzard’s spell has been broken with no turning back and a fandom dating back more than two decades will forever resent it.
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