Demigod Forums
OK now I am confused 
Blizzard has its own DOTA coming now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1JDEnrVK8
Heh, one of the siege heroes is literally a Terran Siege Tank...
So many MOBAs coming out....
Any of you guys moving from LoL to one of the new ones when they are released?
orion - get with it!
Blizzard had the original dota (created by modders). That created the entire genre. Then followed by Demigod, then hon, then lol. After that, word of DOTA 2 was leaked (owned by valve - one of the folks that originally worked on the dota mod decided he liked money and got a job with valve). Right around then or just before then, blizzard was like, hey - our game spawned this, let's do it too. Except they failed at throwing resources at it originally. So it crapped out, they revamped with increased staff, and now they are almost ready to release something again (blizz con forces this sort of thing).
Anyway, here's pacov's prediction: LoL will hold the top spot. Dota 2 will slowly overtake that. Blizzards DOTA will be something notable but just some crap in the middle. It will launch and we'll all be like - ooo - that's fun. But they don't have the model of LOL and what DOTA WILL have. So Blizzard's crap will just be a footnote and the companies that actually dive money into it will be the winners. I hope Blizzard comes up with ANYTHING innovative, but DOTA2 and LOL have money behind them (a flow of money) - and Blizzard's dota wont really after release unless they change model to micro transactions. And if they don't, blizzard's dota is DOA. And that leaves us with 2 games that have solid support (and pro gaming behind them).
OK, I didn't know Bliz released a fail DOTA version somewhere in between...
They haven't "released" it yet, per se... its just it will be a fail version (imo) as it won't get as much support as dota2 or lol (as blizzard doesn't get money out of their new dota.
LOL "Blizzard's Innovation"... there's innovation, and then there's blatant theft of ideas thrown together... I can't think of one Blizzard game that wasn't tantamount to outright idea theft 
I hate LoL (I prefer RoI, and even that is no demigod)
Dota 2 doesn't look like it brings anything new to the genre... (I won't come out and say it is Dota with better graphics because I haven't played it yet)
Blizzard DOTA looks like it might actually be fun, even if it doesn't have crazy options.
Anyway - we all win out a bit, though. If you have sc2, you get a free game that will likely be quite a bit of fun.
and that said - mayhaps blizzard considers that they might get some additional revenue from folks that don't own sc2 picking that up - so there is some financial incentive to be sure.
With the recent announcement of getting diablo 3 if you pick up a warcraft 3 year pass, methinks they are grabbing at money now for some reason (*looks at stock data*)
how can they be short of cash with WoW??
Not sure how interested you are in the exciting world of stocks, but here goes..
The company reported second quarter earnings for 2011 as $1.15 billion, a decrease from first quarter earnings of $1.45 billion. Second quarter net income was $335 million, a decrease from first quarter net income of $503 million. The company has quarterly revenue growth of 18.50%, a return on equity of 6.15%, and pays a dividend with a yield of 1.30%.
One of Activision Blizzard’s closest competitors is Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS). Electronic Arts last traded at $23.62 and has a market cap of $7.79 billion. Electronic Arts has quarterly revenue growth of 22.60%, a return on equity of -5.49% and does not pay a dividend.
Activision Blizzard’s cash position has declined, its second quarter 2011 balance sheet showed $1.17 billion in cash, a decrease from $1.58 billion in the first quarter. Its quarterly earnings growth of 18.50% is greater than the industry average of 4.70% and a return on equity of 6.15%,greater than an industry average of 4.0%. Based on these performance indicators Activision Blizzard is outperforming many of its industry peers.
The earnings outlook for the multimedia and graphic software industry is poor. This is due to the current uncertainty about the economy and the disappointing growth in the jobs market that has affected the consumer sentiment. The NPD Group, a market research firm, recently reported that; “the gaming industry has shrunk 26.0% in July 2011 from the comparable previous year and this is the sharpest fall since October 2006.”
When the earnings outlook for the industry is considered in conjunction with Activision Blizzard’s decrease in earnings, net income and the decrease in balance sheet cash, it is difficult to understand the recent buying interest. On this basis I rate Activision Blizzard as a hold. Sentiment that Activision can experience robust growth is powering this name.
It's still an ok stock to own, but blahblahblah. Anyway, they are announcing some quarterly earnings today.
Stocks/smocks - I just find it interesting tracking trends. As a video game nerd, I'm always up to date on the highest selling games, new tech that's about to pop out, etc. So, I often make calls on what I'm seeing. Often news would leak in the video game world about interesting things before the stock markets would queue up on it - for instance, ATI being used for components in the WII. To me, at the time, that was a huge reason to buy ATI stock (considering its stock price at the time). If the Wii did really well, then ATI sees a really nice return. Anyway, little bits of info like that really don't paint a full picture (as ATI is into so many other things than just providing graphics for the Wii). The problem with speculation is that while a company might be expanding or doing awesome with this or that, other crazy things may be going on with the business. Same goes for my job. My part of the company could be completely awesome, but if another part is doing rot, then our shares could drop.
Anyway, blahblah. The new WoW game mode sounds like it will increase penetration in China, but who knows if folks in the states will dig it. From a consumer point of view, I know I'll pick up Diablo 3 and the upcoming SC2 expansion. No question. If I was a WoW fan, I'd get the year pass without another thought. As I've only dabbled in WoW, I'm tempted to get a year pass for the free $60 game, but I don't think I'd get my money's worth at the current rates. But that said, I thought about it. And folks that like WoW more than me and have perhaps taken a break might buy it up for diablo 3. Anyway, there are a ton of angles... if blizzard gets paid immediately for the 1 year pass, that could be a substantial increase in cash flow. If its some deferred billing, then they can "speculate" on their cash flow based on folks that "commit" to the year pass on a monthly basis, etc. This means they can project X dollars without receiving any money based on a promise (god knows this was a great idea in the housing market).... and perhaps they have something in place like a cell phone company where you get charged X dollars if you cancel your 1 year pass before completing it. Anyway, as you can see, there are alot of angels...
Back to my main thought, I'm actually a little more on the fence with blizzard's dota. While they don't have the same influences as LoL or Dota 2 (will), they could still pimp out the game and update it a ton. It certainly is true that a company like blizzard could easily put several devs on a team that is responsible for cranking out content. But the only logical reason to do so would be to increase sales of SC2 UNLESS they adopt a strategy that uses microtransactions like LoL. If they do that, then I'm VERY certain it will become a competator to LoL/Dota2. If they don't, then its a HUGE question as to whether or not it will receive support past a year or so - and by support, I mean new characters, balancing, etc. I will certainly play it when its released.
I thought about this for awhile, there are some good reasons to do this.
To bridge the gap between WoW and codeword Titan MMO. Considering they probably only net $25 when D3 is bought off the shelf, they are still making more money offering a DL of D3 for pa$$ holders.
Many WoW subscribers might not actually be interested in SC2. They need to get them on D3 in order to flog additional DLC and "offers" through the new Blizzard store.
I am wondering if owning D3 will give you access to Blizzard DOTA. Same problem to gain new content and continuous support, Blizzard DOTA needs to get enough inertia to look like it can make some money if supported, and this is more likely with more players.
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