Highly anticipated by players, and in the midst of a promotional campaign, Blizzard’s next action-RPG seems to be suffering from some internal problems. These are not new, the Californian company having been sued in particular because of harassment. And, while the Activision-Blizzard takeover continues its course before the European Commission, some developers of Diablo IV denounced the crunch they will face to meet unrealistic deadlines.
A little earlier in the month, rumors announced a date for the arrival of the title. If April 2023 seemed consistent with the acceleration of communication around the game, the Microsoft Store would have leaked a completely different date. Now formalized for June 6, 2023, this date also marks when Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is supposed to close.
A practice that even Lilith fears
Only, some problems arise internally. It is obvious to developers that Diablo IV won’t be ready by that date, or at least not in a decent state, if they don’t practice the crunch. Common practice for decades in the industry, it has become very controversial in recent years, especially since the case Cyberpunk 2077. And if doing a few more can be a necessary evil, it is not normal for it to last several weeks or even months.
This news, although very unsurprising in reality, is nonetheless distressing. contacted by washington post, some current and former Blizzard employees have cited internal issues that have slowed the progress of the project. Rewrites, deletion of several months of work or even friction with higher authorities have made this work tedious. And Bobby Kotick didn’t help to lighten the load on the shoulders of the developers, when the latter announced in an interview that the company was losing value due to the delayed releases ofOverwatch 2 and Diablo IV.
“I think what affected the share price more than [l’enquête sur le harcèlement sexuel] is to have pushed back [les dates de sortie de] Overwatch and Diablo”
Bobby Kotick, interview for VentureBeat
Obviously, many departures followed this case, including that of Jesse McCree, then lead designer on the game. The latter also seems to be the cause of many delays according to the developers. In question, a too dispersed approach to the project, and a focus on micromanagement. Once immersed in a subject, it is impossible to get him out of it until he gets tired of it, leaving the others to finish what he started for him.
“You could say that they [McCree et Barriga (anciennement directeur du projet)] weren’t very confident, there wasn’t a lot of vision for the game. They changed their minds a lot, sometimes without warning, on a whim. It started to very slowly wear people down”
Anonymous former Blizzard employee, The Washington Post
A company that struggles to understand its employees
But they weren’t the only culprits, and many other departures hurt the smooth development of the game. Only, if it’s a fairly common process, the personnel lost were, on the whole, very skilled. Sometimes veterans with decades of experience, replaced by juniors or brought in from other branches of the company. This has been a huge impact for the team, who resent Blizzard’s mishandling of the issue.
Since its announcement in 2019, Diablo IV was entitled to several internal release dates, pushing the developers to practice the crunch to finish the job. First planned for 2021, it was finally December 2022 that was targeted. In view of the accumulated delay, April and then June 2023 were proposed, the latter being the acceptable limit. But, for the developers still present, this date is still too late.
“We’re at the point where they don’t want to delay the game any longer, so we all have to follow through and figure out how badly we’re willing to hurt each other to make sure the game comes out in a good enough state. »
Anonymous Blizzard Albany employee, The Washington Post
So to encourage them to work longer, a few strategies have been established. Meal credits are offered, as well as shares in the Activision-Blizzard company. If this is something to dream about, the stock market price fluctuates very regularly, unlike fixed premiums. And if for the elders the value could go up to $50,000 in shares, they never had any offers to climb the ladder in the company. Worse still, when one of them expressed his desire to obtain a promotion, managers encouraged him to leave Blizzard, and come back a few years later.
With all these problems, employees fear about the final quality of the title. It is certain that many will be doing crunch to ensure a correct state at the exit of Diablo IVto the detriment of their physical and mental health. They obviously hope to come up with a game that will satisfy fans and be fun to play. But that, only time will tell.