In March 2012, a game was released that had been one of the most anticipated installments in a popular Blizzard franchise. Diablo 3.
Diablo fans across the world took to Blizzard's forums upon the games release pointing out issues with gameplay, item drops, auction house issues, and the incredible amount of errors on Diablo 3's day one launch. The game simply did not meet the fans expectations of what a Diablo game was. Although one man didn't create the game, the increasingly negative criticism was mostly directed towards one man, Diablo 3 Game Director Jay Wilson.
Yesterday, in a long blue post in the Diablo 3 forums, Jay Wilson stepped down from his Game Director position to move onto a new project within Blizzard and acknowledged the shortcomings in the game.
"I'm proud of Diablo III, and despite our differences at times I will miss the community that has formed around it. I feel I have made many mistakes in managing that relationship, but my intent was always to provide a great gaming experience, and be as open and receptive as possible, while still sticking true to the vision the Diablo team has for the game.
I know some of you feel we fell short of our promise to release the game "when it's ready." While we're not perfect, we try to make the best decisions we can with the information and knowledge we have at the time. That doesn't mean we always make the right decisions, but if we made a mistake then I feel we've made an exceptional effort to correct it."
Towards the end of the passage Wilson promises that his departure will not affect the game and that there are many things "brewing" for Diablo 3 this year.
With social networking bridging the gap between the developer and the consumer, we are seeing more and more feedback from consumers. Bridging the gap can produce amazing fixes to games, but it can also make people feel entitled. We saw the drama unfold around Mass Effect 3, but unlike BioWare, Blizzard didn't fold under the pressure on the fanbase. They simply fixed their glitches (kept the DRM) and called it a day.
Jay Wilson overcame harsh criticism for Diablo 3, hopefully he won't meet similar issues in his new project.
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