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This afternoon, there was a public Activision/Blizzard conference call. The conference is mostly geared toward financial investors and share holders, so most of the talk is dealing with the financial side of things and also about higher gross revenue games like COD and WoW. However, there were a few things regarding SC2 (and some big news regarding D3 beta testing for anyone interested  ). I think pretty much all the information is already known to most TL.net users, but I found it pretty interesting just listening to all the CEOs talk about the financial side of the video game industry.
If you want to listen to it yourself also, here's a link to re-watch the conference call:
http://investor.activision.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=96008
(SC2/Blizzard doesn't really start until Slide 12, the Blizzard slide)
TL;DR
Main Points regarding SC2 (all paraphrased, do not quote me):
* Launch in China. Already one of the largest communities for SC2 in terms of concurrency
* E-Sports is off the a great start in the region
* We've signed with several partners to run SC2 tournaments in China as well as a Chinese broadcast partner to televise Korean GSL matches in Chinese
* Will be showcasing HoTS to worldwide press later on this month (May 2011)
User Questions:
Q: On SC2, are you starting to see a ramp up in interest in Korea as more of the professional players shift toward the newer version, give us an update on the professional market there.
Michael Morhaime: The Korean E-Sports ... our partner, GOMTV, is running GSL, it continues to be very popular ... but we are seeing that SC1 has maintained popularity, and so the transition to SC2 has been slower than we anticipated.
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Awesome! Can't wait to see HoTS =]
By any chance do you / anyone else know what the info on D3 is as well? Can't listen to the conf call at the moment.
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Planning on a Q3 external beta test, and 2011 release for Diablo 3
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On May 10 2011 10:37 KrauserII wrote:
Planning on a Q3 external beta test, and 2011 release for Diablo 3
You heard it here first! D3 release 2013!
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On May 10 2011 10:37 KrauserII wrote:
Planning on a Q3 external beta test, and 2011 release for Diablo 3
WHAT?! 2011 release for diablo 3? so soon!
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Just as an FYI, Blizzard is holding a Heart of the Swarm event on May 26 and all info from it is embargo'd until the following Tuesday. There will be no multiplayer shown the event, so don't expect too much new stuff that's relevant to eSports coming out of that event. 
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Yeah the biggest news from this call was that D3 is slated for Q3 Beta. Which is super exciting. I still think we wont get HotS until Q2 next year.
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On May 10 2011 10:43 SpiNN wrote:Just as an FYI, Blizzard is holding a Heart of the Swarm event on May 26 and all info from it is embargo'd until the following Tuesday. There will be no multiplayer shown the event, so don't expect too much new stuff that's relevant to eSports coming out of that event.
Well they're probably going to showcase some new units, it's just a question of whether or not they'll end up being added to multiplayer.
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On May 10 2011 10:43 SpiNN wrote:Just as an FYI, Blizzard is holding a Heart of the Swarm event on May 26 and all info from it is embargo'd until the following Tuesday. There will be no multiplayer shown the event, so don't expect too much new stuff that's relevant to eSports coming out of that event.
I'd imagine they're going to showcase what this 'RPG mechanic' is that they're going to be having in the campaign. I don't really see what else they can show off right now, aside from maybe a cinematic or possibly how the story starts.
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Am I the only one not exited for HoTS? It seem to me that WoL has kind of crystalised into something balanced and awesome.
Idk idk
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Wait they're SHOWING HotS this month? Holy frick can't wait!!!
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On May 10 2011 10:48 gun.slinger wrote:
Am I the only one not exited for HoTS? It seem to me that WoL has kind of crystalised into something balanced and awesome.
Idk idk
good joke. I laughed pretty hard.
Pretty excited to he HoTS, no multiplayer stuff tho makes me 
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On May 10 2011 10:48 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
Wait they're SHOWING HotS this month? Holy frick can't wait!!!
Just the single player :D
Still awesome that SC2 is in China now, and it's HUGE. Really love it.
PS. And of course Korean GSL + broadcaster on TV in China = HOLY SHIET !@!@(!#*$ <3<3 SC2 WON'T DIE <3
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On May 10 2011 10:54 DirtYLOu wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2011 10:48 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
Wait they're SHOWING HotS this month? Holy frick can't wait!!! Just the single player :D Still awesome that SC2 is in China now, and it's HUGE. Really love it.
They are getting a bunch of SC2 pros to try it out, so I bet they will at least show some multiplayer.
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Feels like they're releasing HotS really fast. I'd rather them take an extra year on the content. I still haven't had my fill of WoL yet.
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Just the single player :D
Still awesome that SC2 is in China now, and it's HUGE. Really love it.
PS. And of course Korean GSL + broadcaster on TV in China = HOLY SHIET !@!@(!#*$ <3<3 SC2 WON'T DIE <3
Yeah I was watching GSL matches through the Chinese TV thingy (online) and I was thinking... wtf haha, they even have a studio! (I thought they were "illegally" restreaming and posting it online)
But nope, apparently they are official xD
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On May 10 2011 10:30 kagemucha wrote:
User Questions:
Q: On SC2, are you starting to see a ramp up in interest in Korea as more of the professional players shift toward the newer version, give us an update on the professional market there.
Michael Morhaime: The Korean E-Sports ... our partner, GOMTV, is running GSL, it continues to be very popular ... but we are seeing that SC1 has maintained popularity, and so the transition to SC2 has been slower than we anticipated.
Cue the "Blizzard is trying to kill BW" posts :p Tho seriously, unless this is just a statement directly to investors (who care more about more SC2 being sold than the overall SC culture), this is pretty discouraging to the BW scene.
I also doubt the HOTS is going to be launched this year. This is Blizzard we're talking about (albeit no Valve or Duke Nukem Forever).
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On May 10 2011 11:03 Lemonayd wrote:
Feels like they're releasing HotS really fast. I'd rather them take an extra year on the content. I still haven't had my fill of WoL yet.
Well, they already have the engine in place, the only thing they need to do (multiplayer wise) is study what areas races are lacking\make cool units and test them. Still, no amount of testing will help when players finally get their hands on the game to break it.
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Canada13389 Posts
On May 10 2011 10:30 kagemucha wrote:This afternoon, there was a public Activision/Blizzard conference call. The conference is mostly geared toward financial investors and share holders, so most of the talk is dealing with the financial side of things and also about higher gross revenue games like COD and WoW. However, there were a few things regarding SC2 (and some big news regarding D3 beta testing for anyone interested ). I think pretty much all the information is already known to most TL.net users, but I found it pretty interesting just listening to all the CEOs talk about the financial side of the video game industry. If you want to listen to it yourself also, here's a link to re-watch the conference call: http://investor.activision.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=96008(SC2/Blizzard doesn't really start until Slide 12, the Blizzard slide) TL;DR Main Points regarding SC2 (all paraphrased, do not quote me):* Launch in China. Already one of the largest communities for SC2 in terms of concurrency * E-Sports is off the a great start in the region * We've signed with several partners to run SC2 tournaments in China as well as a Chinese broadcast partner to televise Korean GSL matches in Chinese * Will be showcasing HoTS to worldwide press later on this month (May 2011)
User Questions:Q: On SC2, are you starting to see a ramp up in interest in Korea as more of the professional players shift toward the newer version, give us an update on the professional market there. Michael Morhaime: The Korean E-Sports ... our partner, GOMTV, is running GSL, it continues to be very popular ... but we are seeing that SC1 has maintained popularity, and so the transition to SC2 has been slower than we anticipated.
HoTS news this month .... oh my god I am so excited. PLEASE let there be a Beta oh Blizzard please announce that we will get a beta (i dont care when so long as it happens :p)
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Except that's not about the Q1 conference.
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On May 10 2011 11:16 windsupernova wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2011 11:03 Lemonayd wrote:
Feels like they're releasing HotS really fast. I'd rather them take an extra year on the content. I still haven't had my fill of WoL yet. Well, they already have the engine in place, the only thing they need to do (multiplayer wise) is study what areas races are lacking\make cool units and test them. Still, no amount of testing will help when players finally get their hands on the game to break it.
Lets hope they don't make "cool" units and its more focused. The "cool" units idea brought us the colossus and corruptor.
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These numbers are pretty revealing:
GAAP Net revenue per segment/ platform:
-Online subscriptions- $395m
-PC/Other- $124m
-Xbox360- $396m
-Playstation 3- $342m
It's pretty clear that WOW sales&subscriptions (or console game sales for that matter) dwarf SC2 sales. Blizz will of course make money off on SC2's expansions etc, but given that SC2 is not such a huge money maker, perhaps people should complain less about wanting free cross-realm play, or having to pay for an expansion in order to play on b.net servers. Anyone who plays SC2 half-seriously is getting a lot of value out of those 60 bucks--it's quite a steal actually.
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On May 10 2011 11:03 Lemonayd wrote:
Feels like they're releasing HotS really fast. I'd rather them take an extra year on the content. I still haven't had my fill of WoL yet.
BW was released less than a year after SC1 and TFT was released almost exactly one year after WC3:RoC so if HoTS comes out this year it will be standard timing from Blizzard.
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Interesting stuff. And can we please stop saying "HoTS"? It's wrong for two reasons.
Firstly, would you write "HEART of THE SWARM"? "HEART of the SWARM" sounds better, there's no reason to put emphasis on "the".
Secondly, "WotLK" was generally accepted in the WoW community, and people got subsequently yelled at for writing "WoTLK", the trend should remain here.
Also, "HoT" = heal over time...
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Yup Vali,
dizzy try telling that to PC Gamers back 16 years ago. The fact Blizzard is trying so hard to maintain control when any hacker can crack their code if they really want to is silly. We expect to be able to have good ping/lat conditions. Paying for expansion packs is minor when you look at the bigger picture and who doesn't expect to pay for that content? No cross-realm play along and no lan are a different matter.
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![[image loading]](http://static.wowhead.com/uploads/screenshots/normal/193766.jpg)
May be real may be not. But it's kinna too early for HoTS to be released this year though. Also, adding in new units for SC2 multiplayer might be messy since SC1 doesn't became esport until BW came out; so the added unit didn't have much affect on the scene.
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That chart seems fairly accurate imo
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On May 10 2011 10:30 kagemucha wrote:
User Questions:
Q: On SC2, are you starting to see a ramp up in interest in Korea as more of the professional players shift toward the newer version, give us an update on the professional market there.
Michael Morhaime: The Korean E-Sports ... our partner, GOMTV, is running GSL, it continues to be very popular ... but we are seeing that SC1 has maintained popularity, and so the transition to SC2 has been slower than we anticipated.
LOL..WIN!
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Tbh I am much more excited for D3 than SC2 expansions.
Don't get me wrong, I love SC2 but D3 > SC2 expansions.
Diablo is so much childhood memories =)
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On May 10 2011 10:30 kagemucha wrote:
User Questions:
Q: On SC2, are you starting to see a ramp up in interest in Korea as more of the professional players shift toward the newer version, give us an update on the professional market there.
Michael Morhaime: The Korean E-Sports ... our partner, GOMTV, is running GSL, it continues to be very popular ... but we are seeing that SC1 has maintained popularity, and so the transition to SC2 has been slower than we anticipated.
I think that KeSPA vs Blizzard was the worst thing to happen to SC2 in Korea. If it had been a cooperative effort, I'm sure the game would have grown much bigger and with more exposure, sponsors and pro-teams behind it.
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On May 10 2011 10:37 KrauserII wrote:
Planning on a Q3 external beta test, and 2011 release for Diablo 3
Just offtopic:
There was no planned realeses in 2011 by blizzard. So no, Diablo 3 is not planned to be realeased in 2011 but they are _trying_ hard to get it released before end of the year.
"No planned release for 2011. 2 planned releases for 2012" Most likely D3 and HotS.
"* DIABLO III
- Beginning/began companywide internal testing
- Targeting Q3 launch for external beta testing
- Do not have an official release date or window yet, but driving hard to launch Diablo III this year."
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On May 10 2011 13:14 dazer wrote:May be real may be not. But it's kinna too early for HoTS to be released this year though. Also, adding in new units for SC2 multiplayer might be messy since SC1 doesn't became esport until BW came out; so the added unit didn't have much affect on the scene.
Wait we get mapmarket before juli?!
More serious, i think this chart is very outdated. And i don't think D3 and HotS will get release in the same quarter. I see D3 this year and HotS Q1/Q2 next year. They are talking beta for D3 now and not even saying anything about HotS multiplayer, so don't think they are done designing multiplayer units yet..
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Wasn't there something from Blizzard saying that there won't be any new multiplayer units in HoTS?
If they were to add units there would need to be extensive public testing or even some kind of Beta, considering the already present balance issues.
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On May 11 2011 18:32 SundeR. wrote:
Wasn't there something from Blizzard saying that there won't be any new multiplayer units in HoTS?
It isn't super recent and it's a little vague (as always) but this interview seems to imply that they are planning to add units in HotS.
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On May 11 2011 18:42 corpuscle wrote:Show nested quote +On May 11 2011 18:32 SundeR. wrote:
Wasn't there something from Blizzard saying that there won't be any new multiplayer units in HoTS? It isn't super recent and it's a little vague (as always) but this interview seems to imply that they are planning to add units in HotS.
If they add units without an extended PTR to test their functionality it's just going to be a massive step backwards.
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EPT
