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Former Hearthstone Dev Ben Brode Resurfaces with $30M from NetEase & a Deal with Marvel - MMORPG.co
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Former Hearthstone Dev Ben Brode Resurfaces with $30M from NetEase & a Deal with Marvel - MMORPG.com News
Former Hearthstone Executive Producer Ben Brode has resurfaced with a huge announcement today. Brode and Hamilton Chu (also former Hearthstone) formed Second Dinner in late 2018 but have been cagey about what they were up to...until today. The pair have revealed a $30M minority investment from NetEase and a deal with Marvel for an as-yet-unannounced mobile game.
Comments
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'll just take my victory in Marvel: UA3 and be satisfied with that.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
People keep making this argument that $$$ is in the mobile market as if the PC market has diminished or the same people who gamed on PC have migrated to mobile. These are very different markets with different target audiences with huge differences in different regions. The dollar potential isn't that simple. The bigger the market the harder the competition becomes. Specially with China being the dominant mobile market and there are thousands of games getting released on mobile platform every month. Despite the jokes, that ain't an easy market to beat.
I never once got to witness ANYTHING good he or any of team 5 did for Hearthstone.
On day 1 of release and during beta ,i mentioned my concerns and wants and after waiting 50+ idk is it like 100 seasons now,i saw NOTHING change.
Their very slack effort mini games were just that,VERY weak efforts.
Having played a better tcg,MTG for about 15+ years ,i can say HS does NOTHING well except presentation,online viewing is decent.
I wanted more themes per class,i wanted multiplayer at least 2 vs 2,i want a regular setup of mini ladders leading to tourny UI every month run or automated by Blizzard,they have done NONE of it.
I wanted to better interact with each turn,again NOTHING.When you do not allow turn by turn interaction it leads to problematic cards that have forever needed nerfs in this game.A stack is needed to accomplish a better interactive game.A sideboard should be used tournament play because the decks are too refined and small to add tech.OTK is NEVER good for the game,a 100% non interactive design.
Way way more is needed to make the game more viable like reducing top decking and rng>>>>mulligans every turn can accomplish that as done by Duelyst.It is endless,a poorly designed and never fixed game while under Brode tells me Brode is NOT THE GUY.
No VISION,no creativity and seemingly no ability to see needed change,sop to me he is just a face who likes to laugh and smile "FAKE" to give that false perception that everything is just great.I would not have ANY hope for anything Brode is involved in,at least not as a gamer,maybe for the business.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Yes, the potential is bigger because of the vast base of consumers who own the requisite hardware, but like Constantine said, I don't know anyone who dropped PC gaming to go mobile.
I hate to say it (not really), but it doesn't boil down to profits vs. no profit, it boils down to profits vs. more profits. In that sense, it's hard to believe any dev is moving into the mobile realm specifically for their "vision".
Well mobile these days could be a 12 inch screen or more and you can throw in a mobile keyboard - MS do a really nice one - and a mouse if you wish.
Whereas back then PC screens were typically 14 inches with a lower dpi and much bigger pixel size. Indeed it was only more recent games e.g. DAoC that used the full screen. EQ1 for example basically ran in a window often on a 12 inch monitor.
These days though 55 inch or bigger monitor are the order of the day ....
Thank you for actually informing!
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
China is coming eat you all, p2w whales where are you, give them your economy !!
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
Netease waited to see if the masses were shifting towards more complicated card game mechanics like Artifact offers and turns out they weren't.
Blizzard being currently wounded on the ground leaves the perfect opportunity to create a Marvel Hearthstone clone using two guys with extensive knowledge of the inner workings of that game and company. Pumping 30mil into a game like Hearthstone which cost a fraction of that to make must have Blizzard on the phone with their attorneys discussing if those two guys are in violation of whatever contract they signed when they started work there. On top of all that if Marvel(the most profitable IP in the world) goes all in with this and the game turns out to be good then it could be the killing blow and Blizzard as a brand will not even exist in 10 years or just sell to some foreign company.
Above is all speculation and opinion of course.
Sincerely,
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It may be biased.
It's 100% stereotyping.
I shall reap the rewards of my prophesy.
They did. The LoL clone. WB shut that down fast due to lack of interest.
I pretty much agree.
Blizzard is already starting to look like a company of the past and I believe 2019 will be the year where Blizzard will go back on-track, or fall hard. If 2019 will be a fail year for Blizzard, Activision will milk them so hard, that in 5 years Blizzard name will just be a...logo at the beginning of a game and that's it.
When Mike Morhaime stepped down as CEO, it was a sad day for me and I knew things are not going to get better, because .. let's face it , you don't leave your company you created 20+ years ago because .. you want to retire.
..and I blame Allen Adham for everything. He came back 2 years ago at Blizzard.
I'll just leave this here : "After more than a decade away from the company, it was announced at BlizzCon 2016 that Adham would be rejoining Blizzard. Adham states, "I’m free to say it now ... In hindsight, leaving Blizzard was probably the biggest mistake I made in my life. What I should have done was just take a sabbatical. I’ve been eager to come back for a decade now."
From my point of view, that statement came after his biggest regret of his life and now , well .. let's just say he wants to be BACK for good. Mobile games which Blizzard are currently working and as he said , the most talented Blizz dev's are working on them, it was his idea.
I know, this might sound as a .. conspiracy theory , but based on the events of the last months at Blizzard, the above can make (much) sense.
Isnt thats what made D. fans angry?
NetEase...
Announcement...
Moblile game..?