[2Pacalypse-]

While not that unexpected, I'm curious to see if this will start a trend that other game publishers might follow. I'm mainly curious about when Blizzard will deem the cost-benefit analysis to swing in favor of shutting down their old battle.net service which hosts games like StarCraft 1, Diablo 2, and WarCraft 3.

For StarCraft 1 specifically (and its Remastered version), a few us have been building a custom server/launcher[0] which should at least ensure that the game/community doesn't completely die out. However, we still rely on Blizzard's online services to verify the in-game purchases, like HD graphics (the game will automatically stop rendering the HD graphics if you didn't log into Blizzard's services in the last 30 days).

It remains to be seen how this will be handled by Blizzard if (when?) the time comes.

[0] - https://github.com/ShieldBattery/ShieldBattery

[pbhjpbhj]

>how this will be handled by Blizzard

I'm going to guess 'in the most used hostile way possible'.

[solardev]

I'm no fan of Craptivision, but to their credit, Blizzard has maintained their old games for a VERY long time and continued to provide updates for years and years and years, much longer than most MMOs survive, all without a monthly fee. And once in a while they'll remake old titles with more modern engines.

I've never seen a company turn a game around like Blizzard did with Diablo 3 -- from the shitty real money auction house to probably the gaming world's single best loot system.

If we want to talk user-hostile, many EA games like Mass Effect don't even let you play different classes without spending hundreds of dollars in lootboxes. It's ridiculous.

[wil421]

Diablo 2 resurrected is supposed to use the old code with a “graphics” uplift. When it first hit they were having some battle.net issues, on the blog they spoke about dealing with legacy code and challenges.

Hopefully, for D2 this means a lot longer life.

[tpxl]

Fear not, it has already started. Blizzard shut down Overwatch 1 (a paid game) a few days before the launch of Overwatch 2 (a free game AFAIK) so the games wouldn't compete with each other.

[doodlesdev]

They are exactly the same game though. Just a different name.

Disclaimer: I hate Blizzard Activision

[phpisthebest]

>>I'm mainly curious about when Blizzard will deem the cost-benefit analysis

3-6mos after the MS deals closes will be my prediction, or 2mos after the deal is blown up by the US Government and Activision starts massive cost-cutting

[t-sauer]

This acquisition is such a hot topic, I doubt that Microsoft is going to do anything controversial in the first 2-3 years.