Mike Morhaime, speaking at the recent BWC in Shanghai, fielded another question about the possibility of Diablo 3 moving into the eSports arena.
I think that there are different ways, there are certainly competitive things that we’ll be able to do with Diablo, and I think that at future Blizzcons we might set up different ways for people to compete at the game, but that’s very different from creating a professional tournament structure around something like that. In order to do that, you really need to get everything right and you have to have the depth of strategy, you have to look at making sure that the strategies that are successful are balanced, and fun, and entertaining to watch, and all those things. So we’re not so sure that that’s where we should be focusing for Diablo. There are a lot of other elements of Diablo that are a lot more important. ~ Source
That’s a pretty resounding ‘no’. Again. But the game isn’t built with competitive play in mind yet and we are still to see if the PvP element (scheduled for release by the end of this year) hits the nail on the head either. Arenas, as they have been showcased in the past at Blizzcon, didn’t seem capable of holding an audience in their grip. I could have maybe watched a few matches tops, although it looked fun to participate in. I just don’t think Diablo 3 lends itself to the eSport arena.
When Mike was questioned about the future of eSports in Blizzard’s games he talked about a path to the finals which would be held at next year’s Blizzcon. So Blizzcon 2013 has been confirmed but as it wasn’t a full announcement the specific date is not yet known. I would expect that before the end of the year now that the cat is out of the bag.
You can view Mike’s full conference in the video after the break.
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“you really need to get everything right and you have to have the depth of strategy, you have to look at making sure that the strategies that are successful are balanced, and fun, and entertaining to watch, and all those things. So we’re not so sure that that’s where we should be focusing for Diablo.”
So all the things that should be done anyway to make for a polished game with longevity?
Nah we’re not sure we wanna focus on that.
By the way, I’m not promoting the idea that D3 should be an e-sport. Either way wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. The above reasoning however, i find quite hilarious.
“entertaining to watch”
I took from this that they are looking at the current game including pvp and don’t want to be distracted by an element they never aimed d3 at anyway. Staying focussed in other words.
I don´t think a game that was designed as “pay to win” is suited for e-Sports.
coughleagueoflegendscough
Most esports game include some form of PvP.
That made zero sense.
P.S. captcha – make my day
Maybe I’m biased by my love of ARPGs but I found the old Arena videos far more entertaining to watch than most types of video games. Certainly more than an RTS or MMO.
I watched Sen get owned by PartinG in the semi-finals of BWC using the same strategy 3 times. I am not entertained. Not to mention only 4 Terran made it to BWC and were out before the final 16 players. I think BWC as a whole reinforces how stupid the blizz post above is. Release PVP already, people will make it a sport with or without blizzard, and it will be as balanced as SC2 is now.
tru , fuck all that pvp shit (for every rpg game)
rpg is all about pve
if you pvp suckers want pvp go play some shitty fps games they are made for pvp idiotisme!
LEAVE PVP OUT OF D3 AND ANY OTHER GERAT RPG GAME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SHUT UP! NOOOOOOOOOOOB !
stfu