Jay Wilson, director on Diablo III, recently announced that he was leaving Diablo III to work on another project internally at Blizzard. In response, many Diablo fans on Blizzard's message boards were happy. In response to that, Blizzard's chief creative officer, Rob Pardo, jumped in to defend Wilson.

You can read his full response by heading to the message boards, or reading the full quote below. The gist of Pardo's message is that Wilson is an excellent designer who knows what he's doing, and to see such celebration over his departure is upsetting. Pardo appreciates the "rough justice" frequently handed out on Blizzard's message boards, but doesn't believe that justice is being properly served in Wilson's case.

This thread saddens me greatly. I know that the Battle.net forums have earned a reputation for rough justice, but I do not believe justice is being served by how people are speaking about Jay’s departure from Diablo III.

I am very proud of the Diablo franchise and what the team was able to accomplish with Diablo III. As a gamer I have enjoyed the game and played for many, many nights with friends and family. I’m not, however, going to use that as an excuse. The Diablo community deserves an even better game from Blizzard and we are committed to improving it. We have a talented team in place and have no intention of stopping work on Diablo III until it is the best game in the franchise.

I’m the only person in this thread who has actually worked with Jay. I hired Jay to head up the Diablo project and had the pleasure of getting to work with him, both in building the team and designing the game. He has great design instincts and has added so much to the franchise with his feel for visceral combat, boss battles, and an unparalleled knack for making it fun to smash bad guys. I’ve worked with many, many designers at Blizzard and Jay is one of the best. He has a great career at Blizzard ahead of him and I guarantee that you will enjoy Jay’s game designs in future Blizzard games.

If you love Diablo as much as we do, then please continue to let us know how you feel we can improve the game. If you still feel the need to dish out blame, then I would prefer you direct it at me. I was the executive producer on the project; I hired Jay and I gave him advice and direction throughout the development process. I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result.

[via NeoGAF]

Originally posted by firefly2003

Jay Wilson, director on Diablo III, recently announced that he was leaving Diablo III to work on another project internally at Blizzard. In response, many Diablo fans on Blizzard's message boards were happy. In response to that, Blizzard's chief creative officer, Rob Pardo, jumped in to defend Wilson.

You can read his full response by heading to the message boards, or reading the full quote below. The gist of Pardo's message is that Wilson is an excellent designer who knows what he's doing, and to see such celebration over his departure is upsetting. Pardo appreciates the "rough justice" frequently handed out on Blizzard's message boards, but doesn't believe that justice is being properly served in Wilson's case.

This thread saddens me greatly. I know that the Battle.net forums have earned a reputation for rough justice, but I do not believe justice is being served by how people are speaking about Jay’s departure from Diablo III.

I am very proud of the Diablo franchise and what the team was able to accomplish with Diablo III. As a gamer I have enjoyed the game and played for many, many nights with friends and family. I’m not, however, going to use that as an excuse. The Diablo community deserves an even better game from Blizzard and we are committed to improving it. We have a talented team in place and have no intention of stopping work on Diablo III until it is the best game in the franchise.

I’m the only person in this thread who has actually worked with Jay. I hired Jay to head up the Diablo project and had the pleasure of getting to work with him, both in building the team and designing the game. He has great design instincts and has added so much to the franchise with his feel for visceral combat, boss battles, and an unparalleled knack for making it fun to smash bad guys. I’ve worked with many, many designers at Blizzard and Jay is one of the best. He has a great career at Blizzard ahead of him and I guarantee that you will enjoy Jay’s game designs in future Blizzard games.

If you love Diablo as much as we do, then please continue to let us know how you feel we can improve the game. If you still feel the need to dish out blame, then I would prefer you direct it at me. I was the executive producer on the project; I hired Jay and I gave him advice and direction throughout the development process. I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result.

[via NeoGAF]

This is at least partly a lie.  He says "I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result", yet when he woke up today, he went to the same office and did the same job he did yesterday.  Taking full responsiblity means having consequences for your actions.  So, he should resign.  Pardo's statement here is a thinly veiled marketing ploy, wrought with lies and buzz words.  If it were a Japanese company, they would have all just done Hari Kari right there in the office.

I'm not a game developer, and honestly have little clue just how much work goes into creating a MMO, not to mention trying to appease as many players as possible. Also i never played Diablo 3.   What i do see in this responce is a leader that is not only sticking up for a friend/employee, but also is taking responcibility quite publically.  I can respect that for what it is.

Originally posted by Souldrainer

 

This is at least partly a lie.  He says "I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result", yet when he woke up today, he went to the same office and did the same job he did yesterday.  Taking full responsiblity means having consequences for your actions.  So, he should resign.  Pardo's statement here is a thinly veiled marketing ploy, wrought with lies and buzz words.  If it were a Japanese company, they would have all just done Hari Kari right there in the office.

er, that's a bit twisted and a bit too intense.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would be fired or should resign for making a good but not "great" game. And you don't know what conversations have gone on from his superiors so his keeping his job just means that they have confidence that the current game can be made better.

Originally posted by Souldrainer

This is at least partly a lie.  He says "I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result", yet when he woke up today, he went to the same office and did the same job he did yesterday.  Taking full responsiblity means having consequences for your actions.  So, he should resign.  Pardo's statement here is a thinly veiled marketing ploy, wrought with lies and buzz words.  If it were a Japanese company, they would have all just done Hari Kari right there in the office.

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...? Yeah sure.. In the real world that is nor how it works. He did his job, like it or not. Will they take the demands of said cult with them in the design of the next diablo game. Sure most likley but that does not equal him as missing the mark.

If you think you can do better there are several crowd funding sites out there for you to cut your teeth at. After all D1 and 2 are not by todays standard very complicated games system or graphics wise.

Jay Wilson came off as a fake prick from the beginning.

However, when it comes to the game, I'm actually more annoyed with Chris Metzen for the shitty, plot hole-filled storyline. It was the worst I've seen from Blizzard... well, probably ever.

Actually, scratch that, the RMAH is the worst, story is second. They're equally a problem to me, I guess.

Originally posted by tawess

Originally posted by Souldrainer

This is at least partly a lie.  He says "I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result", yet when he woke up today, he went to the same office and did the same job he did yesterday.  Taking full responsiblity means having consequences for your actions.  So, he should resign.  Pardo's statement here is a thinly veiled marketing ploy, wrought with lies and buzz words.  If it were a Japanese company, they would have all just done Hari Kari right there in the office.

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...? Yeah sure.. In the real world that is nor how it works.

To that point, as of a few months ago, Diablo III had topped 10 million sales. Nothing to sneeze at there.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/377434/diablo-3-tops-10-million-sales/

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Souldrainer

 

This is at least partly a lie.  He says "I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result", yet when he woke up today, he went to the same office and did the same job he did yesterday.  Taking full responsiblity means having consequences for your actions.  So, he should resign.  Pardo's statement here is a thinly veiled marketing ploy, wrought with lies and buzz words.  If it were a Japanese company, they would have all just done Hari Kari right there in the office.

er, that's a bit twisted and a bit too intense.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would be fired or should resign for making a good but not "great" game. And you don't know what conversations have gone on from his superiors so his keeping his job just means that they have confidence that the current game can be made better.

I agree that it would be extreme if he made a good but not "great" game.  He made Diablo 3 though, which is the only game I'd say ever that deserves a 0/10.  I have said numerous times that IMO, it's worse than ET and worse than the virtual boy.  Now, if they completely removed the RMT AH, it goes up to 1/10 for me.  If they remove the RMT AH and their DRM method, I'd say it's at least a 4/10, possibly more.  I'd never say it was a good game though.

And BTW, sales do not make games great/good/anything.  It just means you had hype and marketing.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by tawess

Originally posted by Souldrainer

This is at least partly a lie.  He says "I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result", yet when he woke up today, he went to the same office and did the same job he did yesterday.  Taking full responsiblity means having consequences for your actions.  So, he should resign.  Pardo's statement here is a thinly veiled marketing ploy, wrought with lies and buzz words.  If it were a Japanese company, they would have all just done Hari Kari right there in the office.

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...? Yeah sure.. In the real world that is nor how it works.

To that point, as of a few months ago, Diablo III had topped 10 million sales. Nothing to sneeze at there.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/377434/diablo-3-tops-10-million-sales/

He is also at least partly suggesting that ritual suicide is in order.  Over a game.  Oh the humanity!

Originally posted by tawess

 

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...?

Didn't Diablo 2 top 20 million copies sold a long time ago?  Take your 10 million copies sold, and subtract every Blizzard fanboy who bought the game because of their crossover games.  One analyst suggessted they might have 4 million sold without cross-promotion.  So, there are ~16 million people out there who are boycotting this game.  And you call this a small group?  LOL!

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by tawess

 

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...?

Didn't Diablo 2 top 20 million copies sold a long time ago?  Take your 10 million copies sold, and subtract every Blizzard fanboy who bought the game because of their crossover games.  One analyst suggessted they might have 4 million sold without cross-promotion.  So, there are ~16 million people out there who are boycotting this game.  And you call this a small group?  LOL!

 Seven not twenty. More people have bought D3 than ever played D2. There are an estimated 7,045,562,892
people that haven't bought Diablo 3 on earth. Are they all to be counted as boycotting the game? One analyst suggested the moon is made of green cheese. Should we believe that too?

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by tawess

 

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...?

Didn't Diablo 2 top 20 million copies sold a long time ago?  Take your 10 million copies sold, and subtract every Blizzard fanboy who bought the game because of their crossover games.  One analyst suggessted they might have 4 million sold without cross-promotion.  So, there are ~16 million people out there who are boycotting this game.  And you call this a small group?  LOL!

 Seven not twenty. More people have bought D3 than ever played D2. There are an estimated 7,045,562,892
people that haven't bought Diablo 3 on earth. Are they all to be counted as boycotting the game? One analyst suggested the moon is made of green cheese. Should we believe that too?

And wouldnt it be interesting to know how many people who excitingly purchased Diablo 3 were pissed off with what they recieved "dissatisfied customer's"

Slice it any way you want...

It may have sold 10 million + copies, but the game fails big time in more ways then one. Reputation being a big one.

Originally posted by steelheartx

I'm not a game developer, and honestly have little clue just how much work goes into creating a MMO, not to mention trying to appease as many players as possible. Also i never played Diablo 3.   What i do see in this responce is a leader that is not only sticking up for a friend/employee, but also is taking responcibility quite publically.  I can respect that for what it is.

I'll drink to that.

Originally posted by laserit

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by tawess

 

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...?

Didn't Diablo 2 top 20 million copies sold a long time ago?  Take your 10 million copies sold, and subtract every Blizzard fanboy who bought the game because of their crossover games.  One analyst suggessted they might have 4 million sold without cross-promotion.  So, there are ~16 million people out there who are boycotting this game.  And you call this a small group?  LOL!

 Seven not twenty. More people have bought D3 than ever played D2. There are an estimated 7,045,562,892
people that haven't bought Diablo 3 on earth. Are they all to be counted as boycotting the game? One analyst suggested the moon is made of green cheese. Should we believe that too?

And wouldnt it be interesting to know how many people who excitingly purchased Diablo 3 were pissed off with what they recieved "dissatisfied customer's"

Slice it any way you want...

It may have sold 10 million + copies, but the game fails big time in more ways then one. Reputation being a big one.

 

Well if Metacritic and other sites are any indication most were dissatisfied customer's lol. Might end up being a bad thing that it sold so many copies because it means Blizzard has effectively ticked off a great deal of people and left them feeling ripped off lol.... 

Originally posted by laserit

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by tawess

 

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...?

Didn't Diablo 2 top 20 million copies sold a long time ago?  Take your 10 million copies sold, and subtract every Blizzard fanboy who bought the game because of their crossover games.  One analyst suggessted they might have 4 million sold without cross-promotion.  So, there are ~16 million people out there who are boycotting this game.  And you call this a small group?  LOL!

 Seven not twenty. More people have bought D3 than ever played D2. There are an estimated 7,045,562,892
people that haven't bought Diablo 3 on earth. Are they all to be counted as boycotting the game? One analyst suggested the moon is made of green cheese. Should we believe that too?

And wouldnt it be interesting to know how many people who excitingly purchased Diablo 3 were pissed off with what they recieved "dissatisfied customer's"

Slice it any way you want...

It may have sold 10 million + copies, but the game fails big time in more ways then one. Reputation being a big one.

 

 Speaking for the world now too? Because outside of a few dozen internet malcontents I haven't seen any great outcry.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by laserit

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by tawess

 

 

So... Because he made one of the best-selling games of all time that just did not happen to meet the standars of a small fanatic cult of gamers he should resign...?

Didn't Diablo 2 top 20 million copies sold a long time ago?  Take your 10 million copies sold, and subtract every Blizzard fanboy who bought the game because of their crossover games.  One analyst suggessted they might have 4 million sold without cross-promotion.  So, there are ~16 million people out there who are boycotting this game.  And you call this a small group?  LOL!

 Seven not twenty. More people have bought D3 than ever played D2. There are an estimated 7,045,562,892
people that haven't bought Diablo 3 on earth. Are they all to be counted as boycotting the game? One analyst suggested the moon is made of green cheese. Should we believe that too?

And wouldnt it be interesting to know how many people who excitingly purchased Diablo 3 were pissed off with what they recieved "dissatisfied customer's"

Slice it any way you want...

It may have sold 10 million + copies, but the game fails big time in more ways then one. Reputation being a big one.

 

 Speaking for the world now too? Because outside of a few dozen internet malcontents I haven't seen any great outcry.

yup, just like the outcry on simcity coming out for they have a constant online connection requirment, but as with d3, I will be getting that one as well. I play games to enjoy them, not to make a statement.

I wonder how many wow players bought D3. When a company that makes a game that soooo many people think is a good game for the time they played it, it's not really unreasonable to think the same quality is going to be found in another game they put out.

Wonder how many of those ppl still think that.