AdventureQuest 3D's developer, Artix Entertainment, seems to be having a little fun at the expense of Blizzard, as the team sent over a sarcastic apology to the MMO titan following the news that the under-development World of Warcraft mobile MMO with NetEase was canceled.
Earlier this week, a new Bloomberg report stated that Blizzard and NetEase had canceled an in-development mobile World of Warcraft MMO, citing financial disputes. Codenamed Neptune, this mobile MMO had apparently been in development for three years, and its cancelation affected the jobs of over 100 developers, some of which were offered other roles within the company.
CEO/Paladin of Artix Entertainment, Adam Bohn, sent out the "apology" late Thursday evening, stating that while he was "disheartened" by the news, he felt it was a strategic and wise move. Why? The 20th anniversary of AdventureQuest coupled with the launch of its 2D AdventureQuest Worlds on mobile, Blizzards marketing efforts would have stymied.
— [??] Artix Krieger (@ArtixKrieger) August 4, 2022
"As a long-time fan and player of World of Warcraft, I was disheartened to hear the news. Hindsight being 20/22 it was a strategic and wise move. With our 20th anniversary coming this October and the launch of the mobile version of our 2D AdventureQuest Worlds game... their marketing efforts would have been completely [drowned] out by the frenzy of cheers from the 5 or so people who actually tweet nice things at me on Twitter."
The AdventureQuest 3D team also pokes fun at themselves, reminding everyone that while there are a ton of mobile World of Warcraft clones made in China, their clone is Made in USA. The cancelation, though, saves Blizzard the trouble of dealing with the "potential loss of players" to AdventureQuest 3D. The company speculates it could have been in the "double, perhaps even triple digits."
Obviously, the "apology" is sarcastic and said to poke a little fun at Blizzard over the decision. However, it also pokes just as much fun at themselves, stating that until Blizzard puts out a mobile MMO of their own, there is at least one out there that players should hop into.
"And if the servers for that one are down, try AdventureQuest 3D."
