"A good day to bury bad news" is an infamous phrase, but its inverse is also true. A good day on which to bury bad news is, conversely, an absolutely terrible day on which to announce good news, because nobody's going to pay much attention to that either.
That notion applies fairly neatly to the most recent iteration of Blizzard's annual jamboree, BlizzCon, which was held in Anaheim last week. The company pulled out the stops for the event, announcing not only a major new World of Warcraft expansion, a new Diablo game that looks pretty much like what series fans have been clamouring for, and a remarkable-looking follow up to Overwatch -- of which more in a moment -- but the company's awful handling of the Hong Kong situation was the story of the week once more, overshadowing all the major announcements. Blizzard continues to manage the situation poorly, but it's not really left with many better options. The company has painted itself into a corner, and it's just going to have to sit there and huff the unpleasant fumes until the paint dries.
"Launching a sequel to a service-based game actually creates a natural break-point for your players"
While Blizzard as a corporation deserves this opprobrium, one can't help but feel for the individual creatives caught up in the situation; some of their best work was on display last week and received far less attention than it deserved. The new Diablo game and WoW expansion both look good, for sure, but they're both a ways off and will have their moments in the sun down the line. The really interesting announcement, from a business perspective at least, was Overwatch 2. That game is also a pretty long way off release, but it's quite likely to start making waves in the industry long before it arrives -- not so much due to its content as due to the smart approach it takes to solving a very thorny problem many game companies presently face.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ilemma-opinion