Blizzard’s Rob Pardo has accepted responsibility for Diablo 3‘s shittiness following the Battle.net forum backlash directed at the game’s Creative Director, Jay Wilson, upon announcing his departure from the game’s development.
Miraculously, despite supposedly being in development for 11 years (seven of which Jay was on board as Director) the game’s blatantly greedy business model, error-crippled launch, lack of balance, shoddy multiplayer, online DRM nightmare, lack of end-game content, etc. have earned the game a bad name in the Blizzard fan community. Wilson himself is a quizzical nobody, without a resumé to speak of, now best known for daring to say “Fuck that loser” to Diablo 2‘s creator, David Brevnik, so it’s not surprising that Rob Pardo, a seasoned veteran with real respect, would step in and protect him:
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.
Jay “Fuck That Loser” Wilson’s departure means nobody is in charge of Diablo 3 despite it being in heavy development, with constant patching happening and two expansion packs in the works. If I had to guess, I’d say the departure was a surprise even to Blizzard, which is why they didn’t have the chance to find a replacement and create a press release on the matter; standard procedure when somebody important leaves a major ongoing project. Should we start blaming Rob Pardo for why Diablo 3 sucks so much? I don’t think so. Let’s not forget that Activision Blizzard’s CEO, Bobby “Exploit” Kotick, demanded the hasty creation of multiple Blizzard titles in order to take advantage of their godlike franchise names, pressurizing a company known for taking their long, sweet time. It was bound to be a disaster, and Pardo was trying to play the hand he’d been dealt — who could have guessed Jay Wilson would be such a stupid prick?
Did I mention that the infinitely superior Action RPG, Path of Exile, is entering Open Beta this week? And did I mention how this means you can play it free without worrying about your characters being deleted by any future update?