One of the raps against Blizzard’s stewardship of StarCraft 2, whether it’s deserved or not, is that they didn’t take enough direction from the community of fans and professional gamers. So it’s interesting that the StarCraft Reddit page noticed whole lot of activity in California this week that appeared to hint at a kind of summit meeting between Blizzard and a gathering of casters and pro players.
It makes perfect sense that Blizzard would convene a broad sampling of StarCraft stakeholders to get feedback on what they’re doing with StarCraft 2, and discuss ways to make Legacy of the Void an enduring success. On the other hand, the group of people they’ve brought together is weirdly eclectic, and includes a number of casters, which is why an alternate theory is that there might be some kind of promotional event connected to all of this.
Ortiz’s statement on the matter seems pretty clear, though. He wrote on Reddit, “I don’t think it’s too much of a secret anymore that we’ve invited some individuals to visit Blizzard this week. Inviting them here is our chance to share details on what we’re working on for StarCraft II and facilitate small group interaction and discussion. Beyond this event, we plan to continue to have more small gatherings with different participants in the future.”
Which makes a lot of sense. One of the problems that’s haunted StarCraft since Wings of Liberty is the feeling that what Blizzard thought the game needed was often different from what various segments of the community needed. By getting leading members of the competitive and fan community together to discuss Legacy of the Void and Blizzard’s plan for its release, Blizzard are finally getting ahead of this conversation. Now, it won’t just be on David Kim or Dustin Browder to explain Blizzard’s thinking. The community will be privy to it as well.
That might seem like a small thing, but the tension between Blizzard and StarCraft’s most dedicated, concerned fans has been a problem for years. If Blizzard can rebuild that bridge, and reassure content creators that StarCraft will be healthy enough to sustain them, it could really change the mood around Legacy of the Void.
Still hoping for a surprise Legacy of the Void event, though.