You guys asked for it and now you got it. Lead game director for Blizzard's Diablo III, Jay Wilson, has made a public apology for his statements that were scrapped off Facebook regarding former Diablo frontman, David Brevik, in which he said “F**k that loser”. Wilson not only issued a public apology to Brevik but also to the Diablo community at large, addressing many of the game's problems in the process.
In the original article, a lot of gamers were uber-peeved at the fact that Wilson would say “F**k that loser” to the Godfather of Diablo. Many within the Diablo community felt that Jay Wilson attacking Brevik like that was highly unprofessional and trollish, especially after Brevik very professionally and civilly in an interview expressed criticisms that the community has been complaining about for months. Shouting down Brevik was like shouting down the community.
Well, today, Jay Wilson took to the Diablo III forum boards (because honestly, isn't that where most of the drama, news and rage unfolds?) and issued an extremely lengthy apology of which I will only take specific exerts to get the gist of his apology across in this very short piece...
As many of you probably know, I recently made a comment on Facebook about Dave Brevik. I want to make it clear that I am very sorry for what I said. I have higher expectations for myself than to express my feelings in such a rash way and disrespect a fellow developer like Dave, someone who deserves to be treated with greater respect.We made Diablo III because we believe in the Diablo games. We think the gameplay is awesome, the world is compelling, and it's the game we all wanted to play. Because we believe in it, we'll continue to stand by it and make it better. We are committed to making Diablo III the best Diablo game to date, and we hope you'll continue to help us do just that.Saying that, I'd like to apologize to all of you, the players in our community. You deserve better than my reaction to Dave's comments. You deserve more honest communication about the game and what we're doing to make it a more awesome experience for us all. We care about Diablo very much, and appreciate your passion for it. Without you, we wouldn't be able to do this, and for that I can't thank you enough.
I skipped on the part where he admits that the Auction House creates a huge imbalance to the loot-and-grind and that it is problematic (now if only they can get rid of the RMAH for good), I also skipped on the part about the difficulty, as well as how the game shipped with very little to do other than loot-and-grind very inadequate loot most of the time. In other words, Wilson finally admits to the problems at large that many gamers had with Diablo III in comparison to Diablo II.
Wilson also covers the new Paragon system and props it up like a good marketer and he also praises his team for a good effort well done.
Look, I'm going to be completely honest: The whole thing reeks of PR damage control. However, it's an apology, and whether Wilson means it or not doesn't really matter. The company now has a public, official statement from the game's director pointing out a lot of the problems that gamers have had with Diablo III for quite some time. It's like Blizzard is admitting that the game isn't bullet proof and yes, they screwed up the series a bit like Hollywood screws up young talented people.
The apology isn't too late to the party, though, as it was only a few days ago that people were jockeying for Jay and crew to issue an apology to David Brevik and the D3 community. So having him respond as quickly as he did was a good way to save face. The real question will be what Blizzard does moving forward and how they handle their business. Will they go back to trouncing around thinking they're the buffest stud in the stable or will they heed to proper feedback and make the appropriate changes? Only time will tell.
