愚人節玩笑?暴雪表態凍結《星海爭霸2》

以下是暴雪最近爆出來的一封內部郵件，發信時間是08/3/22，發信人是暴雪董事長Michael Morhaime，收信人是全體暴雪員工，抄送董事會全體高層。至今為止此信還沒有得到暴雪的確認，吾隻管翻譯，不予置評！

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

大家好，

相信大家都已經知道了，在昨天晚上，我們決定凍結目前關於星際2項目的進度。(we have decided to pull the plug on starcraft 2)

在這裡，我期望能夠告訴大家之所以做出這個決定的理由。我們都知道，這個話題此時此刻並不輕鬆，尤其是當我們在不斷反省當初Ghost所給我們所帶來的沉痛教訓、及思考目前我們所給予WoW的幾乎不成比例的投入的時候。

在做出這個決定之前，我已經同銷售、品質管理、開發、美工、程式員及一些社區管理者們私下進行過交流，然而，沒有人能夠給我一個充分的理由讓我不那麽做。　　 

WoW是我們的立身之本。如果沒有MMORPG的話，RTS或者是FPS對BLZ而言將只會意味著傷害！我相信大家都能體會到這一點，因為每一個閱讀這封信的人和他的家庭都曾經從WoW這個世界上最為成功的商業在線遊戲中受益。　

能夠真正傷害WoW的，只可能是另一個暴雪的遊戲。我們從不相信世界上還存在著另一個公司擁有向我們挑戰的實力。

讓我們仔細想想，推出星際2對於暴雪和WoW而言將意味著什麽？5%的用戶流失，這將是最保守的估計。500,000用戶將因此而離開WoW，這將帶走我們90,000,000美元的年收益！　　 

問問自己是否確信星際2一定會成功。是的，我們相信它會成功。但是，它的成功對於BLZ而言僅僅只是問題的一個方面。我們應當站在更為巨集觀的角度上來看待它對BLZ的影響。　　 

我對Activision、Vivendi、廣大股民、所有blz員工及他們家庭的責任感促使我不得不做出如此艱難的決定。我們已經無法再承受另一個新的教訓了。

最後，我的內心永遠向你們敞開著，希望能夠聽到你們的意見。　

Michael Morhaime

董事長 暴雪娛樂

以下是原文，具體地址：http://www.sc2blog.com/private/b%20...%203/Donotcopy-Sc2.pdf

Sent: 22/03/2008

From: Michael Morhaime

To: Blizzard PR; Blizzard Dev; WWi08; Founders Group;

CC: Rod A. Rigole; Paul Maglione; Bobby Kotick; Bruce Hack; Frank Pearce; Rob

Pardo; Jeffrey Kaplan;

Dear All.

As many of you are already aware, last night we have decided to pull the plug on

StarCraft 2.

In this letter, I’d like to share with you all exactly how and why this decisin was made.

We are well aware that many of you will not take this decision lightly, especially

considering the bitter aftertaste of StarCraft Ghost, and the disproportional resources

dedicated to the WarCraft franchise.

Prior to making this decision, I have personally sat down with Sales and Marketing, QA

personnel, developers and artists, progamers and a few community managers. None have

provided an answer which could support a different decision. Not a single person was

able to justify StarCraft 2‘s existence.

World of WarCraft is our 800 lb gorilla.

No MMORPG, RTS or FPS game can leave anything more than a dent in Blizzard!s

subscriber count. Every single person that reads this letter has a family that benefits from

World of WarCraft’s existenc and its utter dominance as the most commercially

successful game of all time.

The only thing that can hurt World of WarCraft‘s subscriber base, is another Blizard

game. We do not expect any other company in the world to be able to subtract as much as

300,000 subscribers from WoW‘s numbers.

How much will StarCraft 2’s release cost Blizzard Entertainment?

The safest estimates are around 5% of World of WarCraft’s subscriber bas.

500,000 users will leave World of Warcraft, taking $90,000,000 worth of yearly

subscriber fees with them.

Do we believe StarCraft 2 would have been successful? Yes.

But only as long as we are looking at the small picture.

My responsibilities towards Activision, Vivendi, shareholders and Blizzard‘s own

employees and their families, prevented me from taking any other course.　　 

My door is always open.　

Best regards,

Michael Morhaime

President

Blizzard Entertainment　

這封信難道是暴雪總裁準備在4月1日寫給全體員工的愚人節驚喜？但不知道是否會嚇壞全球數以百萬的鐵杆玩家。