If we didn't think D2R Items we could develop excellent games on a mobile platform, we wouldn't even consider it. Mobile games have been out for quite some time, however Hearthstone has been the sole one we have done so far. The reason it took time is working out how to figure out the Blizzard approach to making an outstanding mobile game.
Have there been discussions where people say"Alright, let's try mobile, but let's come up with a new IP that doesn't come with all the baggage that comes with an IP that is already in use, as well as all the other people who are invested in it.Yeah there have been discussions about this. We've talked about "How do we think about creating new IP on new platforms?"
One of the aspects we convey with each of our IP is, each one is constructed and designed in order to allow for a lot more than just various platforms, but also different kinds of games as well as diverse types of games.
I'll provide an example of that. If you think about Warcraft as one of our most famous IP and has been the basis for the biggest MMO, it has supported real-time strategy games, and also allowed a collectible card game.
So those are very different genres of game that have been developed from the same IP. In addition, we believe there's a lot of opportunity to have games, diverse genres of games, in our existing IP. However, I believe that you're going to have to consider some element of player perception as well as expectations of the player when you're discussing creating a new game on any new platform, absolutely.
Is this model that is sustainable or viable in a business sense? Something like Diablo is available today because of the lengthy period of having Titan and reworking it and having the ups and drops of the development. The result is, many years later, is a game that has a really wide and powerful presence. However, is it really feasible to buy diablo II resurrected items have that same cycle for every project?