Blizzard’s new strategy of listening to players’ needs led to the development of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, according to dev Ion Hazzikostas.
In the years following the release of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, the game received a poor reception. It was decided by Blizzard Entertainment’s management to adopt a completely new approach – listening to the feedback of players. As a result of the change in approach, Blizzard has created Dragonflight, the acclaimed ninth expansion for its cult MMORPG. The Blizzard dev Ion Hazzikostas recently spoke about the changes in the way the game is being developed.
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Or, how about… listening to players?
According to an interview with Dot Esports, the developer realized players weren’t satisfied with what they thought was a continuation of a long-standing tradition. Based on feedback from the community, they developed a title that would keep people interested and spending more time with it.
“What sparked it, frankly, was realizing that our old approach wasn’t working anymore. We were failing to connect with our playerbase and people were unhappy with elements of the game that we just saw as continuations of 20 years of traditions.
We definitely had a couple of wake-up calls along the way and realized at the end of the day, none of this matters if we’re not connecting with the playerbase, meeting them where they are and making a world that brings them joy and is inspiring to spend time in and return to,” Hazzikostas said.