When Player Communities Revolt Against the Developer: A Study of Pokémon GO and Diablo Immortal

Abstract

<p>Several popular contemporary online multiplayer games and franchises are developed and managed with the aid of multiple data sources. Despite the control and insight that the utilization of data brings to game design and business decisions, video game developers occasionally receive backlash from their player communities. Examples include the announcement of Diablo Immortal at BlizzCon 2018, and the #HearUsNiantic campaign among Pokémon GO players in August 2021. In this article we analyze these two examples and demonstrate the importance of understanding player behavior more broadly than what can be derived from quantitative in-game data. In both the analyzed cases, players’ offline culture played a paramount role in the backlash. We argue that the primary reason for the observed backlash is that the players’ lives have become intertwined with digital products, and hence, changing these products alters the players’ lives as well.</p>