Welp, that was a swing and a miss. The Sombra ARG didn’t really capture the Overwatch audience like Blizzard had hoped. There were some delays with releasing the character – and because Blizzard didn’t want to officially reveal the character (or characters), they decided not to talk about it. That’s fine.
But what’s not fine is this overreaction from some of the Overwatch fans on the internet. On the official Blizzard forums and on Reddit, fans are creating posts calling out Blizzard for their failed ARG.
Look, a lot of us invested some time and excitement in the release of this character. It didn’t pay off. A small group of Overwatch fans got together to solve bits of clues in the ARG within minutes of their discovery. Even though the ARG didn’t pay off, did it not build some camaraderie with other Overwatch fans?
One cry baby on Reddit says “If this is just pure marketing, it will really make me think less of them as a company.” Another cries “I hope to god that people boo them the fuck out when they announce Sombra at Blizzcon.”
Aw, you’ll think less of Blizzard as a company? It’s really cute that you valued a not-very-active ARG that eventually led to a website that had a timer that lasted for 2 months – which a lot of us ultimately forgot about until the week it was due.
It’s funny how entitled some of these gamers become when something like an ARG (which was free content, on top of what they paid for) doesn’t pan out the way they wanted.
I, for one, was a little disappointed, but it didn’t interrupt my day. I didn’t get sad. I didn’t get angry. I didn’t get concerned about my competitive rank or worry about missing out on getting to be another drop in a flooded market of players waiting to play Sombra.
Fuck Sombra. And fuck investing emotions in a company. They want to make money. I want entertainment. If their game fails, or if an ARG doesn’t pan out, I’ll simply move on to play another game, watch a movie, read a book, or play with my dog. It’s not the end of the world.
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