Blizzard Entertainment Interview
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Q: You guys got a strong reaction from fans of the Diablo series over the artwork with some submitting photoshopped images with effects that just simply wouldn't work in development. Why do you think fans reacted this way and do you think it shows a lack of public knowledge in games development?
Frank Pearce: It just shows a passion for their preference which is fine. One of the things you find on the internet is that the people who have the most to say are the most vocal. I'm sure there were a lot of people out there that thought the art style looked great but because they were satisfied you didn't hear from them. At the end of the day we need to make sure the gameplay experience is really compelling. If the gameplay experience is really compelling hopefully no one is paying to much attention to whether the art has too many rainbows or not - not that I expect too many rainbows in Diablo III.
It's a similar situation to the one we faced when we launched the original StarCraft. When we launched the original StarCraft we got a lot of criticism because the game wasn't 3D and games coming out at the time were 3D. We talked about it and we said: 'It's more important that we make a great game. To make a great game we need to make it 2D and to make a great game we need to make it accessible, which also precludes 3D.' So we made a great game and it was 2D and initially everyone criticised us for not making a 3D game. Ten years later it's still really popular and it's still played in the e-sports community and it was a great game and everyone has forgotten about the fact that it wasn't 3D.
