@inproceedings{269bcec10c8e472b8595a93b49db530b,
title = "When Player Communities Revolt Against the Developer: A Study of Pok{\'e}mon GO and Diablo Immortal",
abstract = "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 Pok{\'e}mon 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{\textquoteright} offline culture played a paramount role in the backlash. We argue that the primary reason for the observed backlash is that the players{\textquoteright} lives have become intertwined with digital products, and hence, changing these products alters the players{\textquoteright} lives as well.",
keywords = "Game design, Game development, Game industry, Player communities, Player culture, Video games",
author = "Samuli Laato and Sampsa Rauti",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. jufoid=71106; International Conference on Software Business ; Conference date: 02-12-2021 Through 03-12-2021",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.1007/978-3-030-91983-2\_15",
language = "English",
isbn = "9783030919825",
series = "Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing",
publisher = "Springer",
pages = "194--201",
editor = "Xiaofeng Wang and Antonio Martini and Anh Nguyen-Duc and Viktoria Stray",
booktitle = "Software Business - 12th International Conference, ICSOB 2021, Proceedings",
}