Most Successful Pivot

[Zkuq]

Louie_86 said:

Warcraft as a whole, went from SRPG to the most successful MMORPG in history.

Fallout series as well imo. Went from turn based strategy RPGs to FP Shooter with rpg elements. While the original gameplay/games were well received, it didnt achieve the massive success it got until they shifter gears imo.

WoW is more of a spin-off though... albeit one that practically killed the rest of the series. But why didn't I think of Fallout!?

G2ThaUNiT said:

Diablo was going to be a turn-based RPG, but after David Brevik successfully pitched the game to Blizzard, Blizzard had a couple of changes that they insisted on. The first was that they wanted multiplayer, but the big one was making the combat real-time. Brevik did not want to do that, as he felt it would take too long to develop the new combat system. Apparently, he held the decision to a vote at the studio, and real-time combat won out.

To think Diablo would have been VERY different if Brevik had decided that he was the boss and he didn't have to listen to the vote, or even do the vote in the first place. But he did, and thankfully, respected what everyone at the studio voted on. It ended up not taking him very long to create the real-time combat system.

I think I recall reading that the change to real-time was actually really quick to implement after all, like the bulk of it was done in an afternoon or so. I might be remembering incorrectly, but I definitely don't remember it taking e.g. weeks or longer, so at least the ballpark is probably correct. I'm sure the 80/20 rules applies though, but I still find it pretty funny how quickly things turned around.