By Jim Rossignol on May 1st, 2008 at 8:36 am.
Fansite Diablo 3 has been bought by Blizzard:
Well, there’s no point in beating around the bush any longer, so let’s get right down to it. A few months ago we were contacted by Blizzard in regards to the Diablo3.com domain name. While they appreciate all the work that’s been put into running this big Diablo fan community over the years, they still want the domain name. Hmm, I wonder why? Now before you get all up in arms about it, allow me to explain a few things.
I’m not sure I approve of that kind of domain-name squatting. Big fans, eh? All too happy to force the company you love to give you a big cheque? No money changed hands, apparently. Hmm. Maybe it’s all good… Feeling a bit sceptical this morning.
It doesn’t sound like they gouged Blizzard for the site, Jim… but of course it’s impossible to tell either way.
report
Reading down the comments, it doesn’t sound like he’s been paid anything, other than links from Blizzard to their fan site…
report
You don’t need to pay in this day and age. The WIPO UDRP proceedings are rather effective. ;-)
report
From their forum:
So… yeah. It’s definately not “free money” as the post suggests.
report
Sod the ethics – I would have taken a big dirty handful of Blizzards WOW money myself.
report
Maybe a few year’s free WoW subscription at least?
report
They should have demanded that Blizzard announce the game and held the domain to ransom until they did.
If I were part of that diablo community, I’d feel a bit used right now…
report
That’s a fairly genius marketing ploy too. They could have just used Diablo.com or similar. This way it draws even more attention and anticipation for the hype machine.
report
Class act. I figure that in these times, Blizzard could have got the domain with little legal effort if needed, we are not in the wild internet anymore, but it’s nice to check they were truly loyal to the company they admire (hope Blizzard has a detail with them).
And about Diablo 3, oh, come on, of course is coming, does anyone have any doubt about that?
report
Though I tend to share the broad concern about the ethics of domain squatting, I fail to see how it’s significantly different than the way real estate works today. It’s a commonly accepted business practice to speculate on plots of land, to buy things that aren’t currently useful in the hopes that some years down the road someone with a lot of money will really, really want it. That essentially what domain squatters are doing – the difference is that they don’t have to pay property taxes in the meantime, heh. And it’s generally an order of magnitude cheaper.
Basically, I may not like domain squatting but it seems to fall well within the realm of what we already accept as proper business practice here in the States (trademark issues aside, I suppose).
report