Blizzard Instantly Owns Any New Modes You Make in Warcraft 3: Reforged

Warcraft 3: Reforged edition has officially launched, and so far, fan’s reactions have been less-than-enthused. While people are more-or-less happy with the improved look – and probably glad to have an excuse to pick the bad boy up again – it looks as if the game didn’t deliver on all the promises Blizzard made ages ago. The UI has been barely improved, the cinematic cutscenes are anything but cinematic, and if there’s any new dialogue, no one’s been able to find it.

So yeah, it’s not great. And it’s about to become worse because it has been revealed that, due to some recent changes made to the “acceptable use policy,” not only are you forbidden from creating any mods or game modes that use third-party IP’s, you also lose the right to any custom modes you make – the second you publish them, they’re the property of Blizzard, not whoever created it. This is an extreme reaction, as fellow competitors Epic Games and Riot Games not only allow the creation of custom games but also don’t get instant ownership of it.

On one hand, you can kind of get why they’re doing it. Warcraft 3 was the birthplace of the MOBA with the fan-made mode Defense of the Ancients, an in theory of Blizzard had ownership of that game from the get-go they would have raked in the big bucks. On the other hand, understanding why they’re being selfish jerks don’t really make them less selfish, or less jerky.

Needless to say, this has not been well received by the community, who really shouldn’t be surprised Blizzard is a bunch of money-focused spineless cowards, considering their actions in the past. But we’ve had this discussion before, and as much as I love it, I don’t think anyone else is in a hurry to have it again.

…Seriously, though, screw Blizzard.