Blizzard shipped Warcraft III: Reforged unfinished because it had already taken pre-orders

Bloomberg reported in July 2021 that Blizzard's remake Warcraft III: Reforged, released on 28 January 2020, failed because of mismanagement and financial pressure. Announced in 2018 with promises of over four hours of updated cutscenes and re-recorded voice-overs, it launched buggy and missing those parts, and even lacked features such as the original's competitive ladder. Blizzard had also disabled the original version on its store, so the remake was the only version fans could easily play. It scored 59 of 100 on Metacritic.

Eleven people who worked on or near the game said parent Activision was pushing Blizzard to cut costs and focus on billion-dollar titles, so the Classic Games team never got the budget it wanted and the game was rescoped. The team was small and disorganised, with arguments over scope and art style and unrealistic deadlines. An internal postmortem said 'we took pre-orders when we knew the game wasn't ready yet' and that the company must 'resist the urge to ship an unfinished product because of financial pressure'.

Blizzard said at the time it dropped the cutscene plans to stay close to the original, but the rescoping was driven by budget cuts. Activision Blizzard offered 'no-questions-asked refunds' and said the central issue was an unclear vision and misalignment over remaster versus remake. A spokesman said Diablo II's remake would be a pure remaster. Eighteen months on, promised features were still missing.

A 59 Metacritic score, no-questions refunds, the original game disabled on its store, and the Classic Games team dismantled eight months later.

Activision pushed Blizzard to cut costs and prioritise its biggest franchises, so Reforged could not get the ambitious budget its leaders wanted.

The team lacked a clear remaster-versus-remake vision and was disorganised and arguing over scope.

Blizzard had already taken pre-orders, so delaying risked refunds and lost sales.

Features that the original contained, such as a ladder system, were left out, and the original was disabled on the store.

Pre-orders turn a delay into a refund liability; a team that takes money before the product is ready ships what it has.

The Classic Games team was dismantled eight months after launch. Blizzard promised updates and features, but 18 months later, per Bloomberg, they were nowhere to be found. Blizzard said in hindsight it should have taken more time, 'even if it meant returning pre-orders'.