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Blizzard Entertainment

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Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Formerly
  • Silicon & Synapse, Inc.
  • (1991–1993)
  • Chaos Studios, Inc.
  • (1993–1994)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedFebruary 1991;33 years ago(1991-02)
Founders
Headquarters
Irvine, California
,
US
Number of locations
9 studios and offices
Key people
Johanna Faries (president)
Products
ServicesBattle.net
Number of employees
13,000 (2022)Edit this on Wikidata
Parent
Subsidiaries
ASN
Websiteblizzard.com

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.is an Americanvideo game developerandpublisherbased inIrvine, California,and a subsidiary ofActivision Blizzard.Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the highly influentialmassively multiplayer online role-playing gameWorld of Warcraft(2004), as well as the multi-million selling video game franchisesDiablo,StarCraftandOverwatch.[2][3][4]The company also operatesBattle.net,anonline gamingservice.

Founded asSilicon & Synapse, Inc.by three graduates of theUniversity of California, Los Angeles:[5]Michael Morhaime,Frank Pearce and Allen Adham, the company began development of their own software in 1993, with games likeRock n' Roll RacingandThe Lost Vikings,and changed its name toChaos Studios, Inc.the same year, then to Blizzard Entertainment after being acquired by distributorDavidson & Associatesin 1994; that year, the company releasedWarcraft: Orcs & Humans,which would receive numerous sequels and led to the highly popularWorld of Warcraft.By the end of the decade, Blizzard also found success with the action role-playing gameDiablo(1997) and strategy gameStarCraft(1998). The company became part ofVivendi Gamesin 1998, which would then merge withActivisionin 2008, culminating in the inclusion of the Blizzard brand name in the title of the resulting holding company;[6]Activision Blizzard became completely independent from Vivendi in 2013.[7]MicrosoftacquiredActivision Blizzard in 2023, maintaining that the company will continue to operate as a separate business, while part of the largerMicrosoft Gamingdivision; Blizzard Entertainment retains its function as the publisher of games developed by their studios.

Since 2005,[8]Blizzard Entertainment has hosted annualgaming conventionsfor fans to meet and to promote their games, calledBlizzCon,as well as a number of global events outside the United States. In the 2010s and 2020s, Blizzard has continued development of expansion packs forWorld of Warcraft(the most recent being 2024'sThe War Within), while also releasingStarCraft: Remastered(2017),Diablo III(2012) andDiablo IV(2023), as well as new material most notably theonline multiplayergamesHearthstone,acollectible card game;Heroes of the Storm,a battle arena game; andOverwatchandOverwatch 2,which arefirst-personshooters. Since 2018, the company's reputation has suffered from a series of poorly received games, controversies involving players and staff, and allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct against leading Blizzard employees.[9]

History

[edit]

Founding (1991–1994)

[edit]
Blizzard co-founder and former CEOMike Morhaime

Blizzard Entertainment was founded byMichael Morhaime,Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce as Silicon & Synapse in February 1991, after all three had earned theirbachelor's degreesfrom theUniversity of California, Los Angeles,the year prior.[10][5]The name "Silicon & Synapse" was a high concept from the three founders, with "silicon" representing the building block of a computer, while "synapse" the building block of the brain.[11]The initial logo was created by Stu Rose.[10]To fund the company, each of them contributed about $10,000, Morhaime borrowing the sum interest-free from his grandmother.[12]

During the first two years, the company focused on creating gameportsfor other studios.Interplay Productions'Brian Fargowas friends with Adham and had a 10% stake in Silicon & Synapse. Fargo provided the company with conversion contacts for the games Interplay was publishing, starting withBattle Chess.[1]Other titles included Ports include titles such asJ.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. IandBattle Chess II: Chinese Chess.[13][14]Fargo then enlisted Silicon & Synapse around 1991 to help developRPM Racingthat Interplay was preparing for the launch of theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System.Fargo remained impressed with Silicon & Synapse's work, and provided them the ability to write their own games to be published by Interplay. The first two titles developed solely by the company wereRock n' Roll Racing,a sequel toRPM Racing,andThe Lost Vikingsinspired byLemmings.[1]

Around 1993, co-founder Adham told the other executives that he did not like the name "Silicon & Synapse" anymore, as people outside the company were confusing the meaning ofsilicon the chemical elementused in microchips withsilicone the materials used in breast implants.By the end of 1993, Adham changed the name to "Chaos Studios", reflecting on the haphazardness of their development processes.[11]

Near this same time, the company started to explore options in publishing their own games, as their conversion contracts were not as lucrative for the company. Inspired by the multiplayer aspects ofWestwood Studios'Dune IIand thehigh fantasysetting ofThe Lord of the Rings,the company began work on what would becomeWarcraft: Orcs & Humans.Adham saw this as a start of a series of interconnected titles, similar to theGold Boxseries byStrategic Simulations.To support its development and keep the company afloat, the studio took several more conversion contracts, though the founders were going into debt to keep their twelve developers employed.[1]Davidson & Associates,a company that published educational software and which had previously employed Silicon & Synapse for conversion contracts, made an offer to buy the company for $4 million. Interplay was negotiating to be the publisher forWarcraft,and Fargo cautioned Adham and Morhaime against selling the company. Adham and Morhiame rejected Davidson & Associates' initial offer, but the company came back with another offer of $6.75 million (equivalent to $13.9 million in 2023), assuring to the founders that they would have creative control over the games they developed.[15]Adham and Morhaime accepted the offer in early 1994.[16]

Shortly after the sale, they were contacted by a Florida company, Chaos Technologies, who claims their trademark rights on the name "Chaos" and wanted the company to payUS$100,000(equivalent to $205,568 in 2023) to keep the name.[17]Not wanting to pay that sum, the executives decided to change the studio's name to "Ogre Studios" by April 1994.[11]However, Davidson & Associates did not like this name, and forced the company to change it. According to Morhaime, Adham began running through a dictionary from the start, writing down any word that seemed interesting and passing it to the legal department to see if it had any complications. One of the first words they found to be interesting and cleared the legal check was "blizzard", leading them to change their name to "Blizzard Entertainment" by May 1994.[11][18]Warcraftwas released in November 1994, and within a year, helped to establish Blizzard among other development studios like Westwood.[15]

Acquisition by Vivendi andWorld of Warcraft(1995–2007)

[edit]

Blizzard Entertainment has changed hands several times since then. Davidson was acquired along withSierra On-Lineby a company calledCUC Internationalin 1996. CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser calledHFS Corporationto formCendantin 1997. In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger. Cendant's stock lost 80% of its value over the next six months in the ensuing widely discussed accounting scandal. The company sold its consumer software operations, Sierra On-line (which included Blizzard) to French publisherHavasin 1998, the same year Havas was purchased byVivendi.[19]Blizzard, at this point numbering about 200 employees, became part of theVivendi Gamesgroup of Vivendi.[20]

In 1996, Blizzard Entertainment acquired Condor Games ofSan Mateo, California,which had been working on theaction role-playing game(ARPG)Diablofor Blizzard at the time. Condor was renamedBlizzard North.[21]Diablowas released at the very start of 1997 alongsideBattle.net,a matchmaking service for the game. Blizzard North developed the sequelDiablo II(2000), and its expansion packLord of Destruction(2001). Following these releases, a number of key staff from Blizzard North departed for other opportunities, such asBill Roper.[21]Blizzard's management made the decision August 2005 toconsolidateBlizzard North into Blizzard Entertainment, relocating staff to the main Blizzard offices in Irvine.[21]

Following the success ofWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness,Blizzard began development on a science-fiction themed RTSStarCraftand released the title in March 1998. The title was the top-selling PC game for the year,[22]and led to further growth of the Battle.net service and the use of the game foresports.[23]Around 2000, Blizzard engaged withNihilistic Softwareto work on a version ofStarCraftfor home consoles for Blizzard. Nihilisitic was co-founded by Robert Huebner, who had worked onStarCraftand other games while a Blizzard employee before leaving to found the studio. The game,StarCraft: Ghost,was astealth-oriented gamecompared to the RTS features ofStarCraft,and was a major feature of the 2002Tokyo Game Show.However, over the next few years, the game entereddevelopment hellwith conflicts between Nihilisitic and Blizzard on its direction. Blizzard ordered Nihilistic to stop work onStarCraft: Ghostin July 2004, and instead brought on Swingin' Ape Studios, a third-party studio that had just successfully releasedMetal Arms: Glitch in the Systemin 2003, to reboot the development ofGhost.[23]Blizzard fully acquired Swingin' Ape Studios in May 2005 to continue onGhost.However, while the game was scheduled to be released in 2005, it was targeted at the consoles of thesixth generation,such as thePlayStation 2and originalXbox,while the industry was transitioning to theseventh generation.Blizzard decided to cancelGhostrather than extend its development period to work on the newer consoles.[23]

Blizzard started to work on a sequel to theWarcraft IIin early 1998, which was announced as a "role-playing strategy" game.[24][25]Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos,the third title set in theWarcraftfictional universe, was released in July 2002.[26]Warcraft IIIhas inspired many future games, having the influence onreal-time strategyandmultiplayer online battle arenagenre.[27][28]Many of the characters, locations and concepts introduced inWarcraft IIIandits expansionwent on to play major roles in numerous future Blizzard's titles.[27][29][30]

In 2002, Blizzard was able to reacquire rights for three of its earlier Silicon & Synapse titles,The Lost Vikings,Rock n' Roll RacingandBlackthorne,fromInterplay Entertainmentand re-release them for theGame Boy Advancehandheld console.[31]

In 2004, Blizzard opened European offices in the Paris suburb ofVélizy,Yvelines, France.

Blizzard Entertainment releasedWorld of Warcraft,amassively multiplayer online role-playing game(MMORPG) based on theWarcraftfranchise, on November 23, 2004, in North America, and on February 11, 2005, in Europe.[32]By December 2004, the game was the fastest-selling PC game in the United States, and by March 2005, had reached 1.5 million subscribers worldwide.[33]Blizzard partnered with Chinese publisherThe9to publish and distributeWorld of Warcraftin China, as foreign companies could not directly publish into the country themselves.World of Warcraftlaunched in China in June 2005.[34]By the end of 2007,World of Warcraftwas considered a global phenomenon, having reached over 9 million subscribers[33]and exceededUS$1 billionin revenue since its release.[35]In April 2008,World of Warcraftwas estimated to hold 62 percent of the MMORPG subscription market.[36]Blizzard's staff quadrupled from around 400 employees in 2004 to 1600 by 2006 to provide more resources to the game and its various expansions,[35]and Blizzard moved their headquarters to 16215 Alton Parkway in Irvine, California in 2007 to support the additional staff.

With the success ofWorld of Warcraft,Blizzard Entertainment organized the firstBlizzConfan convention in October 2005 held at theAnaheim Convention Center.The inaugural event drew about 6,000 people and became an annual event which Blizzard uses to announce new games, expansions, and content for its properties.[33]

Vivendi merger with Activision and continued growth (2008–2017)

[edit]

Up through 2006,Bobby Kotick,the CEO ofActivision,had been working to rebound the company from near-bankruptcy, and had established a number of new studios. However, Activision lacked anything in the MMO market. Kotick saw thatWorld of Warcraftwas bringing in overUS$1.1 billiona year in subscription fees, and began approaching Vivendi's CEOJean-Bernard Lévyabout potential acquisition of their struggling Vivendi Games division, which included Blizzard Entertainment. Lévy was open to a merger, but would only allow it if he controlled the majority of the combined company, knowing the value ofWorld of Warcraftto Kotick.[37]Among those Kotick spoke to for advice included Blizzard's Morhaime, who told Kotick that they had begun establishing lucrative in-roads into theChinese market.Kotick accepted Lévy's deal, with the deal approved by shareholders in December 2007. By July 2008, the merger was complete, with Vivendi Games effectively dissolved except for Blizzard Entertainment, and the new company was namedActivision Blizzard.[37]

Blizzard established a distribution agreement with the Chinese companyNetEasein August 2008 to publish Blizzard's games in China. The deal focused onStarCraft IIwhich was gaining popularity as anesportwithin southeast Asia, as well as for other Blizzard games with the exception ofWorld of Warcraft,still being handled by The9. The two companies established the Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology for managing the games within China.[38]Blizzard and The9 prepared to launch theWorld of WarcraftexpansionWrath of the Lich King,but the expansion came under scrutiny by China's content regulation board, theGeneral Administration of Press and Publication,which rejected publication of it within China in March 2009, even with preliminary modifications made by The9 to clear it. Rumors of Blizzard's dissatisfaction with The9 from this and other previous complications withWorld of Warcraftcame to a head when, in April 2009, Blizzard announced it was terminating its contract with The9, and transferred operation ofWorld of Warcraftin China to NetEase.[33][39][40]

They released an improved version ofBattle.net(Battle.net 2.0) in March 2009 which included improved matchmaking, storefront features, and better support for all of Blizzard's existing titles particularlyWorld of Warcraft.[41]

Having peaked at 12 million monthly subscriptions in 2010,World of Warcraftsubscriptions sunk to 6.8 million in 2014, the lowest number since the end of 2006, prior toThe Burning Crusadeexpansion.[42][43][44]However,World of Warcraftis still the world's most-subscribed MMORPG,[45][46][47]and holds theGuinness World Recordfor the most popular MMORPG by subscribers.[48][49][50][51]In 2008, Blizzard was honored at the 59th AnnualTechnology & Engineering Emmy Awardsfor the creation ofWorld of Warcraft.Mike Morhaimeaccepted the award.[52][53]

Following the merger, Blizzard found it was relying on its well-established properties, but at the same time, the industry was experiencing a shift towardsindie games.Blizzard established a few small teams within the company to work on developing new concepts based on the indie development approach that it could potentially use. One of these teams quickly came onto the idea of acollectible card gamebased on theWarcraftnarrative universe, which ultimately becameHearthstone,released as a free-to-play title in March 2014.[54]Hearthstonereached over 25 million players by the end of 2014,[55]and exceeded 100 million players by 2018.[56]

Another small internal team began work around 2008 on a new intellectual property known asTitan,a more contemporary or near-future MMORPG that would have co-existed alongsideWorld of Warcraft.The project gained more visibility in 2010 as a result of some information leaks. Blizzard continued to speak onTitan's development over the next few years, with over 100 people within Blizzard working on the project. However,Titan's development was troubled, and, internally, in May 2013, Blizzard cancelled the project (publicly reporting this in 2014), and reassigned most of the staff but left about 40 people, led byJeff Kaplan,to either come up with a fresh idea within a few weeks or have their team reassigned to Blizzard's other departments. The small team came upon the idea of a team-based multiplayer shooter game, reusing many of the assets fromTitanbut set in a new near-future narrative. The new project was greenlit by Blizzard and became known asOverwatch,which was released in May 2016.Overwatchbecame the fourth main intellectual property of Blizzard, followingWarcraft,StarCraft,andDiablo.[57]

In addition toHearthstoneandOverwatch,Blizzard Entertainment continued to produce sequels and expansions to its established properties during this period, includingStarCraft II: Wings of Liberty(2010) andDiablo III(2012).[58][59]Theirmajor crossovertitle,Heroes of the Storm,was released as aMOBAgame in 2015.[60][61]The game featured various characters from Blizzard's franchises as playable heroes, as well as different battlegrounds based onWarcraft,Diablo,StarCraft,andOverwatchuniverses.[62]In the late 2010s, Blizzard releasedStarCraft: Remastered(2017) andWarcraft III: Reforged(2020),remasteredversions of the originalStarCraftandWarcraft III,respectively.[63][64]

The May 2016 release ofOverwatchwas highly successful, and was the highest-selling game on PC for 2016.[65]Several traditionalesportevents had been established within the year ofOverwatch'srelease, such as theOverwatch World Cup,but Blizzard continued to expand this and announced the first esports professional league, theOverwatch Leagueat the 2016 BlizzCon event. The company purchased a studio atThe Burbank StudiosinBurbank, California,that it converted into a dedicated esports venue, the Blizzard Arena, to be used for the Overwatch League and other events.[66]The inaugural season of the Overwatch League launched on January 10, 2018, with 12 global teams playing. By the second season in 2019 it had expanded the League to 20 teams, and with its third season in 2020, it will have these teams traveling across the globe in a transitional home/away-style format.

In 2012, Blizzard Entertainment had 4,700 employees,[67]with offices across 11 cities includingAustin, Texas,and countries around the globe. As of June 2015,the company's headquarters in Irvine, California had 2,622 employees.[68]

Change of leadership (2018–2022)

[edit]

On October 3, 2018, Mike Morhaime announced his plans to step down as the company president and CEO while remaining an advisor to the company; he formally left on April 7, 2019. Morhaime was replaced by J. Allen Brack, the executive producer onWorld of Warcraft.[69][70]

Frank Pearce announced he would be stepping down as Blizzard's Chief Development Officer on July 19, 2019, though will remain in an advisory role similar to Morhaime.[71]Michael Chu, lead writer on many of Blizzard's franchises includingDiablo,Warcraft,andOverwatch,announced he was leaving the company after 20 years in March 2020.[72]

On January 22, 2021, Activision transferredVicarious Visionsover to Blizzard Entertainment, stating that the Vicarious Visions team had better opportunity for long-term support for Blizzard.[73]Vicarious had been working with Blizzard for about two years prior to this announcement on the plannedremasterofDiablo II,Diablo II: Resurrected,and according to Brack, it made sense to incorporate Vicarious into Blizzard for ongoing support of the game and for otherDiablogames includingDiablo IV.[74][75]Vicarious was completely merged into Blizzard by April 12, 2022, thereby being renamed Blizzard Albany.[76]

In celebration of the company's 30th anniversary, Blizzard Entertainment released a compilation calledBlizzard Arcade Collectionin February 2021, for various video game platforms. The collection includes their three classic video games:The Lost Vikings,Rock n' Roll Racing,andBlackthorne,each of which containing additional upgrades and numerous modern features.[77][78][79]

Activision Blizzard was the subject ofa lawsuitfrom theCalifornia Department of Fair Employment and Housingin July 2021, asserting that for several years the management within Blizzard as well as Activision promoted a "frat boy" atmosphere that allowed and encouraged sexual misconduct towards female employees and discrimination in hiring practices.[80]The lawsuit drew a large response from employees and groups outside of Activision Blizzard. In the wake of these events, Brack, one of the few individuals directly named in the suit, announced he was leaving Blizzard to "pursue new opportunities", and will be replaced by co-leads Jen Oneal, the lead of Vicarious Visions and the first woman in a leadership role for the company, and Mike Ybarra, a Blizzard executive vice president.[81]Oneal announced in November 2021 that she would be leaving the company by the end of 2021, leaving Ybarra as the sole leader of Blizzard.[82][83]

As a result of the California lawsuit and of delays and release issues with their more recent games, Activision Blizzard's stock faced severe pressure. Subsequently,Microsoftseized the opportunity to become one of the largest video game companies in the world and announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard and its subsidiaries, including Blizzard, for$68.7 billionin January 2022. This exchange marks the largest acquisition in tech history, surpassing the $67 billionDell-EMCmerger from 2016. The deal closed on October 13, 2023, and Activision Blizzard moved into theMicrosoft Gamingdivision.[84]

Blizzard acquiredProletariat,the developers ofSpellbreak,in June 2022 as to help supportWorld of Warcraft.The 100-employee studio remained in Boston but will shutterSpellbreakas they move ontoWarcraft.[85]

Challenges with NetEase and Microsoft acquisition (2022–present)

[edit]

Ahead of their license renewal in January 2023, Blizzard (via Activision Blizzard) and NetEase stated in November 2022 that they had been unable to come to an agreement on the renewal terms for their license, and thus most Blizzard games will cease operations in China in January 2023 until the situation can be resolved.[86]According to a report byThe New York Times,several factors influenced Activision Blizzard's decision to terminate the agreement, which included stronger demands made by the Chinese government to know of Activision Blizzard's internal business matters, NetEase's desire to license the games directly rather than run the license through a joint venture, and Activision Blizzard's concerns that NetEase was trying to start their own ventures, including the$100 millionpayment towards Bungie in 2018. NetEase was further concerned about the impact of the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard byMicrosoft.Activision Blizzard stated they were looking to other Chinese firms as replacements for NetEase as to restore their games in China.[87]By April 2024, Blizzard, with Microsoft's help, and NetEase had agreed to new publishing terms, with plans to bring back Blizzard's games to China by mid-2024, maintaining all prior game ownership from the original publishing deal. Under this new deal, NetEase also will be able to bring games to the Xbox platform.[88][89]

Following completion of the acquisition, Microsoft announced it was laying off 1,900 staff fromMicrosoft Gamingon January 25, 2024. Alongside this, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra and Chief Design Officer Allen Adham announced they would be leaving the company. Further, the planned survival game from Blizzard was canceled.[90]On January 29, 2024, Johanna Faries, the former general manager of theCall of Dutyseries, was named Blizzard Entertainment's new president, taking office on February 5.[91][92]

Main article:Microsoft and unions § Activision Blizzard

Following theunionizationsuccess ofRaven Software'sGame Workers Alliance(GWA) union forquality assurance (QA) testers,the 20-member QA team ofBlizzard Albanyannounced a unionization drive in July 2022 as GWA Albany.[93]The vote passed (14–0).[94]

On July 24, 2024, 500 artists, designers, engineers, producers, and quality assurance testers who work onWorld of Warcraftvoted to unionize under theCommunications Workers of America.[95]The same day, 60 QA testers at Blizzard's Austin office, who work on various games includingDiablo IVandHearthstone,also voted to unionize and formed the union "Texas Blizzard QA United-CWA".[96]

Games

[edit]
Main article:List of Blizzard Entertainment games
Release timeline
1994The Death and Return of Superman
Blackthorne
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
1995Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
1996Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
1997Diablo
The Lost Vikings 2
1998StarCraft
StarCraft: Insurrection
StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Retribution
1999Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition
2000Diablo II
2001Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
2002Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
2003Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
2004World of Warcraft
2005–2006
2007World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
2008World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2009
2010StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
2011
2012Diablo III
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
2013StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
2014Hearthstone
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
2015Heroes of the Storm
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
2016Overwatch
World of Warcraft: Legion
StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops
2017Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer
StarCraft: Remastered
2018World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
2019World of Warcraft Classic
2020Warcraft III: Reforged
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
2021World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic
Diablo II: Resurrected
2022Diablo Immortal
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic
Overwatch 2
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
2023Diablo IV
Warcraft Rumble
2024World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic
World of Warcraft: The War Within
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
TBAWorld of Warcraft: Midnight
World of Warcraft: The Last Titan

Blizzard Entertainment has developed 19 games since the inception of the company in 1991.

Main franchises

[edit]

The majority of the games Blizzard published are in theWarcraft,Diablo,andStarCraftseries. Since the release ofWarcraft: Orcs & Humans(1994),Diablo(1997), andStarCraft(1998), the focus has been almost exclusively on those three franchises.Overwatch(2016) became an exception years later, bringing the number of main franchises to four. Each franchise is supported by other media based around its intellectual property such as novels, collectible card games, comics and video shorts. Blizzard announced in 2006 that they would be producing aWarcraftlive-action film.The movie was directed byDuncan Jones,financed and produced byLegendary Pictures,Atlas Entertainment,and others, and distributed byUniversal Pictures.[97]It was released in June 2016. On October 4, 2022,Overwatchservers were officially shut off at the same timeOverwatch 2's went up.[98]

Spin-offs

[edit]

Blizzard has released twospin-offsto the main franchises:Hearthstone(2014), which is set in the existingWarcraftlore, andHeroes of the Storm(2015), which features playable characters from all four of Blizzard's franchises.

Remasters

[edit]

In 2015, Blizzard Entertainment formed "Classic Games division", a team focused on updating andremasteringsome of their older titles, with an initially announced focus onStarCraft: Remastered(2017),Warcraft III: Reforged(2020),andDiablo II: Resurrected(2021).[99][100]

Re-released games

[edit]

In February 2021, Blizzard Entertainment released a compilation calledBlizzard Arcade CollectionforMicrosoft Windows,Xbox One,PlayStation 4,andNintendo Switch.The collection includes five Blizzard's classic video games:The Lost Vikings,Rock n' Roll Racing,Blackthorne,The Lost Vikings 2andRPM Racing,with the last two games added in April 2021. Some of the modern features include 16:9 resolution, 4-player split-screen, rewinding and saving of game progress, watching replays, and adding graphic filters to change the look of player's game.[77][78]Additionally, it contains upgrades for each game such as enhanced local multiplayer forThe Lost Vikings,new songs and artist performances forRock n' Roll Racing,as well as a new level map forBlackthorne.[79]A digital museum, which is included in the collection, features game art, unused content, and interviews.[77]

Unreleased and future games

[edit]

Notable unreleased titles includeWarcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans,which was canceled on May 22, 1998,Shattered Nations,andStarCraft: Ghost,which was "Postponed indefinitely" on March 24, 2006, after being indevelopment hellfor much of its lifespan. After seven years of development, Blizzard revealed the cancellation of an unannounced MMO codenamedTitanon September 23, 2014.[101]The company also has a history of declining to set release dates, choosing to instead take as much time as needed, generally saying a given product is "done when it's done."[102]

Pax Imperia IIwas originally announced as a title to be published by Blizzard. Blizzard eventually droppedPax Imperia II,though, when it decided it might be in conflict with their other space strategy project, which became known asStarCraft.THQ eventually contracted with Heliotrope and released the game in 1997 asPax Imperia: Eminent Domain.

The company announced in January 2022 that it was near release of another new intellectual property, namedOdysseyaccording toBloomberg News,asurvival gamethat had been at work at the studio for nearly six years before its cancellation in 2024.[103][90]Bloombergstated that the game's origins came fromWorld of Warcraftdeveloper Craig Amai, and was originally prototyped using theUnreal Engine,which Blizzard licensed fromEpic Games.When the game was revealed in 2022, about 100 employees were working on it, but around the same time, there was effort to switch from Unreal to Synapse, Blizzard's engine used for mobile games, though artists continued to develop assets in Unreal. Near when Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, there was an internal belief that they would be able to bring on more developers to complete the transition to Synapse and have the game ready for a 2026 release, but with the culling of 1,900 staff fromMicrosoft Gamingin January 2024, the game's development was cancelled.[104]

Ports

[edit]

The company, known at the time as the Silicon & Synapse, initially concentrated onportingother studios' games to computer platforms,[105]developing 8 ports between 1992 and 1993.

Company structure

[edit]

As with most studios with multiple franchises, Blizzard Entertainment has organized different departments to oversee these franchises. Formally, since around the time ofWorld of Warcraftin 2004, these have been denoted through simply numerical designations.[106]The original three teams were:

  • Team 1manages theStarCraftproperty.[106]The team also oversaw the development of theStarCraftspin-offHeroes of the Storm.[107]Team 1 also included the Classics Team to work on remastering Blizzard's earlier properties for modern computers, which have includedStarCraft: Remastered,Warcraft III: Reforged[108]andDiablo II: Resurrected.The Classic Games team was disbanded around August 2020, about eight months afterWarcraft III: Reforgedwas released; according toJason SchreierofBloomberg News,this was due to Activision Blizzard driving Blizzard away from remastering its old properties, which figured into the launch issues withWarcraft III: Reforged.[109]
  • Team 2continues to manage and create content forWorld of Warcraft.[106]
  • Team 3oversees theDiablofranchise.[106]

Since 2004, two new teams were created:

  • Team 4was created around 2007 to work on Blizzard's first new IP sinceWorld of Warcraft,that beingTitan.Titanhad development difficulties near 2013, and most of Team 4 was reallocated to the other teams, but the remaining members, led by Jeff Kaplan, revisedTitan's concept intoOverwatch,which remains in Team 4's hands since its release in 2016.[106]
  • Team 5was created in 2008 to explore smaller games that could fit into Blizzard's portfolio. This resulted in the creation ofHearthstone,a collectible card game based on theWarcraftproperty, which became Team 5's priority.[54]

Technology

[edit]

Battle.net 2.0

[edit]
Main article:Battle.net

Blizzard Entertainment released its revamped Battle.net service in 2009. The platform providesonline gaming,digital distribution,digital rights management,andsocial networking service.Battle.net allows people who have purchased Blizzard products to download digital copies of games they have purchased, without needing any physical media.

On November 11, 2009, Blizzard required allWorld of Warcraftaccounts to switch over to Battle.net accounts. This transition means that all current Blizzard titles can be accessed, downloaded, and played with a singular Battle.net login.[110]

Battle.net 2.0 is the platform for matchmaking service for Blizzard games, which offers players a host of additional features. Players are able to track their friend's achievements, view match history, avatars, etc. Players are able to unlock a wide range ofachievementsfor Blizzard games.

The service provides the user with community features such as friends lists and groups, and allows players to chat simultaneously with players from other Blizzard games usingVoIPandinstant messaging.For example, players no longer need to create multiple user names or accounts for most Blizzard products.[111][112]To enable cross-game communication, players need to become either Battletag or Real ID friends.[113]

Warden client

[edit]

Blizzard Entertainment has made use of a special form of software known as the 'Warden Client'. The Warden client is known to be used with Blizzard's online games such asDiabloandWorld of Warcraft,and the Terms of Service contain a clause consenting to the Warden software's RAM scans while a Blizzard game is running.[114]

The Warden client scans a small portion of thecode segmentof running processes in order to determine whether any third-party programs are running. The goal of this is to detect and address players who may be attempting to run unsigned code or third party programs in the game. This determination of third party programs is made byhashingthe scannedstringsand comparing the hashed value to a list of hashes assumed to correspond to banned third party programs.[115]The Warden's reliability in correctly discerning legitimate versus illegitimate actions was called into question when a large-scale incident happened. This incident banned many Linux users after an update to Warden caused it to incorrectly detectCedegaas a cheat program.[116]Blizzard issued a statement claiming they had correctly identified and restored all accounts and credited them with 20 days' play.[117]Warden scans all processes running on a computer, not just the game, and could possibly run across what would be considered private information and otherpersonally identifiable information.It is because of these peripheral scans that Warden has been accused of beingspywareand has run afoul of controversy amongprivacyadvocates.[118][119][120]

[edit]

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. v. Valve Corporation

[edit]

Shortly afterValvefiled its trademark for "Dota" to secure the franchising rights forDota 2,DotA-Allstars, LLC, run by former contributors to the game's predecessor,Defense of the Ancients,filed an opposing trademark in August 2010.[121]DotA All-Stars, LLC was sold to Blizzard Entertainment in 2011. After the opposition was over-ruled in Valve's favor, Blizzard filed an opposition against Valve in November 2011, citing their license agreement with developers, as well as their ownership of DotA-Allstars, LLC.[122]Blizzard conceded their case in May 2012, however, giving Valve undisputed commercial rights toDotaname, while Blizzard would rename theirStarCraft II: Heart of the Swarmmod "Blizzard All-Stars", which would eventually become the stand-alone game,Heroes of the Storm.[123]

California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard

[edit]
Main article:California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard

Following a two-year investigation, theCalifornia Department of Fair Employment and Housing(DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in July 2021 for gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment, principally within the Blizzard Entertainment workplace. The DFEH alleges that female employees were subjected to constant sexual harassment, unequal pay, retaliation, as well as discrimination based on pregnancy. The suit also described a "pervasive frat boy workplace culture" at Blizzard that included objectification of women's bodies and jokes about rape.[124]Activision Blizzard's statement described the suit as meritless, contending that action had been taken in any instances of misconduct. The company also objected to the DFEH not approaching them prior to filing.[125]The lawsuit prompted an employee walkout, as well as leading J Allen Brack, and head of human resources, Jesse Meschuk, to step down.[124][126][127]Amidst the lawsuit, Morhaime, Brack's predecessor, posted a statement to Twitter writing that he was “ashamed.”[128]Because of these allegations, Blizzard changed names that referenced employees in multiple of its franchises, includingOverwatchandWorld of Warcraft.[129]

Founder Electronics infringement lawsuit

[edit]

On August 14, 2007,Beijing UniversityFounder ElectronicsCo., Ltd. sued Blizzard Entertainment Limited for copyright infringement claiming 100 millionyuanin damages. The lawsuit alleged the Chinese edition ofWorld of Warcraftreproduced a number of Chinese typefaces made by Founder Electronics without permission.[130]

FreeCraft

[edit]
Main article:Stratagus

On June 20, 2003, Blizzard issued acease and desistletter to the developers of anopen-sourceclone of the Warcraft engine calledFreeCraft,claimingtrademark infringement.This hobby project had the same gameplay and characters asWarcraft II,but came with different graphics and music.

As well as a similar name,FreeCraftenabled players to useWarcraft IIgraphics, provided they had theWarcraft IICD. The programmers of the clone shut down their site without challenge. Soon after that the developers regrouped to continue the work by the name ofStratagus.[131]

Hearthstoneban and Hong Kong protests

[edit]
Main article:Blitzchung controversy

During an October 2019Hearthstone Grandmastersstreaming event inTaiwan,one player Ng Wai Chung, going by his online alias "Blitzchung" used an interview period to show support for the protestors in the2019–20 Hong Kong protests.Shortly afterwards, on October 7, 2019, Blitzchung was disqualified from the current tournament and forfeited his winnings to date, and banned for a one-year period. The two shoutcasters engaged in the interview were also penalized with similar bans. Blizzard justified the ban as from itsGrandmasterstournament rules that prevents players from anything that "brings [themselves] into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages [Blizzard's] image".[132][133][134]

Blizzard's response led to several protests from currentHearthstoneplayers, other video game players, and criticism from Blizzard's employees, fearing that Blizzard was giving into the censorship of the Chinese government.[135]Protests were held, including through the 2019BlizzConin early November, to urge Blizzard to reverse their bans.[136]The situation also drew the attention of several U.S. lawmakers, fearing that Blizzard, as a U.S. company, was letting China dictate how it handled speech and also urged the bans to be reversed.[137]

Blizzard CEO J. Allen Brack wrote an open letter on October 11, 2019, apologizing for the way Blizzard handled the situation, and reduced the bans for both Blitzchung and the casters to six months. Brack reiterated that while they support free speech and their decision was in no way tied to the Chinese government, they want players and casters to avoid speaking beyond the tournament and the games in such interviews.[138]

King's "Diversity Tool" controversy

[edit]

On May 12, 2022, Blizzard Entertainment released a blog post about the Diversity Space Tool, developed by a team atKing– a mobile business unit at Activision Blizzard – alongside theMITGame Lab. Jacqueline Chomatas, King's globalization project manager, described the tool as a "measurement device" to analyze how diverse the characters are "when compared to the 'norm'". The post showed example images of the tool being used onOverwatch's cast, with graphs showing breakdowns of the character attributes, and stated that "The Overwatch 2 team at Blizzard has also had a chance to experiment with the tool, with equally enthusiastic first impressions." Blizzard shared the intent to release the tool during the summer and fall of 2022, with the goal of "making the tool available to the industry as a whole".[139][140]

The tool received heavy backlash online. Many people asked why Blizzard would create the tool instead of hiring diverse teams, and raised questions regarding the tool's rating scale.[140][141]The blog post originally suggested that the tool was used in an active development, mainly forOverwatch,which led some Blizzard employees working on the game to publicly deny the tool was used inOverwatchdevelopment and to criticize the tool further.[140]On May 13, 2022, the blog post was edited to remove the example images of the tool and any mention ofOverwatch.[141][142]Later, the post was deleted altogether.

MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

[edit]
Main articles:Glider (bot)andMDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

On July 14, 2008, theUnited States District Court for the District of Arizonaruled on the caseMDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc..The Court found that MDY was liable forcopyright infringementsince users of itsGliderbot program were breaking the End User License Agreement and Terms of Use forWorld of Warcraft.MDY Industries appealed the judgment of the district court, and a judgment was delivered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 14, 2010, in which the summary judgment against MDY for contributory copyright infringement was reversed.[143][144]Nevertheless, they ruled that the bot violated theDMCAand the case was sent back to the district court for review in light of this decision.[145][146]

MDY v. Blizzard's decision did affirm a prior Ninth Circuit ruling inVernor v. Autodesk, Inc.that software licenses, such as the one used by Blizzard forWoW,were enforceable and enshrined the principle that video games could be sold as licenses to players rather than purchased. This ruling, though limited to the states of the Ninth Circuit, has been used by the industry to continue to sell games as licenses to users.[147]

Privacy controversy and Real ID

[edit]

On July 6, 2010, Blizzard Entertainment announced that they were changing the way their forums worked to require that users identify themselves with their real name.[148][149]The reaction from the community was overwhelmingly negative with multiple game magazines calling the change "foolhardy"[150]and an "epic fail".[151]It resulted in a significant user response on the Blizzard forums, including one thread on the issue reaching over 11,000 replies.[152][153][154][155][156]This included personal details of a Blizzard employee who gave his real name "to show it wasn't a big deal".[157]Shortly after revealing his real name, forum users posted personal information including his phone number, picture, age, home address, family members, and favoriteTV showsandfilms.[152]

Some technology media outlets suggested that displaying real names through Real ID is a good idea and would benefit both Battle.net and the Blizzard community.[158]But others were worried that Blizzard was opening their fans up to real-life dangers such as stalking, harassment, and employment issues, since a simple Internet search by someone's employer can reveal their online activities.[152][159][160][161]

Blizzard initially responded to some of the concerns by saying that the changes would not be retroactive to previous posts, that parents could set up the system so that minors cannot post, and that posting to the forums is optional.[154]However, due to the significant negative response, Blizzard PresidentMichael Morhaimeissued a statement rescinding the plan to use real names on Blizzard's forums for the time being.[162]The idea behind this plan was to allow players who had a relationship outside of the games to find each other more easily across all the Blizzard game titles.[152][163]

StarCraftprivacy and other lawsuits

[edit]

In 1998, Donald P. Driscoll, anAlbany, California,attorney filed a suit on behalf of Intervention, Inc., a California consumer group, against Blizzard Entertainment for "unlawful business practices" for the action of collecting data from a user's computer without their permission.[164][165]

On May 19, 2014, Blizzard Entertainment filed a lawsuit in federal court in California, alleging that the unidentified programmers were involved in creation of software that hacksStarCraft II.Most of the alleged charges are related to copyright infringement.[166][167]

Back in May 2010, MBCPlus Media, which operates the network MBCGame (Korean television stations that are broadcasting tournaments built aroundStarCraft), was revealed to be sued by Blizzard for broadcasting StarCraft tournaments without the company's consent, insisting thatStarCraftis not a public domain offering, as Blizzard has invested significant money and resources to create theStarCraftgame.[168]

World of Warcraftprivate server complications

[edit]

On December 5, 2008, Blizzard Entertainment issued acease and desistletter to many administrators of high populationWorld of Warcraftprivate servers (essentially slightly altered hosting servers of the actualWorld of Warcraftgame, that players do not have to pay for). Blizzard used theDigital Millennium Copyright Actto influence many private servers to fully shut down and cease to exist.[169]

[edit]

Over the years, some former Blizzard Entertainment employees have moved on and established gaming companies of their own. Several of these occurred following the merger between Activision Holdings and Blizzard's parent company at the time,Vivendi Gamesin 2008, and more recently as Activision Blizzard has directed Blizzard away from properties likeWarcraftandStarCraftthat are not seen as financial boons to the larger company. These employees left to form their smaller studios to give themselves the creative freedom that they were lacking at Blizzard. Collectively these studios are known as "Blizzard 2.0".[170]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^Pearce did not take equity upon the founding, but instead opted to take a salary as the company's first hire, though historically he was considered a co-founder.[1]

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