Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the highly influential massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (2004) as well as the multi million-selling video game franchises Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch.[1][2][3] The company also operates Battle.net, an online gaming service.
Founded as Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles: Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce. The company began developing its own software in 1993, releasing titles such as Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. That same year, it changed its name to Chaos Studios, Inc. and in 1994, following its acquisition by distributor Davidson & Associates, it was renamed Blizzard Entertainment. In 1994, the company released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, which would receive numerous sequels and led to the highly popular World of Warcraft. By the end of the decade, Blizzard also found success with the action role-playing game Diablo (1997) and strategy game StarCraft (1998). The company became part of Vivendi Games in 1998, which would then merge with Activision in 2008, culminating in the inclusion of the Blizzard brand name in the title of the resulting holding company;[4] Activision Blizzard became completely independent from Vivendi in 2013.[5] Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in 2023, maintaining that the company will continue to operate as a separate business, while part of the larger Microsoft Gaming division; Blizzard Entertainment retains its function as the publisher of games developed by its studios.
Since 2005,[6] Blizzard Entertainment has hosted annual gaming conventions for fans to meet and to promote its games, called BlizzCon, as well as a number of global events outside the United States. In the 2010s and 2020s, Blizzard has continued development of expansion packs for World of Warcraft (the most recent being 2026's Midnight), while also releasing StarCraft: Remastered (2017), Diablo III (2012) and Diablo IV (2023), as well as new material most notably the online multiplayer games Hearthstone, a collectible card game; Heroes of the Storm, a battle arena game; and Overwatch and Overwatch 2, which are first-person shooters. 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.[7]
History
Founding (1991–1994)
Blizzard Entertainment was founded by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce as Silicon & Synapse in February 1991, after all three had earned their bachelor's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles the year prior.[8]
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. The initial logo was created by Stu Rose.[9] To fund the company, each of them contributed about $10,000, Morhaime borrowing the sum interest-free from his grandmother.[10] Their offices were established in a business park near the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, California.[11]
Games
Blizzard Entertainment has developed 23 games since the inception of the company in 1991.
Main franchises
The majority of the games Blizzard published are in the Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft series. Since the release of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994), Diablo (1997), and StarCraft (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 it would be producing a Warcraft live-action film. The movie was directed by Duncan Jones, financed and produced by Legendary Pictures, Atlas Entertainment, and others, and distributed by Universal Pictures.[103] It was released in June 2016. On October 4, 2022, Overwatch servers were officially shut off at the same time
Company structure
As with most studios with multiple franchises, Blizzard Entertainment has organized different departments to oversee these franchises. Formally, since around the time of World of Warcraft in 2004, these have been denoted through simply numerical designations.[119] The original three teams were:
Since 2004, two new teams were created:
Blizzard has used an informal motto, "it'll be ready when it's ready" to describe the release schedule for its games. The concept of accepting delays in software releases originally came about when the company opted to push back the release of Diablo to ensure a quality product at release. By the time of World of Warcraft, employees began using the phrase in response to eager fans looking for a release date.[123][124]
- Team 1 manages the StarCraft property.[119] The team also oversaw the development of the StarCraft spin-off
Technology
Battle.net 2.0
Blizzard Entertainment released its revamped Battle.net service in 2009. The platform provides online gaming, digital distribution, digital rights management, and social 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 all World of Warcraft accounts 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.[125]
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 of achievements for 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 using VoIP and instant messaging. For example, players no longer need to create multiple user names or accounts for most Blizzard products.[126]
Controversies and legal disputes
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. v. Valve Corporation
Shortly after Valve filed its trademark for "DotA" to secure the franchising rights for Dota 2, DotA-Allstars, LLC, run by former contributors to the game's predecessor, Defense of the Ancients, filed an opposing trademark in August 2010.[136] 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 its license agreement with developers, as well as its ownership of DotA-Allstars, LLC.[137]
An agreement was reached between Blizzard and Valve in May 2012 giving Valve undisputed commercial rights to the "DotA" trademark, notably for Dota 2, while retaining rights for Blizzard to use the name in a noncommercial manner for its community "with regard to player-created maps for Warcraft III and StarCraft II". As part of the agreement Blizzard also renamed a custom map it had originally developed for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty from "Blizzard DOTA" to "Blizzard All-Stars" which would eventually become the stand-alone game, Heroes of the Storm.[138]
Related companies
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 Games in 2008, and more recently as Activision Blizzard has directed Blizzard away from properties like Warcraft and StarCraft that 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".[184]
- ArenaNet,[185] creators of the Guild Wars franchise.
- Bonfire Studios,[186] founded by Rob Pardo.
- Carbine Studios
Further reading
External links
References
- Samit Sarker. Diablo 3 lifetime sales top 30 million units Polygon, August 4, 2015, retrieved August 5, 2015^
- (until 2009: 20M) Brendan Sinclair. Starcraft II by end of 2009, Call of Duty expanding to new genres GameSpot, May 31, 2009, retrieved June 14, 2009^
- Overwatch just reached 35 million players