Episode 49 - Developer Spotlight - Blizzard-Activision (Copy)

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The boys are back to talk about another gaming giant that you may recognize, Blizzard-Activision. Whether you've been a fan since the Silicon and Synapse days, with your friends The Lost Vikings, or you're just now dipping your toes in with World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, Blizzard has probably touched your gaming life in more ways than you know. Give a listen and see how three UCLA grads created one of the greatest studios to grace this industry.

Episode 49 - Blizzard Entertainment

Intro 

  • Mark introduces with eConnXn mission statement

  • Introduce regular hosts and any guest panelists/interviewees

  • Introduce topics at hand

    • Founding

    • Growth Catalyst and Major Properties

    • Upcoming Growth

Topic 1 - Founding

  • Founded in 1991 with Mike Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce, originally as Silicon & Synapse

    • Silicon representative of basic structure of computers and synapse being the basic structure of the brain

      • Eventually changed to Chaos Studios because people didn’t know the difference between Silicon and Silicone

  • Early games included such classic as Rock n’ Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings

  • After being contacted by Chaos Technologies, they were forced to change names again to avoid a $100,000 settlement.  Blizzard Entertainment was chosen by...flipping through a dictionary and asking legal

  • First breakout hit was Warcraft: Orcs and Humans

Topic 2 - Growth Catalysts and Major Properties

  • Battle.net was a major game changer with the release of Diablo and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.  These laid the framework for a major eSports success with a sci-fi themed RTS that we all know and love, Starcraft

    • Originally two studios, consolidation in Irvine after acquisition by Vivendi

  • Starcraft: Ghost was preparing to be a major game changer when development was cancelled due to extended development cycles that fell as console generations were changing.  It was ultimately scrapped.

  • In November 2004, Blizzard released World of Warcraft, what would ultimately be the major contributor to the success of Blizzard

    • So popular that it warranted the creation of BlizzCon in 2005!

  • WoW gained the attention of Bobby Kotick of Activision in 2006 which led to the Blizzard-Activision that we have today

    • With the extra assets provided by Activision to Blizzard, now Blizzard-Activision, new properties and extensions of properties entered the fold including

      • Starcraft II in 2010

      • Hearthstone in 2014

      • Heroes of the Storm in 2015

      • Overwatch in 2016

      • A myriad of remasters in all of their earliest franchises

      • Sequels to Overwatch and Diablo at a TBD time

Topic 3 - Upcoming Growth Strategies

  • Warzone has changed the way free to play games works and that structure is bleeding over into traditional Blizzard games

    • Speculatively…

      • Diablo

        • Diablo Immortal on Mobile (Confirmed)

        • Diablo IV Premium (Confirmed)

        • Diablo F2P

      • Overwatch

        • Overwatch GO

        • Overwatch 2 Premium (Confirmed)

        • Overwatch 1 F2P

      • Warcraft

        • World of Warcraft (Confirmed)

        • Warcraft Heroes F2P

        • Warcraft RTS on Mobile a la Clash of Clans

Outro

  • Recap Headlines

    • Founding

    • Growth Catalysts and Major Properties

    • Upcoming Growth Strategies

  • Mark delivers an encouraging and uplifting speech about loving your fellow gamer


Referenced Materials

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/77805/diablo-warcraft-and-overwatch-to-get-their-own-warzone-ecosystems/index.html

Mark StockhoffComment