Former Blizzard employees are working on making games that the company won’t make anymore. In the last few years, Blizzard has suffered from what could be considered a talent exodus. Hundreds of employees, including co-founder Mike Morhaime and ex-CEO Rob Pardo, have left Blizzard to form independent studios. Many who left the company are citing the culture change since Activision started overseeing operations at Blizzard as a reason.
Activision’s merging with Blizzard has caused more problems than successes in the eyes of many. Several controversial choices have led not only employees to leave but loyal fans as well. Diablo Immortal’s infamous Blizzcon debut in 2018 was only just the start. If that wasn’t enough, Warcraft III: Reforged’s much-maligned launch in 2020 didn’t help matters either. Furthermore, the latest financial report has shown that Blizzard has lost 5 million active players since 2020 and over 11 million since 2018 across its many titles.
As reported by Bloomberg, ex-Blizzard developers are using their newfound creative freedom to make games their former company won’t make anymore. The independent developers have spread out in Irvine, California, where Blizzard’s campus resides as well. Several studios, such as Morhaime’s Dreamhaven and Pardo’s Bonfire Studios, have already announced their existence over the past year. Others, like Lightforge Games, One More Game, or Raid Base, have only recently formed. Each of the studios is working together to help produce its new games in what the gaming community is calling “Blizzard 2.0” Bloomberg interviewed former Hearthstone director Ben Brode, who said, “we're all super friendly with each other. We're all trying to stay afloat, trying to do our best, help each other get there.”
Brode is the founder of Second Dinner, a studio he created after leaving Blizzard in 2018. He and Morhaime are regularly collaborating with each other’s studios. Brode believes that RTS games can make a return, but requires smaller teams to do so. This lack of interest by Activision Blizzard is shared by giant game companies, choosing to focus on developing “billion-dollar products,” according to Tim Morten, ex-Blizzard producer and Frost Giant Studios founder. He says that the company’s new focus is the monetization of multiplayer games like Overwatch instead of RTS franchises like StarCraft. These reasons are why Dreamhaven, Frost Giant, and the other ex-Blizzard indie studios are working together.
None of the studios mentioned above have any titles announced, but there are games in development. For example, Second Dinner is currently working on an unannounced Marvel game. Fans of the Blizzard of old should be excited to play what could be spiritual successors of the popular franchise they grew to love. Hopefully, the developers’ creative freedom now has resulted in exciting, fun games soon.
Source: Bloomberg