A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc.
Blizzard WorldWide Invitationals were events similar to BlizzCon held in South Korea and France between 2004 and 2008. == 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.
The collection includes their three classic video games: The Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing, and Blackthorne, each of which containing additional upgrades and numerous modern features. == Games == Blizzard Entertainment has developed 19 games since 1991, the majority of which are in the Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft series.
THQ eventually contracted with Heliotrope and released the game in 1997 as Eminent Domain. === Ports === The company, known at the time as the Silicon & Synapse, initially concentrated on porting other studio's games to computer platforms, developing 8 ports between 1992 and 1993. ==Company structure== As with most studios with multiple franchises, Blizzard Entertainment has organized different departments to oversee these franchises.
The company originally concentrated on the creation of game ports for other studios' games before beginning development of their own software in 1993 with games like Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings.
In 1993, the company developed games such as Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings (published by Interplay Productions). 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 of silicon the chemical element used in microchips with silicone 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. In early 1994, they were acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates for $6.75 million ($ million today).
THQ eventually contracted with Heliotrope and released the game in 1997 as Eminent Domain. === Ports === The company, known at the time as the Silicon & Synapse, initially concentrated on porting other studio's games to computer platforms, developing 8 ports between 1992 and 1993. ==Company structure== As with most studios with multiple franchises, Blizzard Entertainment has organized different departments to oversee these franchises.
In 1994, the company became Chaos Studios, Inc., and eventually Blizzard Entertainment after being acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates.
By the end of 1993, Adham changed the name to "Chaos Studios", reflecting on the haphazardness of their development processes. In early 1994, they were acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates for $6.75 million ($ million today).
Not wanting to pay that sum, the executives decided to change the studio's name to "Ogre Studios" by April 1994.
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.
Davidson was acquired along with Sierra On-Line by a company called CUC International in 1996.
Blizzard was part of the Vivendi Games group of Vivendi. In 1996, Blizzard Entertainment acquired Condor Games of San Mateo, California, which had been working on the action role-playing game (ARPG) Diablo for Blizzard at the time.
CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS Corporation to form Cendant in 1997.
Diablo was released at the very start of 1997 alongside Battle.net, a matchmaking service for the game.
THQ eventually contracted with Heliotrope and released the game in 1997 as Eminent Domain. === Ports === The company, known at the time as the Silicon & Synapse, initially concentrated on porting other studio's games to computer platforms, developing 8 ports between 1992 and 1993. ==Company structure== As with most studios with multiple franchises, Blizzard Entertainment has organized different departments to oversee these franchises.
In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger.
The company sold its consumer software operations, Sierra On-line (which included Blizzard) to French publisher Havas in 1998, the same year Havas was purchased by Vivendi.
Vivendi made the decision in August 2005 to consolidate Blizzard North into Blizzard South, relocating staff to the main Blizzard offices in Irvine, and subsequently dropping the "Blizzard South" name. Following the success of Tides of Darkness, Blizzard began development on a science-fiction themed RTS StarCraft and released the title in March 1998.
Blizzard decided to cancel Ghost rather than extend its development period to work on the newer consoles. Blizzard started to work on a sequel to the Warcraft II in early 1998, which was announced as a "role-playing strategy" game.
A digital museum, which is included in the collection, features game art, unused content, and interviews. === Unreleased games === Notable unreleased titles include Lord of the Clans, which was canceled on May 22, 1998, Shattered Nations, and Ghost, which was "Postponed indefinitely" on March 24, 2006 after being in development hell for much of its lifespan.
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. == Legal disputes == === StarCraft privacy lawsuit === In 1998, Donald P.
Around 2000, Blizzard engaged with Nihilistic Software to work on a version of StarCraft for home consoles for Blizzard.
The game, Ghost, was a stealth-oriented game compared to the RTS features of StarCraft, and was a major feature of the 2002 Tokyo Game Show.
Reign of Chaos, the third title set in the Warcraft fictional universe, was released in July 2002.
Blizzard ordered Nihilistic to stop work on StarCraft: Ghost in July 2004, and instead brought on Swingin' Ape Studios, a third-party studio that had just successfully released Glitch in the System in 2003, to reboot the development of Ghost.
Driscoll, an Albany, 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. === FreeCraft === On June 20, 2003, Blizzard issued a cease and desist letter to the developers of an open-source clone of the Warcraft engine called FreeCraft, claiming trademark infringement.
Shortly thereafter, Blizzard released Orcs & Humans. Since then, Blizzard Entertainment has created several Warcraft sequels, including highly influential massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft in 2004, as well as three other multi-million selling video game franchises: Diablo, StarCraft and Overwatch.
Blizzard WorldWide Invitationals were events similar to BlizzCon held in South Korea and France between 2004 and 2008. == 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.
Blizzard ordered Nihilistic to stop work on StarCraft: Ghost in July 2004, and instead brought on Swingin' Ape Studios, a third-party studio that had just successfully released Glitch in the System in 2003, to reboot the development of Ghost.
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.
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, and Blizzard moved their headquarters to 16215 Alton Parkway in Irvine, California in 2007 to support the additional staff. With the success of World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment organized the first BlizzCon fan convention in October 2005 held at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Formally, since around the time of World of Warcraft in 2004, these have been denoted through simply numerical designations.
Team 1 also included the Classics Team to work on remastering Blizzard's earlier properties for modern computers, which have included Remastered and Reforged. Team 2 continues to manage and create content for World of Warcraft. Team 3 oversees the Diablo franchise. Since 2004, two new teams were created: Team 4 was created around 2007 to work on Blizzard's first new IP since World of Warcraft, that being Titan.
As a result, Activision Blizzard became a completely independent company. Blizzard Entertainment hosts annual gaming conventions for fans to meet and to promote their games: the first BlizzCon was held in October 2005, and since then, all of the conventions have been held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
Vivendi made the decision in August 2005 to consolidate Blizzard North into Blizzard South, relocating staff to the main Blizzard offices in Irvine, and subsequently dropping the "Blizzard South" name. Following the success of Tides of Darkness, Blizzard began development on a science-fiction themed RTS StarCraft and released the title in March 1998.
Blizzard fully acquired Swingin' Ape Studios in May 2005 to continue on Ghost.
However, while the game was scheduled to be released in 2005, it was targeted at the consoles of the sixth generation, such as the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox, while the industry was transitioning to the seventh generation.
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.
World of Warcraft launched in China in June 2005.
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, and Blizzard moved their headquarters to 16215 Alton Parkway in Irvine, California in 2007 to support the additional staff. With the success of World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment organized the first BlizzCon fan convention in October 2005 held at the Anaheim Convention Center.
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, and Blizzard moved their headquarters to 16215 Alton Parkway in Irvine, California in 2007 to support the additional staff. With the success of World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment organized the first BlizzCon fan convention in October 2005 held at the Anaheim 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. ===Vivendi merger with Activision and continued growth (2008–2017)=== Up through 2006, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision, had been working to rebound the company from near-bankruptcy, and had established a number of new studios.
Blizzard announced in 2006 that they would be producing a Warcraft live-action movie.
A digital museum, which is included in the collection, features game art, unused content, and interviews. === Unreleased games === Notable unreleased titles include Lord of the Clans, which was canceled on May 22, 1998, Shattered Nations, and Ghost, which was "Postponed indefinitely" on March 24, 2006 after being in development hell for much of its lifespan.
By the end of 2007, World of Warcraft was considered a global phenomenon, having reached over 9 million subscribers and exceeded in revenue since its release.
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, and Blizzard moved their headquarters to 16215 Alton Parkway in Irvine, California in 2007 to support the additional staff. With the success of World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment organized the first BlizzCon fan convention in October 2005 held at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Kotick accepted Lévy's deal, with the deal approved by shareholders in December 2007.
Team 1 also included the Classics Team to work on remastering Blizzard's earlier properties for modern computers, which have included Remastered and Reforged. Team 2 continues to manage and create content for World of Warcraft. Team 3 oversees the Diablo franchise. Since 2004, two new teams were created: Team 4 was created around 2007 to work on Blizzard's first new IP since World of Warcraft, that being Titan.
Soon after that the developers regrouped to continue the work by the name of Stratagus. === Founder Electronics infringement lawsuit === On August 14, 2007, Beijing University Founder Electronics Co., Ltd.
The games are operated through online gaming service Battle.net. On July 9, 2008, Activision merged with Vivendi Games, culminating in the inclusion of the Blizzard brand name in the title of the resulting holding company.
Blizzard WorldWide Invitationals were events similar to BlizzCon held in South Korea and France between 2004 and 2008. == 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.
In April 2008, World of Warcraft was estimated to hold 62 percent of the MMORPG subscription market.
By July 2008, the merger was complete, with Vivendi Games effectively dissolved except for Blizzard Entertainment, and the new company was named Activision Blizzard. Blizzard established a distribution agreement with the Chinese company NetEase in August 2008 to publish Blizzard's games in China.
In 2008, Blizzard was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for the creation of World of Warcraft.
Hearthstone reached over 25 million players by the end of 2014, and exceeded 100 million players by 2018. Another small internal team began work around 2008 on a new intellectual property known as Titan, a more contemporary or near-future MMORPG that would have co-existed alongside World of Warcraft.
Titan had development difficulties near 2013, and most of Team 4 was reallocated to the other teams, but the remaining members, led by Jeff Kaplan, revised Titan's concept into Overwatch, which remains in Team 4's hands since its release in 2016. Team 5 was created in 2008 to explore smaller games that could fit into Blizzard's portfolio.
=== On July 14, 2008, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona ruled on the case MDY Industries, LLC v.
Nevertheless, they ruled that the bot violated the DMCA and the case was sent back to the district court for review in light of this decision. === World of Warcraft private server complications === On December 5, 2008, Blizzard Entertainment issued a cease and desist letter to many administrators of high population World of Warcraft private servers (essentially slightly altered hosting servers of the actual World of Warcraft game, that players do not have to pay for).
Blizzard and The9 prepared to launch the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King, but the expansion came under scrutiny by China's content regulation board, the General 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.
It is because of these peripheral scans that Warden has been accused of being spyware and has run afoul of controversy among privacy advocates. === Battle.net 2.0 === Blizzard Entertainment released its revamped Battle.net service in 2009.
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.
The project gained more visibility in 2010 as a result of some information leaks.
In the late 2010s, Blizzard released Remastered (2017) and Reforged (2020), remastered versions of the original StarCraft and Warcraft III, respectively. The May 2016 release of Overwatch was highly successful, and was the highest-selling game on PC for 2016.
To enable cross-game communication, players need to become either Battletag or Real ID friends. ==Controversies== === Privacy controversy and Real ID === 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.
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.
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 games's predecessor, Defense of the Ancients, filed an opposing trademark in August 2010.
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.
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, with offices across 11 cities including Austin, Texas, and countries around the globe.
On July 25, 2013, Activision Blizzard announced the purchase of 429 million shares from majority owner Vivendi.
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 by Jeff Kaplan, to either come up with a fresh idea within a few weeks or have their team reassigned to Blizzard's other departments.
Titan had development difficulties near 2013, and most of Team 4 was reallocated to the other teams, but the remaining members, led by Jeff Kaplan, revised Titan's concept into Overwatch, which remains in Team 4's hands since its release in 2016. Team 5 was created in 2008 to explore smaller games that could fit into Blizzard's portfolio.
One of these teams quickly came onto the idea of a collectible card game based on the Warcraft narrative universe, which ultimately became Hearthstone, released as a free-to-play title in March 2014.
Hearthstone reached over 25 million players by the end of 2014, and exceeded 100 million players by 2018. Another small internal team began work around 2008 on a new intellectual property known as Titan, a more contemporary or near-future MMORPG that would have co-existed alongside World of Warcraft.
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 by Jeff Kaplan, to either come up with a fresh idea within a few weeks or have their team reassigned to Blizzard's other departments.
After seven years of development, Blizzard revealed the cancellation of an unannounced MMO codenamed Titan on September 23, 2014.
Their major crossover title, Heroes of the Storm, was released as a MOBA game in 2015.
It was released in June 2016. === Remasters === In 2015, Blizzard Entertainment formed "Classic Games division", a team focused on updating and remastering some of their older titles, with an initially announced focus on Remastered (2017), Reforged (2020), and Resurrected (2021). === Re-released games === In February 2021, Blizzard Entertainment released a compilation called Blizzard Arcade Collection for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
The new project was greenlit by Blizzard and became known as Overwatch, which was released in May 2016.
In the late 2010s, Blizzard released Remastered (2017) and Reforged (2020), remastered versions of the original StarCraft and Warcraft III, respectively. The May 2016 release of Overwatch was highly successful, and was the highest-selling game on PC for 2016.
Several traditional esport events had been established within the year of Overwatch release, such as the Overwatch World Cup, but Blizzard continued to expand this and announced the first esports professional league, the Overwatch League at the 2016 BlizzCon event.
It was released in June 2016. === Remasters === In 2015, Blizzard Entertainment formed "Classic Games division", a team focused on updating and remastering some of their older titles, with an initially announced focus on Remastered (2017), Reforged (2020), and Resurrected (2021). === Re-released games === In February 2021, Blizzard Entertainment released a compilation called Blizzard Arcade Collection for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
Titan had development difficulties near 2013, and most of Team 4 was reallocated to the other teams, but the remaining members, led by Jeff Kaplan, revised Titan's concept into Overwatch, which remains in Team 4's hands since its release in 2016. Team 5 was created in 2008 to explore smaller games that could fit into Blizzard's portfolio.
Hearthstone reached over 25 million players by the end of 2014, and exceeded 100 million players by 2018. Another small internal team began work around 2008 on a new intellectual property known as Titan, a more contemporary or near-future MMORPG that would have co-existed alongside World of Warcraft.
The inaugural season of the Overwatch League launched on January 10, 2018 with 12 global teams playing.
, the company's headquarters in Irvine, California had 2,622 employees. ===Change of leadership (2018–present)=== 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.
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, with offices across 11 cities including Austin, Texas, and countries around the globe.
, the company's headquarters in Irvine, California had 2,622 employees. ===Change of leadership (2018–present)=== 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.
Allen Brack, the executive producer on World of Warcraft. 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.
For instance, real names for friends, cross-realm and cross-game chat, rich presence and broadcasts are included with the Real ID system. ===Hearthstone ban and Hong Kong protests=== During an October 2019 Hearthstone Grandmasters streaming event in Taiwan, one player Ng Wai Chung, going by his online alias "Blitzchung" used an interview period to show support for the protestors in the 2019–20 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.
Protests were held, including through the 2019 BlizzCon in early November, to urge Blizzard to reverse their bans.
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.
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, with offices across 11 cities including Austin, Texas, and countries around the globe.
Michael Chu, lead writer on many of Blizzard's franchises including Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch, announced he was leaving the company after 20 years in March 2020. In January 2021, Activision transferred Vicarious Visions over to Blizzard Entertainment, stating that the Vicarious Visions team had better opportunity for long-term support for Blizzard.
Michael Chu, lead writer on many of Blizzard's franchises including Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch, announced he was leaving the company after 20 years in March 2020. In January 2021, Activision transferred Vicarious Visions over to Blizzard Entertainment, stating that the Vicarious Visions team had better opportunity for long-term support for Blizzard.
Vicarious had been working with Blizzard for about two years prior to this announcement on the planned remaster of Diablo II, Resurrected, and according to Brack, it made sense to incorporate Vicarious into Blizzard for ongoing support of the game and for other Diablo games including Diablo IV. In celebration of the company's 30th anniversary, Blizzard Entertainment released a compilation called Blizzard Arcade Collection in February 2021, for various video game platforms.
It was released in June 2016. === Remasters === In 2015, Blizzard Entertainment formed "Classic Games division", a team focused on updating and remastering some of their older titles, with an initially announced focus on Remastered (2017), Reforged (2020), and Resurrected (2021). === Re-released games === In February 2021, Blizzard Entertainment released a compilation called Blizzard Arcade Collection for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
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