Blizzard Entertainment

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Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

logo
legal form Corporation
founding February 8, 1991
Seat Irvine , CA , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
management J. Allen Brack ( President )
Number of employees 4,700 (2012)
sales $ 2.43 billion USD (2016)
Branch entertainment
Website www.blizzard.de

Blizzard Headquarters in Irvine, California

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. , or Blizzard for short , until 1994 Silicon & Synapse and Chaos Studios , is an American computer game developer and publisher based in Irvine , California . Blizzard is part of Activision Blizzard . Through the development of the computer game series Warcraft , StarCraft , Diablo and Overwatch , the company became one of the best-known and largest game development studios. With a balance sheet profit of approximately $ 223 million USD in 2015, the company is one of the most successful game developers.

The game developer is currently working on new content patches as well as Diablo Immortal , Warcraft III: Reforged , World of Warcraft: Shadowlands , Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV .

history

Founding, two renaming and first successes

The company was founded in 1991 by Michael Morhaime , Frank Pearce and Allen Adham under the name Silicon & Synapse. The budget for game development was very limited, which is why the company initially ported board games that were already available. Silicon & Synapse achieved their first successes with the games Rock & Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings . Both games were praised by players and the press and received several awards.

Some employees of the company distributed unauthorized copies of The Lost Vikings , so that a two-year legal battle with the then publisher Interplay Entertainment followed. Since this ended with damage to its image, the name was changed to Chaos Studios. Since there was already a company called Label Chaos, it was renamed Blizzard Entertainment again. Frank Pearce recalls, “It was a complicated process. We rummaged through the dictionary and made a long list of words, and then we started to write it down [the favorites]. ”At Blizzard, the team stopped. In 1994, Blizzard released Blackthorne and The Death and Return of Superman .

Breakthrough with Warcraft , Diablo and StarCraft and splitting Blizzard Norths

With Warcraft: Orcs & Humans the game developer made his big breakthrough. While Blizzard was focusing on a sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans , the company also released Justice League Task Force . In 1995 Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and the Beyond the Dark Portal expansion developed by Cyberlore Studios were released. Warcraft II sold 1.2 million copies, making it the best-selling PC game of 1996.

With the great success one got rid of the last debts from the early days. At the end of 1995 they took over Condor Inc., which was already working on the game Diablo , and from then on operated under the name Blizzard North . Diablo was released in 1996 and became the best-selling PC game. At the same time, Blizzard released Battle.net, which is still an integral part of all Blizzard games today. Battle.net is an online platform that allows players to play and chat with one another. After the successful introduction of Battle.net, a Warcraft II version was released in 1999 , which was now also Battle.net capable.

With StarCraft , released in 1998 , one left the medieval-looking worlds of Warcraft and Diablo and turned to a more futuristic style. In the same year the expansion StarCraft: Brood War followed . With nearly 10 million copies sold, it's the best-selling real-time strategy game to date. In 2002 Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and 2003 Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne were released, both of which were commercially successful.

In 2003, nine senior Diablo developers from the subsidiary Blizzard North left the company and founded the development studio Flagship Studios . The reason was disagreements with the management. Increasingly, users also resisted company policy, for example because of the ban on alternative Battle.net servers or because of the company's use of spyware . Despite this measure, thousands of user accounts are regularly blocked on so-called "Judgment Day" for violations of the end user license agreement .

In late 2004, Blizzard opened offices in Europe and Korea .

Dawn of the era of World of Warcraft , merger into Activision Blizzard and expansion of the three universes

On February 11, 2005, the game developer released the MMORPG World of Warcraft . World of Warcraft is one of the most important computer games. At the end of 2010, the number of subscribers was twelve million. In 2013 alone the game achieved sales of 1041 million US dollars and held a market share of 36% in the MMORPG area. It has also held the Guinness World Record for the most popular multiplayer online role-playing game since 2009 . By July 2012, the game had generated over $ 10 billion in sales, making it the most successful computer game.

On January 16, 2007 the expansion The Burning Crusade was released. 2.4 million of these were sold, making it the second fastest selling PC game after Grand Theft Auto IV . At the end of 2007, Vivendi Games, a wholly owned subsidiary of the media company Vivendi, merged with the US company Activision to form Activision Blizzard . The game division of Vivendi was incorporated into Activision, for which Vivendi received the majority of shares in Activision Blizzard with a 52 percent stake. The expansion Wrath of the Lich King , first published on November 13, 2008 under Activision Blizzard, also sold 2.8 million times in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling PC game.

On July 27, 2010, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty , the sequel to StarCraft , was released. The game sold 1.5 million times in the first 48 hours. This made it the fastest selling real-time strategy game. On December 7, 2010, Cataclysm , the third expansion for World of Warcraft , was released. It sold 3.3 million times in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling PC game. In late February 2012, Blizzard announced that 600 employees would be laid off worldwide. According to US magazine Gamasutra, CEO Michael Morhaime justified the largest wave of layoffs in the company's history with restructuring measures due to the changing computer game industry. On May 15, 2012, Diablo III was released. The game sold 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling PC game. By August 2014, 20 million copies of the game had been sold. On September 25, 2012, the fourth expansion for World of Warcraft , Mists of Pandaria, was released . On March 12, 2013, the company released the second part of the StarCraft 2 trilogy, Heart of the Swarm . On July 25, 2013, Activision Blizzard announced the purchase of shares in parent company Vivendi for $ 429 million. This made Activision Blizzard independent from Vivendi.

New games and new platforms

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft , released on March 11, 2014, is the company's first online trading card game and the first game for the company's iOS and Android platforms . On March 25, 2014, the first expansion for Diablo III, Reaper of Souls , was released. Shortly thereafter, Diablo III was ported to PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox 360 and Xbox One , the company's first console game since the N64 version of StarCraft (2000). In late 2014, the fifth expansion for World of Warcraft , Warlords of Draenor , was released. This made 2014 the first year since 1994 that the game developer was able to publish three games. With the game Heroes of the Storm , released on June 2, 2015, the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) entered a new genre. On November 11, 2015, the third part of the StarCraft 2 trilogy, Legacy of the Void , was released.

At the end of 2014, the game developer announced Overwatch . Overwatch is Blizzard's first team-based tactical shooter and is, alongside the Warcraft , StarCraft and Diablo universes, the fourth major universe of Blizzard. Overwatch is the first game in the company's history to be released for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One instead of OS X. The game was released on May 24, 2016, making it Blizzard's youngest game to date. Blizzard produced Warcraft: The Beginning in collaboration with the two film studios Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures . The film is the first real-life adaptation of a Blizzard game. The film was released in German cinemas on May 26, 2016 in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D . Legion , the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft , was released on August 30, 2016. On August 14, 2017, StarCraft: Remastered , a re-release of StarCraft in 4K / UHD, was released . On the Blizzcon 2017 was for World of Warcraft already seventh expansion Battle for Azeroth , and World of Warcraft: Classic announced. New game content has been announced for the other games. Battle for Azeroth was released on August 14, 2018.

New president and expansion of the four universes

On October 3, 2018, it was announced that Mike Morhaime was leaving the office of President to J. Allen Brack , who was previously Executive Producer of World of Warcraft . Since then, Blizzard Entertainment no longer has a CEO.

“After many years of working with some of the most talented people in the business creating games and worlds for you, it's time for someone else to run Blizzard Entertainment. I will continue to serve as an advisor to this company that I love and admire so much. My duties as President of Blizzard will be taken over by J. Allen Brack, my friend, colleague, trusted advisor and longtime advisor to World of Warcraft . "

- Mike Morhaime : About the announcement that he is leaving the post as CEO

On November 2, 2018, a port from Diablo III to the Nintendo Switch was released . This is the first Blizzard game on a Nintendo console in 15 years. At Blizzcon 2018 , Warcraft III: Reforged , a re-release of Warcraft 3 , and Diablo Immortal were announced. Diablo Immortal is Blizzard's second game for iOS and Android after Hearthstone . New game content has been announced for all other games. Blizzcon 2018 was perceived as deeply disappointing, as the new announcements were simply too badly received. On October 5, 2019, a port from Overwatch to the Nintendo Switch was released.

On the Blizzcon 2019 were Diablo IV , Overwatch 2 and Shadowlands , the eighth expansion for World of Warcraft announced.

Games

title Year of publication (EU) Platform (s) genre comment
Publication as Silicon & Synapse
RPM racing 1991 SNES Racing game
Battle Chess 1992 Windows 3.x and Commodore 64 Chess simulation
Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess 1992 Amiga Xiangqi simulation
Microleague baseball 1992 Amiga Baseball simulation
Castles 1992 Amiga Computer strategy game
The Lord of the Rings 1992 Amiga role playing game
The Lost Vikings 1992 Amiga, Amiga CD32 , GBA , MS-DOS , Sega Mega Drive , SNES Jump 'n' run
Rock & Roll Racing 1993 Sega Mega Drive, SNES, GBA Racing game
Released as Blizzard Entertainment
Blackthorne 1994 SNES, Sega 32X , MS-DOS, GBA, Mac OS Classic Jump 'n' run
The Death and Return of Superman 1994 SNES, Sega Mega Drive Beat 'em up
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans 1994 Mac OS, MS-DOS Real time strategy game
Justice League Task Force 1995 Sega Mega Drive, SNES Beat 'em up
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness 1995 Mac OS, MS-DOS, Linux , Sega Saturn , PS , Windows Real time strategy game
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal 1996 Mac OS, MS-DOS, Sega Saturn, PS, Windows Real time strategy game Expansion for Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Diablo 1996 PS, Windows, Mac OS Action RPG
The Lost Vikings 2 1997 SNES, PS, Windows, Sega Saturn Jump 'n' run
StarCraft 1998 Windows, Mac OS, Nintendo 64 Real time strategy game
StarCraft: Brood War 1998 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game Expansion for StarCraft
Diablo ii 2000 Windows, OS X Action RPG
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction 2001 Windows, OS X Action RPG Extension for Diablo
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos 2002 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne 2003 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game Expansion for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
World of Warcraft 2005 Windows, OS X MMORPG
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade 2007 Windows, OS X MMORPG First expansion for World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King 2008 Windows, OS X MMORPG Second expansion for World of Warcraft
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty 2010 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game First part of the StarCraft II trilogy
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm 2010 Windows, OS X MMORPG Third expansion for World of Warcraft
Diablo III 2012 Windows, OS X, PS3 , PS4 , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , Nintendo Switch Action RPG
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria 2012 Windows, OS X MMORPG Fourth expansion for World of Warcraft
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm 2013 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game Second part of the StarCraft II trilogy
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft 2014 Windows, OS X, iOS , Android Online trading card game
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls 2014 Windows, OS X, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Action RPG Expansion for Diablo III
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor 2014 Windows, OS X MMORPG Fifth expansion for World of Warcraft
Heroes of the Storm 2015 Windows, OS X MOBA
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void 2015 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game Third part of the StarCraft II trilogy
Overwatch 2016 Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Tactical shooter
World of Warcraft: Legion 2016 Windows, OS X MMORPG Sixth expansion for World of Warcraft
StarCraft: Remastered 2017 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game StarCraft re-release
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth 2018 Windows, OS X MMORPG Seventh expansion for World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft: Classic 2019 Windows, OS X MMORPG World of Warcraft re-release
Warcraft III: Reforged 2020 Windows, OS X Real time strategy game Warcraft 3 re-release
Diablo Immortal In development iOS, Android Action RPG
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands In development Windows, OS X MMORPG Eighth expansion for World of Warcraft
Overwatch 2 In development Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Tactical shooter
Diablo IV In development Windows, PS, Xbox Action RPG

criticism

To date, Blizzard Entertainment has received a Big Brother Award in Germany and Austria for its handling of user rights and data protection . The negative award was first given to them in Austria in 2005 in the “Communication and Marketing” category. Blizzard received the second Big Brother Award, this time from Germany, in 2012 in the “Consumer Protection” category. In the laudation for the award, the built-in monitoring functions in the game World of Warcraft will be specifically discussed. With the help of special software, the Warden , both RAM and other CPU processes are checked while the game is running, and patterns of known cheat programs are searched. In addition, chats between the players and the entire course of the game are logged.

Overall, the laudation gives the impression that Blizzard Entertainment has repeatedly tried to resolve problems such as B. to counter the use of bots or a bad communication culture in forums with the help of technical changes, but not sufficiently respect the privacy of the players and leave them no freedom of choice. Another example of this approach is the company's attempt to introduce a real name requirement in its own forums for its online games with Real ID in the summer of 2010 , just in time for the start of StarCraft II on July 27th. After massive protests from user circles, Blizzard Entertainment withdrew from its plans.

On October 8, 2019, Blizzard announced on the official blog of the Hearthstone game they developed that esports pro Wei Chung Ng (aka "blitzchung") had been banned from participating in the Hearthstone Grandmasters Asia-Pacific 2019 and all of his Prize money will be collected. In an interview during the live broadcast of the event via the streaming platform Twitch , he openly expressed sympathy for the protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and shouted in Mandarin "Free Hong Kong, revolution of our age". Blizzard then removed the recording of the stream from Twitch and in return for the disqualification and handling of the situation received harsh criticism in many places, especially on social networks such as Twitter and Reddit . At Blizzcon 2019 , President J. Allen Brack apologized, “Blizzard had the opportunity to bring the world together in a tough Hearthstone esports moment. We didn't do that. ”The company decided too quickly and then waited too long to speak to the community. “We did not meet the high standards that we set ourselves. We missed our goal. I'm sorry and I take responsibility. "

BlizzCon

BlizzCon 2007

BlizzCon is Blizzards' in-house computer game fair. At the fair, new games and other news are presented to the public, tournaments are held, development details are presented and games are tested. There are also various hands-on competitions.

Blizzard Battle.net

Battle.net is an online platform that allows players to play and chat with one another. The gaming platform was released in 1996 and is still an integral part of all of the company's games today.

Web links

Commons : Blizzard Entertainment  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DICE 2012: Blizzard's Pearce on World Of Warcraft's launch hangover In gamasutra.com on February 9, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  2. ↑ Revenue of Blizzard Entertainment worldwide from 2007 to 2016 (in million US dollars) in de.statista.com. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  3. ↑ Brand awareness of the game manufacturers In de.statista.com. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  4. ↑ Fourth Quarter 2015 Results
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Blizzard Company History , accessed June 3, 2015.
  6. ↑ Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos sales , accessed June 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne sales , accessed June 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ Blizzard Entertainment bans players from Diablo 3 , accessed June 3, 2015.
  9. ↑ Blizzard Entertainment banned players for exploit , accessed June 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ Blizzard Entertainment banishes critics from the forums , accessed June 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ World of Warcraft 2013 sales ( memento March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed August 12, 2015.
  12. ↑ World of Warcraft is the most successful computer game , accessed on August 12, 2015
  13. ^ The Burning Crusade sales ( June 1, 2015 memento in the Internet Archive ), accessed June 3, 2015.
  14. ↑ Vivendi merges its gaming subsidiary with the US company Activision , accessed on June 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ Vivendi holds a 52 percent majority stake in Activision Blizzard , accessed on June 3, 2015.
  16. ↑ Wrath of the Lich King: Sales Record ( Memento June 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed June 3, 2015.
  17. ↑ StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Sales , accessed June 3, 2015.
  18. ↑ Cataclysm sales , accessed June 3, 2015.
  19. ↑ Golem.de: Blizzard fires 600 employees , accessed on June 3, 2015.
  20. ↑ Blizzard is rebuilding the company , accessed June 3, 2015
  21. ↑ Diablo III sales for the first 24 hours , accessed June 3, 2015.
  22. ↑ Diablo III has sold 20 million copies so far , accessed June 3, 2015.
  23. ↑ Activision Blizzard buys Vivendi shares , accessed June 11, 2015
  24. ↑ Manuel Bauer: Overwatch: Dates for Open Beta and Release In computerbild.de from March 7, 2016. Accessed April 5, 2016.
  25. ↑ Manuel Fritsch: World of Warcraft: Legion - release date of the sixth expansion known In gamestar.de from April 18, 2016. Accessed on April 20, 2016.
  26. ↑ André Linken:World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is the MMO's next expansion In pcgames.de on August 14, 2017. Accessed November 21, 2017.
  27. ↑ Philip Kollar:World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is the MMO's next expansion In polygon.com on November 3, 2017. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  28. ↑ Blizzard Entertainment: A message from Mike Morhaime and J. Allen Brack In: news.blizzard.com on October 3, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  29. ↑ Ann-Kathrin Kuhls:Diablo 3: Eternal Collection under test - The devil is in the porting detail In gamepro.de on October 30, 2018. Accessed on October 31, 2018.
  30. ↑ Benedict Grothaus: Overwatch comes to the Nintendo Switch - official release date known In mein-mmo.de on September 5, 2019. Retrieved on November 3, 2019.
  31. ↑ Christian Mittweg: BlizzCon 2018: All innovations from the trade fair In esport.kicker.de from November 3rd. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  32. ↑ Cortyn: 2018 is the most disappointing BlizzCon of all time In gamepro.de on November 3rd, 2018. Retrieved on November 4th, 2018.
  33. ↑ Benedict Grothaus: Overwatch comes to the Nintendo Switch - official release date known In mein-mmo.de on September 5, 2019. Retrieved on November 3, 2019.
  34. ↑ Florian Holzbauer: BlizzCon 2019 New Items: Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, WoW Shadowlands In chip.de from November 1, 2019. Accessed November 3, 2019.
  35. ↑ Big Brother Awards Austria 2005, winners , accessed on June 11, 2015.
  36. ↑ Big Brother Awards Germany 2012, laudation in the “Consumer Protection” category , accessed on June 11, 2015.
  37. ↑ Critique of Blizzard from arstechnica.com , accessed June 11, 2015.
  38. ^ Hearthstone Grandmasters Asia-Pacific Ruling. Retrieved October 9, 2019 (American English).
  39. ↑ "Free Hong Kong": Blizzard bans Hearthstone e-athletes from expressing opinions. In: heise online. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Kotaku: Blizzard suspends Hearthstone player for Hong Kong support, pulls prize money. http://bit.ly/2IxTlKz pic.twitter.com/7UJkTQ97AE. In: @Kotaku. 2019, accessed on October 9, 2019 .
  41. ↑ r / HongKong - Blizzard is protecting its company image and profit over human rights, Don't purchase their games anymore. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Westdeutsche Zeitung: Blizzard apologizes for Hong Kong controversy In wz.de of November 2, 2019. Retrieved on November 3, 2019.