Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American
video game developerA video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
and
publisherA video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
founded on February 8, 1991 under the name
Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA,
Michael MorhaimeMichael "Mike" Morhaime is the president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment , a video game developer located in Irvine, California, currently owned by Activision Blizzard...
,
Allen AdhamAllen Adham is an Egyptian American businessman, who along with Michael Morhaime and Frank Pearce, was one of three co-founders of Silicon & Synapse, which changed its name to Blizzard Entertainment...
and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company
Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard, Inc., formerly Activision, Inc. is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and was created through the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007, in a...
. Based in
Irvine, CaliforniaIrvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
, the company originally concentrated primarily on the creation of game
portsIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
for other studios before beginning development of their own software in 1993 with the development of games like
Rock N' Roll RacingRock N' Roll Racing is a battle-racing video game developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The background music consists of instrumental versions of several heavy metal and rock n' roll songs,...
and
The Lost VikingsThe Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Silicon & Synapse . The first game, The Lost Vikings, was released in 1992 by publisher Interplay Entertainment for DOS, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and SNES among others...
. In 1994 the company became
Blizzard Entertainment Inc before being acquired by distributor
Davidson & AssociatesDavidson & Associates was an educational software company headquartered in Torrance, California. It was best known for the Blaster series, including Math Blaster and Reading Blaster...
and later by
VivendiVivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
. Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their breakthrough hit
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans.
Blizzard went on to create several successful PC games, including the
WarcraftWarcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media originally created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of Four core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and World of Warcraft...
,
StarcraftStarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series centers on a galactic struggle for dominance between three species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the insectoid Zerg, and the enigmatic Protoss—in a...
and
DiabloDiablo is an action role-playing game franchise owned and produced by Blizzard Entertainment. , the series has sold over 18.5 million copies worldwide.-Story:...
series, and the
MMORPGMassively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
.
On July 9, 2008,
ActivisionActivision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
officially merged with Vivendi Games, culminating in the inclusion of the Blizzard brand name in the title of the resulting holding company, though Blizzard Entertainment remains a separate entity with independent management.
Blizzard Entertainment offers events to meet players and to announce games: the
BlizzCon"BlizzCon" is an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo...
in California, United States, and the
Blizzard Worldwide InvitationalThe Blizzard WorldWide Invitational is an event organized by Blizzard Entertainment to meet players, offer playable demos of future games, and offer various activities linked with Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo universes....
in other countries, such as Paris, France and Seoul, South Korea.
History
Blizzard Entertainment was founded by
Michael MorhaimeMichael "Mike" Morhaime is the president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment , a video game developer located in Irvine, California, currently owned by Activision Blizzard...
,
Allen AdhamAllen Adham is an Egyptian American businessman, who along with Michael Morhaime and Frank Pearce, was one of three co-founders of Silicon & Synapse, which changed its name to Blizzard Entertainment...
, and Frank Pearce as
Silicon & Synapse in February 1991, a year after all three had received their
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
s from UCLA. In the early days the company focused on creating game
portsIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
for other studios. Ports include titles such as
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I and
Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess. In 1993, the company developed games like
Rock N' Roll RacingRock N' Roll Racing is a battle-racing video game developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The background music consists of instrumental versions of several heavy metal and rock n' roll songs,...
and
The Lost VikingsThe Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Silicon & Synapse . The first game, The Lost Vikings, was released in 1992 by publisher Interplay Entertainment for DOS, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and SNES among others...
(published by
Interplay ProductionsInterplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...
).
In early 1994 they were acquired by distributor
Davidson & AssociatesDavidson & Associates was an educational software company headquartered in Torrance, California. It was best known for the Blaster series, including Math Blaster and Reading Blaster...
for $6.75 million. The same year the company briefly changed its name to
Chaos Studios, before finally settling on Blizzard Entertainment after it was discovered that another company with the Chaos name already existed. Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their breakthrough hit
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans .
Blizzard has changed hands several times since then: Davidson was acquired along with
Sierra On-LineSierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
by a company called
CUC InternationalCUC International Inc. is a membership-based consumer services conglomerate with travel, shopping, auto, dining, home improvement and financial services offered to more than 60 million customers worldwide based out of Stamford, Connecticut and founded by Kirk Shelton and Walter Forbes...
in 1996; CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS Corporation to form
CendantCendant Corporation was a New York-based provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, Cendant broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses...
in 1997. In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger; Cendant's stock lost 80% of its value over the next six months in the ensuing widely discussed accounting scandal. The company sold its consumer software operations, Sierra On-line which included Blizzard, to French publisher
HavasHavas is the second largest advertising group in France and is a "Global advertising and communications services group" and the sixth-largest global advertising and communications group worldwide, operating on the communications consulting market through three main operational divisions:*Euro RSCG...
in 1998, the same year Havas was purchased by
VivendiVivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
. Blizzard was part of the
Vivendi GamesVivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
group of Vivendi. In July 2008 Vivendi Games merged with
ActivisionActivision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
, using Blizzard's name in the resulting company,
Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard, Inc., formerly Activision, Inc. is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and was created through the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007, in a...
.
In 1996, Blizzard acquired Condor Games, which had been working on the game
Diablo for Blizzard at the time. Condor was renamed
Blizzard NorthBlizzard North was the Bay Area division of Blizzard Entertainment, known for the Diablo series. The studio was originally based in Redwood City, and then moved a short distance away to San Mateo, with Blizzard proper being based in Irvine .-History:Blizzard North was originally an independent...
, and has since developed hit games
Diablo,
Diablo IIDiablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...
, and its expansion pack
Diablo II: Lord of DestructionDiablo II: Lord of Destruction is an expansion pack for the hack and slash action role-playing game Diablo II...
. Blizzard North was located in
San Mateo, CaliforniaSan Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
; the company originated in
Redwood City, CaliforniaRedwood City is a California charter city located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco, and 24 miles north of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans from its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people, to its tradition as a port for...
.
Blizzard launched their online gaming service
Battle.netBattle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external...
in January 1997 with the release of their action-
RPGRole-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
Diablo. In 2002, Blizzard was able to reacquire rights for three of its earlier Silicon & Synapse titles from
Interplay EntertainmentInterplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...
and re-release them under
Game Boy AdvanceThe is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
. In 2004, Blizzard opened European offices in the Paris suburb of
VélizyVélizy-Villacoublay is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris from the center and east of Versailles...
, Yvelines, France, responsible for the European in-game support of
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
. On November 23, 2004, Blizzard released World of Warcraft, its
MMORPGMassively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
offering. On May 16, 2005, Blizzard announced the
acquisitionIn business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
of
Swingin' Ape StudiosSwingin' Ape Studios is a video game development studio founded in July 2000 by Steve Ranck, Mike Starich and Scott Goffman after leaving Midway Home Entertainment. They had just completed the successful water-based arcade racer, Hydro Thunder....
, a console game developer which had been developing
StarCraft: GhostStarCraft: Ghost is a military science fiction stealth-action video game under suspended development by Blizzard Entertainment. Part of Blizzard's StarCraft series, the game was announced in 2002 and was to be developed by Nihilistic Software for the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 video...
. The company was then merged into Blizzard's other teams after StarCraft: Ghost was 'postponed indefinitely'. On August 1, 2005, Blizzard announced the
consolidationConsolidation or amalgamation is the act of merging many things into one. In business, it often refers to the mergers and acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group...
of Blizzard North into the headquarters at 131 Theory in UC Irvine's University Research Park in
Irvine, CaliforniaIrvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
. In 2008, Blizzard moved their headquarters to 16215 Alton Parkway in
Irvine, CaliforniaIrvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
.
World of Warcraft was the fourth released game set in the fantasy
Warcraft universeWarcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media originally created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of Four core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and World of Warcraft...
, which was first introduced by
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. Blizzard announced
World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001. The game was released on November 23, 2004, on the 10th anniversary of the
Warcraft franchiseA media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
.
The first expansion set of the game,
The Burning CrusadeWorld of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, often referred to as TBC or BC, is the first expansion pack for the MMORPG World of Warcraft...
, was released on January 16, 2007. The second expansion set,
Wrath of the Lich KingWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, often referred to as WotLK, WLK or Wrath, is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade...
, was released on November 13, 2008. The third expansion set,
CataclysmWorld of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following the last expansion Wrath of the Lich King. It was officially announced at BlizzCon on August 21, 2009, although dataminers and researchers discovered details...
entered into closed beta testing in late June 2010 and was released to the public on December 7, 2010.
With more than 12 million monthly subscriptions in October 2010,
World of Warcraft is currently the world's most-subscribed MMORPG, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers. In April 2008,
World of Warcraft was estimated to hold 62 percent of the MMORPG subscription market. In 2008, Blizzard was honored at the 59th Annual
Technology & Engineering Emmy AwardA Technology and Engineering Emmy Award is given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in technical or engineering development...
s for the creation of World of Warcraft. Mike Morhaime accepted the award.
Titles
| Title |
Year |
Genre |
| as Silicon & Synapse |
RPM RacingRPM Racing is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System racing game developed by Silicon & Synapse under contract from Interplay Entertainment and published by Interplay....
|
1991 |
Racing video game |
Battle ChessBattle Chess is a computer game version of chess in which the chess pieces come to life and battle one another when capturing. It was released for the Commodore Amiga and subsequently on the 3DO, MS-DOS, Apple IIGS, Apple IIe, Commodore 64, Amiga CDTV, CD32, Atari ST, Apple Macintosh, Acorn...
(Windows and Commodore 64 ports) |
1992 |
ChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
|
| Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess (Amiga port) |
1992 |
ChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
|
| J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (Amiga port) |
1992 |
Role-playing game Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
|
| Castles (Amiga port) |
1992 |
Strategy video gameStrategy video games is a video game genre that emphasizes skillful thinking and planning to achieve victory. They emphasize strategic, tactical, and sometimes logistical challenges. Many games also offer economic challenges and exploration...
|
MicroLeague BaseballMicro League Baseball was a 1984 baseball simulation video game. It was developed by Micro League Sports Association and published by Micro League Multimedia Inc. It was released on Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and PC.-Summary:...
(Amiga port) |
1992 |
Sports video game |
| Lexie-Cross (Macintosh port) |
1992 |
Puzzle video game |
| Dvorak on Typing (Macintosh port) |
1992 |
Educational game Educational games are games that have been designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play...
|
The Lost VikingsThe Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Silicon & Synapse . The first game, The Lost Vikings, was released in 1992 by publisher Interplay Entertainment for DOS, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and SNES among others...
|
1992 |
Side-scrolling video gameA side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
|
| Rock N' Roll Racing Rock N' Roll Racing is a battle-racing video game developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The background music consists of instrumental versions of several heavy metal and rock n' roll songs,...
|
1993 |
Racing gameA racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
|
| Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye |
1994 |
Mahjong Solitaire Mahjong solitaire is a solitaire matching game that uses a set of Mahjong tiles rather than cards. It is also known as Shanghai solitaire, electronic or computerized mahjong, MahJong solitaire, solitaire Mahjong and, erroneously, as Mahjong...
|
| as Blizzard Entertainment |
BlackthorneBlackthorne is a computer and video game, a cinematic platformer, that was developed by Blizzard Entertainment....
|
1994 |
Platform gameA platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
|
The Death and Return of SupermanThe Death and Return of Superman is a beat 'em up video game based on the Death of Superman storyline. It features many characters from the comics, including Superman himself, Superboy, Steel, Cyborg, the Eradicator, and Doomsday...
|
1994 |
Side-scrolling video gameA side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
|
| Warcraft: Orcs & Humans |
1994 |
Real-time strategy game |
Justice League Task ForceJustice League Task Force is a Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis tournament fighting game developed by Sunsoft and published by Acclaim in 1995. The Mega Drive version was co-developed by Condor, Inc...
|
1995 |
Versus fighting game |
Warcraft II: Tides of DarknessWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a fantasy-themed real-time strategy game published by Blizzard Entertainment and first released for DOS in 1995 and for Mac OS in 1996...
|
1995 |
Real-time strategy game |
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark PortalWarcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal is an expansion pack developed by Cyberlore Studios, released in 1996 by Blizzard Entertainment for their award winning real-time strategy computer game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness...
|
1996 |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
| Diablo |
1996 |
Role-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
|
| The Lost Vikings II |
1997 |
Side-scrolling video gameA side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
|
StarCraftStarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
|
1998 |
Real-time strategy game |
StarCraft: Brood WarStarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
|
1998 |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
| Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition |
1999 |
Real-time strategy game |
Diablo IIDiablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...
|
2000 |
Role-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
|
Diablo II: Lord of DestructionDiablo II: Lord of Destruction is an expansion pack for the hack and slash action role-playing game Diablo II...
|
2001 |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
Warcraft III: Reign of ChaosWarcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a real time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment on July 3, 2002 . It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe...
|
2002 |
Real-time strategy game |
Warcraft III: The Frozen ThroneWarcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy computer game developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the official expansion pack to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, requiring Reign of Chaos to play...
|
2003 |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
|
2004 |
MMORPGMassively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
|
World of Warcraft: The Burning CrusadeWorld of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, often referred to as TBC or BC, is the first expansion pack for the MMORPG World of Warcraft...
|
2007 |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich KingWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, often referred to as WotLK, WLK or Wrath, is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade...
|
2008 |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
| StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty |
2010 |
Real-time strategy game |
| World of Warcraft: Cataclysm World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following the last expansion Wrath of the Lich King. It was officially announced at BlizzCon on August 21, 2009, although dataminers and researchers discovered details...
|
2010 |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
Diablo IIIDiablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game in development by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise...
|
In Beta |
Role-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
|
| StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is an upcoming sequel and expansion pack to the military science-fiction real-time strategy game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and part two of the planned StarCraft II trilogy...
|
Under development |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
| World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the fourth World of Warcraft expansion pack. It was announced on October 21, 2011 by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2011.-Overview:...
|
Under development |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
| StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is an upcoming expansion pack to military science-fiction real-time strategy game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, and the third part of the StarCraft II trilogy, the second being Heart of the Swarm....
|
Under development |
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
|
| Titan (project name) Titan is the project name for a massively multiplayer online game being developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Speculation regarding the game began in 2007. Although the company has not officially released information, representatives have discussed it in an effort to recruit software developers....
|
Under development |
MMOA massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
|
Main franchises
Currently, Blizzard has three main franchises in the gaming industry:
WarcraftWarcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
,
DiabloDiablo is an action role-playing game franchise owned and produced by Blizzard Entertainment. , the series has sold over 18.5 million copies worldwide.-Story:...
, and
StarCraftStarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series centers on a galactic struggle for dominance between three species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the insectoid Zerg, and the enigmatic Protoss—in a...
.
Notable unreleased titles include
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the ClansWarCraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was a black comedy point-and-click adventure computer game under development by Blizzard Entertainment that was set in the Warcraft universe, and cancelled before its release...
, which was cancelled on May 22, 1998,
Shattered Nations, and
Starcraft: GhostStarCraft: Ghost is a military science fiction stealth-action video game under suspended development by Blizzard Entertainment. Part of Blizzard's StarCraft series, the game was announced in 2002 and was to be developed by Nihilistic Software for the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 video...
, which was "Postponed indefinitely" on March 24, 2006 after being in
development hellIn the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
for much of its lifespan, and whose current status is in question. The company also has a history of declining to set release dates, choosing to instead take as much time as needed, generally saying a given product is "done when it's done."
Pax Imperia II was originally announced as a title to be published by Blizzard. Blizzard eventually dropped
Pax Imperia II, though, when it decided it might be in conflict with their other space strategy project, today known as StarCraft. THQ eventually contracted with Heliotrope and released the game in 1997 as
Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain.
Blizzard Entertainment has announced that they will be producing a
Warcraft live-action movie. The movie will be released by
Legendary PicturesLegendary Pictures is an American film production company, whose parent company, Legendary Entertainment, is based in Burbank, California and was founded by Thomas Tull in 2004...
. They have recently announced that director
Sam RaimiSamuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
has agreed to direct the upcoming movie.
Privacy controversy and Real ID
On July 6, 2010 Blizzard announced that they were changing the way their forums worked to require that users identify themselves with their real name. The reaction from the community was overwhelmingly negative with multiple game magazines calling the change "foolhardy" and an "Epic Fail". It also resulted in the largest user response ever on the Blizzard forums. This included personal details of a Blizzard employee who gave his real name "to show it wasn't a big deal". Shortly after revealing his real name, personal information was posted including his phone number, picture, age, and home address.
Some technology media outlets suggested that displaying real names through Real ID is a good idea and would benefit both Battle.net and the Blizzard community. But others were worried that Blizzard were opening their fans up to real-life dangers such as stalking, sexual predators, and employment issues, since a simple Google search by your employer will reveal your online activities.
Blizzard initially responded to some of the concerns by saying that the changes would not be retroactive to previous posts, that parents could set up the system so that minors cannot post, and that posting to the forums is optional. However due to the huge negative response, Blizzard President
Michael MorhaimeMichael "Mike" Morhaime is the president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment , a video game developer located in Irvine, California, currently owned by Activision Blizzard...
issued a statement rescinding the plan to use real names on Blizzard's forums for the time being.
Warden Client
Blizzard has made use of a special form of software known as the 'Warden Client'. The Warden client is known to be used with Blizzard's Online Games such as Diablo and World of Warcraft, and the Terms of Service contain a clause consenting to the Warden software's RAM scans while a Blizzard game is running.
The Warden client scans a small portion of the
code segmentIn computing, a code segment, also known as a text segment or simply as text, is one of the sections of a program in an object file or in memory, which contains executable instructions....
of running processes in order to determine whether any third-party programs are running. The goal of this is to detect and address players who may be attempting to run unsigned code or third party programs in the game. This determination of third party programs is made by
hashingA hash function is any algorithm or subroutine that maps large data sets to smaller data sets, called keys. For example, a single integer can serve as an index to an array...
the scanned
stringsIn formal languages, which are used in mathematical logic and theoretical computer science, a string is a finite sequence of symbols that are chosen from a set or alphabet....
and comparing the hashed value to a list of hashes assumed to correspond to banned third party programs. The Warden scans all processes running on a computer, not just the World of Warcraft game, and could possibly run across what would be considered private information and other
personally identifiable informationPersonally Identifiable Information , as used in information security, is information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single person or can be used with other sources to uniquely identify a single individual...
. It is because of these peripheral scans that Warden has been accused of being
spywareSpyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's...
and has run afoul of controversy among
privacyPrivacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
advocates.
The Warden's reliability in correctly discerning legitimate vs illegitimate actions was called into question when a large scale incident happened when many Linux users were banned after an update to Warden caused it to incorrectly detect Cedega as a cheat program. Blizzard issued a statement claiming they had correctly identified and restored all accounts and credited them with 20 days play.
The Warden is not the first time Blizzard Entertainment has been accused of attempting to inspect customers' computers. In 1998 Blizzard Entertainment had a class action lawsuit filed against them 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 desistA cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letter to the developers of an
open sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
clone of the Warcraft engine called
FreeCraft, claiming
trademark infringementTrademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees...
. This hobby project had the same gameplay and characters as
Warcraft II, but came with different graphics and music.
As well as a similar name,
FreeCraft enabled gamers to use
Warcraft II graphics, provided they had the
Warcraft II CD. The programmers of the clone shut down their site without challenge. Soon after that the developers regrouped to continue the work by the name of
StratagusStratagus was a free cross-platform real-time strategy game engine used to build other games. It is written in C with the configuration language being Lua. SDL, gzip and bzip2 are among the external libraries used.-History:...
.
World of Warcraft Private Server Complications
On December 5, 2008, Blizzard issued a
cease and desistA cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letter to many administrators of high population
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
private servers (essentially slightly altered hosting servers of the actual
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
game, that players do not have to pay for). Blizzard used the
Digital Millennium Copyright ActThe Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
to influence many private servers to fully shut down and cease to exist. In 2008 a private server by the name of ChaosCrusade was served with a DMCA notification.
Founder Electronics infringement lawsuit
On August 14, 2007, Beijing University Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. sued Blizzard Entertainment Limited for copyright infringement claiming 100 million
yuanThe yuan is the base unit of a number of modern Chinese currencies. The yuan is the primary unit of account of the Renminbi.A yuán is also known colloquially as a kuài . One yuán is divided into 10 jiǎo or colloquially máo...
in damages. The lawsuit alleged the Chinese edition of World of Warcraft reproduced a number of Chinese typefaces made by Founder Electronics without permission.
MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
On July 14, 2008, the U.S. District of Arizona ruled on the case
MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc and Vivendi Games, Inc., No. 06-2555, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53988, 2008 WL 2757357 , is a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona...
The Court found that MDY was liable for
copyright infringementCopyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
since users of its
GliderGlider, also known as WoWGlider or MMOGlider, was a bot created by MDY Industries, which interoperates with World of Warcraft. Glider automates and simplifies actions by the user through the use of scripting to perform repetitive tasks while the user is away from the computer...
bot program were breaking the End User License Agreement and Terms of Use for
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
. 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. 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.
Battle.net 2.0
Blizzard released its revamped Battle.net service in 2009. This service allows people who have purchased Blizzard products (
StarCraftStarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
,
StarCraft II,
Diablo IIDiablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...
, and
Warcraft IIIWarcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a real time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment on July 3, 2002 . It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe...
, as well as their expansions) to download digital copies of games they have purchased, without needing any physical media. In the future, it will store a player's "Blizzard Level" (similar to a Gamerscore).
On November 11, 2009, Blizzard required all
World of Warcraft accounts to switch over to Battle.net Accounts. This transition now means that all current Blizzard titles can be accessed, downloaded, and played with a singular Battle.net login.
Companies created by former employees
Over the years, some former Blizzard employees have moved on and established gaming companies of their own:
- Flagship Studios
Flagship Studios was a computer game company founded by Bill Roper along with Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, and David Brevik, the original developers of Diablo and former high level Blizzard North executives...
, creators of Hellgate: LondonHellgate: London is a dark fantasy themed action role-playing game originally developed by Flagship Studios, released on October 31, 2007. It was developed by a team headed by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, some of whom had overseen the creation of the Diablo series...
, also worked on MythosMythos is a multiplayer computer role-playing game that was originally under development by Flagship Studios Seattle, a subdivision of Flagship Studios, a video game company composed largely of ex-Blizzard North employees who were lead producers of the Diablo series...
.
- ArenaNet
ArenaNet is a computer game developer and part of NCsoft Corporation, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien, Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain and located in Bellevue, Washington...
, creators of the Guild WarsGuild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...
franchise.
- Ready at Dawn Studios
Ready at Dawn Studios LLC is a video game developer located in Irvine, California and is composed of some former members of Naughty Dog and Blizzard Entertainment...
, creators of DaxterDaxter was very well received by critics. IGN gave it a 9/10 and GameSpot gave it a 9.1/10. It has a 86.2% at Game Rankings. As of June 11, 2008, the game has sold 2.3 million copies.-External links:*...
, God of War: Chains of OlympusGod of War: Chains of Olympus is an action-adventure game developed by Ready at Dawn and released by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable in March 2008....
and an Ōkamiis an action-adventure video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. It was released for Sony's PlayStation 2 video game console in 2006 in Japan and North America, and 2007 in Europe and Australia...
port for the WiiThe Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
.
- Red 5 Studios
Red 5 Studios is a computer game company currently most known for their high ratio of former employees of Blizzard Entertainment. The founders previously worked on World of Warcraft. Mark Kern was Team Lead, William Petras was Art Director, and Taewon Yun was part of the company's Korean operation...
, currently working on Firefall, a free to play game MMOG.
- Castaway Entertainment
Castaway Entertainment was a video game developer. It was established by former employees of Blizzard Entertainment's Blizzard North division, the studio responsible for creating Diablo and Diablo II. It is based in Redwood City, California...
, currently in a state of financial crisis, ceased working on a game similar to the Diablo series, Djinn.
- Click Entertainment, creators of Throne of Darkness
Throne of Darkness is a Japanese-themed action-oriented computer role-playing game released in 2001 by Sierra Entertainment, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal. Players control up to four different samurai at a time...
.
- Carbine Studios, currently working on a massively multiplayer title "WildStar".
- Turpitude Design, founded by Stieg Hedlund
Stieg Hedlund is a computer and video game designer, artist, and writer with over 20 years of experience who has worked on more than 30 games in the video game industry...
.
- Hyboreal Games, founded by Michio Okamura
Michio Okamura is a computer game developer and artist. He was the lead artist for the popular computer game Diablo, and senior artist on Diablo II. He designed many of the game's characters, including the title character. He is currently the Creative Director at U.I...
.
- Runic Games
Runic Games is a Seattle-based American computer game company formed by Travis Baldree , Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer , Peter Hu, and the Flagship Studios Seattle team responsible for Mythos. It is a subsidiary of Perfect World Co., Ltd...
, founded by Travis Baldree, Erich Schaefer, and Max Schaefer; creators of TorchlightTorchlight is an action role-playing game developed by Runic Games and published by Perfect World, released for Windows in October 2009. The fantasy-themed game is set in the fictional town of Torchlight and the expansive caverns and dungeons nearby, which adventurers explore to collect valuable...
.
- Undead Labs
Undead Labs is a Seattle, Washington-based game development studio developing a zombie-survival game for Xbox 360. It was established by Jeff Strain in 2009, and has since brought artists and programmers who have worked on titles like Guild Wars and Diablo to their team.On 3 February 2011 Undead...
, founded by Jeff StrainJeff Strain is a game programmer and one of the three founders of ArenaNet. He served ArenaNet and NCsoft as the leader of the Art and Production teams and President of Product Development respectively. He was previously the lead programmer of Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft; he also created...
. Currently working on a Zombie MMO for consoles.
See also
- BlizzCon
"BlizzCon" is an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo...
- Blizzard North
Blizzard North was the Bay Area division of Blizzard Entertainment, known for the Diablo series. The studio was originally based in Redwood City, and then moved a short distance away to San Mateo, with Blizzard proper being based in Irvine .-History:Blizzard North was originally an independent...
Company and corporate
The Bnetd case