Hindsight is certainly 20/20. However, when combined with a new vision for the future, it can be a powerful indicator of things to come.
For video gamers, and particularly computer gamers, the classic Blizzard of the 1990s and 2000s conjures up a sort of halcyon age of gaming. Heck, this is the company that basically helped birth eSports as we know it now with the release of StarCraft and its almost immediate success in the South Korean market.
But now, as part of Activision, some people just think that Blizzard has changed – and not for the better.
Don’t worry, it looks like the old Blizzard might be coming back – at least in spirit.
In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Blizzard founder Mike Morhaime outlined his vision for his new studio Dreamhaven and it sounds like it could be Blizzard 2.0. And that is a more than welcome thing for many of us. Morhaime said that he and his wife Amy Morhaime, among others, hope to bring together a team of people that share their values.
We’ve learned a ton about what goes into creating an environment that allows creators to do their best work, and we were very successful doing that for many years at Blizzard. We reached a crossroads where we reassessed what we want to do with the rest of our lives. For Amy and I, that meant taking a step back, looking at all the things that we could possibly do and deciding to come back full circle and engage with a team of people that we know and trust and share values with and see if, “Hey, with all the experience we have, maybe we can do it even better this time.”
Morhaime via the Washington Post
Morhaime isn’t just blowing smoke either as many of the new employees of Dreamhaven are actually veterans from Blizzard itself. According to the Washington Post, some of the veterans include Dustin Browder, Jason Chayes, Chris Sigaty, and Ben Thompson. Their experience encompasses titles like StarCraft II, Hearthstone, and World of Warcraft
Morhaime told the Washington Post that things might be easier this time around because of having resources and existing toolsets.
“There’s a lot of technology that’s available pretty reasonably for us to be able to build off of,” Morhaime said. “And the business climate is a lot more friendly to game development start-ups. So it’s mostly exciting. Maybe 10 percent, you know, scary.”
Morhaime’s vision isn’t just to make compelling games like Blizzard but also to demonstrate to the world that video games can be a force for good. In this respect, he hopes Dreamhaven can act as an example for other publishers with similar goals.
What do you think of Mike Morhaime’s vision for Dreamhaven? Did you play some of Blizzard’s classic titles back in the day? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments section below.
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