Jason Schreier, a Bloomberg journalist and author of "Play Nice," delves into the tumultuous saga of Blizzard Entertainment, the giant behind beloved games like Warcraft. He highlights the stark transition from a creative powerhouse to a company marred by workplace scandals and mismanagement. The discussion covers crucial topics, including the impact of the Activision merger, a toxic workplace culture, and how Microsoft’s acquisition reshaped the company amid layoffs and corporate challenges. Jason’s insights reveal the intricate balance between creativity and corporate pressures in the gaming industry.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Humble Beginnings
Blizzard Entertainment started with a small loan and a focus on making enjoyable games.
Co-founders Adham and Morhaime prioritized creating games they loved, unlike other business-driven companies.
insights INSIGHT
Creative Freedom vs. Business
Early Blizzard prioritized creative freedom over business, leading to crunch.
This created tension as the company grew and faced external pressures.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Cendant Fraud
Blizzard's parent company, CUC, merged with HFS to become Cendant.
Cendant was then involved in accounting fraud, causing turmoil at Blizzard.
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Play Nice chronicles the 33-year saga of Blizzard Entertainment, from its humble beginnings to its current struggles with corporate takeover and scandals. Based on interviews with over 300 current and former employees, the book delves into the company's creative highs and lows, including the impact of Activision's influence and the sexual misconduct lawsuit that led to a $69 billion acquisition. It offers a vivid portrait of the gaming industry's complexities and challenges.
Today, I’m talking to Jason Schreier, a Bloomberg journalist and author of the new book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. If you don’t know Blizzard, you do know its games — the studio behind Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch has achieved legendary status over three decades. At the same time, the company has become emblematic of many of gaming’s biggest failings.
Jason’s book is out on October 8th, and it’s an incredible, detailed accounting of how Blizzard started, grew into a hitmaker and, eventually, became a victim of its own mismanagement. Oh, and there are a series of chaotic acquisitions along the way, culminating in Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard last year. In this episode, Jason and I get into all of this and more.
Links:
Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment | Hachette
How Blizzard’s canceled MMO Titan fell apart | Polygon
Blizzard was built on crunch, co-founder says, but it’s ‘not sustainable’ | Polygon
Inside Activision and Blizzard’s corporate warcraft | Bloomberg
Blizzard cofounder’s new company Dreamhaven aims to recreate old magic | Bloomberg
Activision Blizzard’s rot goes all the way to the CEO, alleges report | The Verge
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