‘Blizzard 2.0’ Storms In to Make the Games Blizzard No Longer Wants To
Hundreds of former employees have left to create their own studios where they can make beloved real-time-strategy video games like Warcraft
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
In recent years, a stream of developers and executives from top video game publisher Blizzard have left to create their own studios, seeking the creative freedom and autonomy they feel is no longer possible at a company chasing mega hits.
Now an alumni network, affectionately dubbed Blizzard 2.0 by some in the gaming community, has sprung up in Irvine, California, the same town where Blizzard has a sprawling campus. Hundreds of ex-employees, including the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer for decades, have spread out there across a half a dozen independent studios.