Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard Entertainment is an American video game developer and publisher whose roots reach back to 1991, when UCLA graduates Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce founded Silicon & Synapse in California. The young studio initially produced ports for other companies and created games including The Lost Vikings and Rock n' Roll Racing. It adopted the name Blizzard Entertainment in 1994, the year it released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, a real time strategy game that began its most enduring fictional universe. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness followed in 1995, while Diablo, developed by Blizzard North, arrived at the end of 1996. Battle.net, introduced with Diablo, became a major online gaming service by allowing players to meet and play through Blizzard's infrastructure. StarCraft launched in 1998 and became especially influential in South Korea's competitive gaming culture. Its Brood War expansion deepened the game's three faction conflict among Terran, Zerg, and Protoss. Diablo II followed in 2000, and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos in 2002. In 2004, Blizzard transformed Warcraft from a strategy series into the massively multiplayer online role playing game World of Warcraft. It became one of the genre's defining titles and received expansions including The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm. Blizzard later released StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty in 2010, Diablo III in 2012, and Hearthstone, a digital card game based on Warcraft, in 2014. Heroes of the Storm brought characters from multiple Blizzard settings into one arena. Overwatch, released in 2016, introduced a team shooter built around distinctive heroes such as Tracer, Winston, and Mercy. It won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2016. Overwatch League later attempted a city based professional esports structure. Blizzard also remastered earlier works through StarCraft: Remastered and Diablo II: Resurrected, while World of Warcraft Classic recreated earlier versions of its landmark online world. The company's corporate history includes acquisition by Davidson & Associates in 1994 and later ownership within Vivendi. The 2008 merger of Vivendi Games and Activision created Activision Blizzard. Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023, placing Blizzard within Microsoft Gaming. Morhaime departed in 2018, and cofounder Pearce left in 2019. Blizzard's record also includes serious controversy. California's civil rights agency sued Activision Blizzard in 2021, alleging workplace discrimination and harassment. The company disputed aspects of the allegations. These events complicated the legacy of a studio whose franchises shaped gaming.