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Blizzard vets form new mobile MMO company
At this point, we're beginning to think there are more former Blizzard employees than current Blizzard employees -- and they all form their own companies! The newish Silicon Valley startup, entitled Booyah, was recently announced earlier this year from ex-Blizzard vets Keith Lee, Brian Morrisroe and Sam Christiansen. This company aims to create what they're calling a "playful life companion", marrying the qualities of an MMO, social network sites and Apple's iPhone. This new project aims for a public unveiling in late Spring of 2009. So... like a month?What makes this project extra interesting is the fact that Booyah's advisory board consists of Blizzard's executive vice president of game design, Rob Pardo, and vice president of marketing for Nexon, Min Kim. Ok, now we're ready to take this project a bit more seriously. "We were immediately compelled by the promise of Booyah and the background of the founders," said Matt Murphy, one of the investment partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who recently gave Booyah $4.5 million in Series A financing. "The iFund was created to help build the most promising and innovative businesses that utilize the discrete capabilities of the iPhone and iPod touch. Booyah is a terrific example."
Former Blizzard devs at Booyah plan iPhone app
Booyah is a company put together by former Blizzard devs (makers of classic games like World of Warcraft and Diablo) and funded by the iFund, and they've been keeping fairly mum on what they've been up to. Until now, that is -- they've updated their website and dropped a press release, and it looks like they're working on some iPhone software. What kind of software, exactly? Well, we're not quite sure -- it sounds like a game, because there's playing involved, but they're also using phrases like "life companion" and "social experiment," which makes it sound like a social networking app with some sort of game or virtual pet mechanics involved. And they are also hinting at a larger pattern of charity or cause-based action -- they told Kotaku that they want to tap into people's "life passions," and Gamasutra was told that the app itself is a "kernel miniproduct" that they plan to expand into a larger movement.Blizzard's own Rob Pardo is an advisor to the team (and the product was originally pitched to Blizzard), but really that's the only clue here that this is anything more than startup hype -- we've seen social networks flash and fizzle already on the iPhone, and even game-based social networking tools like Foursquare haven't really found their tipping point yet.But we won't judge fully before we've seen it -- Booyah says they'll be showing their cards "this spring" (so before June 21st?). We'll be watching.
