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Rob Pardo argues that the Olympics should include e-sports
E-sports should totally be a part of the Olympics. Or so said former Blizzard CCO Rob Pardo in a BBC interview. "Video games are well positioned to be a spectator sport," Pardo said. "There's a very good argument for e-sports being in the Olympics. I think the way that you look at e-sports is that it's a very competitive skillset and you look at these professional gamers and the reflexes are lightning quick and they're having to make very quick decisions on the fly." Pardo conceded that championing e-sports in Olympics might come down to the age-old argument of whether a sport must include physical activity or simply skill-based competition.
Should Warcraft be an Olympic sport?
Professional e-sports exist and can draw in significant interest - people watch streams on Twitch, top players can earn significant money, and we've seen people come out to watch them at places like BlizzCon and the Worldwide Invitational. But is it really a sport, and should we be seeing it in the Olympics? Rob Pardo, former chief creative officer at Blizzard, argues yes in this interview with the BBC. In the interview, Pardo discusses the physical and mental ability of some of the best players in the world, how many decisions they made in a short period of time, as well as the draw of the games as a spectator sport. To be fair, he's mostly talking about games like Starcraft, but his other point about games and cultural definition as to what is and isn't a sport seems more likely to hamper gaming at an Olympic level than anything else. It's just not very common for an activity that takes place in front of a computer to be seen as a sport. For the complete interview, head over to the BBC.
Rob Pardo leaves Blizzard
In a rather surprising move, Blizzard's Executive Producer Rob Pardo announced today that he is leaving the company. At this time he has announced no immediate career plans or subsequent goals, although he mentions a desire to spend the summer with his family and consider his next move. Pardo's forum announcement thanks the design teams for all of their hard work and notes that he has immensely enjoyed his time with the company; he expresses great satisfaction at the growth of the company and all of the changes that have come about during his tenure there. Pardo mentions that he began working with the studio during development of the original StarCraft, having since worked on titles including Diablo III, World of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm. He has promised fans that he will attempt to be communicative about his next move via Twitter. [Thanks to Dystopiq for the tip!]
Rob Pardo is leaving Blizzard
Rob Pardo, currently Blizzard's Chief Creative officer, announced on the forums that he's parting ways with Blizzard Entertainment. Pardo has been a fixture of the company for 17 years now, and though he isn't saying -- yet -- where he's headed next, he did offer a thank you to Blizzard's fans and community: Rob Pardo The Blizzard community is ultimately the reason why we come to work every day and pour our souls into every world and experience we create. Blizzard's players are the most passionate in the world and your commitment and dedication are truly awesome to behold. Creating entertainment for you has been an incredible opportunity, and I know that you will continue to grow and become even stronger as a community over the years to come. It has been so meaningful on a personal level to help create joy for all of you. source Thanks for the games, Rob -- we'll be keeping our eyes open for what you're working on next.
World of Warcraft's Rob Pardo designs Magic: the Gathering card
If you play Hearthstone, there's at least an average chance you've heard of, if not played, Magic: The Gathering. If so, then check out this card designed by none other than Rob Pardo, Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard Entertainment. I haven't played Magic in years and I was never very good, but that seems like one heck of a card. It'll be part of the Magic 2015 set, and was previewed at this year's E3. Now I want everyone at Blizzard to design a card. Let's see Samwise's card. At least get him to do the art on one. It's funny, because Xathrid here reminds me a bit of Lilian Voss, who some say is a reference to this M:tG character (Blizzard says no.) Which is too bad, because it would be hilarious if we ended up with some kind of circular back and forth transfer between M:tG and WoW.
Blizzard: Sexy Heroes of the Storm characters 'not sending a message'
Blizzard is about fun and fantasy, not about preaching diversity, the studio said. Polygon pulled quotes from Heroes of the Storm Game Director Dustin Browder in which he defended the sexualization of the MOBA's female characters by claiming that, "We're not sending a message. Nobody should look to our game for that." He also claimed that he didn't "get the applications" of specifically hiring female developers for the title. Browder later apologized for those remarks. But this month, Blizzard Executive Producer Rob Pardo acknowledged that the studio still struggles in its portrayal of women, explaining that "most of [Blizzard's] developers are guys who grew up reading comics books." "We're not trying to bring in serious stuff, or socially relevant stuff, or actively trying to preach for diversity, or do things like that," Pardo said.
BlizzCon 2013: World of Warcraft Adventure Continues Q&A
The World of Warcraft: The Adventure Continues panel during Friday's action-packed BlizzCon featured Lead Narrative Designer Dave Kosak giving a short presentation on the story behind the new expansion, Warlords of Draenor. Along with the history lesson, which was summed up by Matthew Rossi, the panel also featured a brief Q&A session that wasn't advertised in the program, but proved to be a pretty good list of questions and answers about the new expansion and what we can expect to see. Along with some clarifications on whether or not this is a time travel expansion (it isn't), there are also a few new lore reveals regarding the next expansion, and some tasty tidbits of odds and ends that have yet to be addressed. Read on for the full list of questions -- some of the answers may surprise you.
Hearthstone coming to iOS, Android in 2014, PC/Mac beta launching next month
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is stocking up on card protectors in preparation for taking its deck on the go for ports to iOS and Android devices, Massively reports. A North American open beta for the initially planned PC and Mac versions is also scheduled for next month, but as Blizzard CEO Rob Pardo jokingly reminded us, "in Blizzard-speak, that might be January." Those interested in the game's beta can sign up for consideration right now. Update: For the sake of clarity, this article has been updated to specify that the planned open beta is for the PC and Mac versions of Hearthstone.
Hearthstone Open Beta next month
Rob Pardo, chief creative officer and go-to guy for Hearthstone announcements, has a whole lot of news for us involving that game. But one of the most interesting (especially for people who aren't in the closed beta yet, but who want to be) is that, if you haven't gotten into the closed beta, you won't have to wait much longer. Pardo announced that, yes, Hearthstone will have its open beta "within a month... although, it's Blizzard time, so maybe January". So if you're desperate to start experiencing Blizzard's entirely online TCG, take heart. You will have your chance soon enough. Literally Blizzard soon. Rob said so!
Project Titan: A brief history of a game that doesn't exist
For the last several years, the MMO community has been abuzz with rumors regarding Blizzard Entertainment's Project Titan. Long reported to be a brand-new MMO based on an entirely original intellectual property, Titan was a top-secret project discussed only through occasional interviews, job postings, and hearsay. No footage ever slipped through the cracks; no early alpha build accidentally leaked to the web. Unfortunately, Project Titan as we knew it is no more. Rumors broke in May that development on the project had been restarted from scratch, and Blizzard offered comments that didn't so much as confirm those rumors as lend them a hefty amount of credence. Now it seems as though whatever we might have known about Titan may no longer apply, and whatever Blizzard had created so far may never see the light of day. With that in mind, let's take a little adventure through the rumorsphere and look back on the history of Project Titan and the stories surrounding it.
Blizzard's Rob Pardo asks players to direct Diablo III blame to him
When Jay Wilson announced that he was leaving his position as director of Diablo III, the forums were filled with responses. To the surprise of absolutely no one who has visited any forum in the history of the Internet, many of those responses were some variety of blaming Wilson for every issue the game might have or claiming that the game is clearly being abandoned completely. That didn't sit well with executive producer Rob Pardo, who took to the forums to tell players that if they want someone to blame, blame him. Pardo explains that he's extremely proud of the game and that everyone remains dedicated to making it the best it can be. At the same time, he stresses that he was responsible for hiring and overseeing Wilson's work, and he takes full responsibility for the game as a whole. The odds of this actually defusing forum vitriol are still roughly nil, but it does ensure that at least in Pardo's eyes it will be directed in a more deserving direction, and it's a classy move no matter what you think of the game.
Blizzard running Diablo III on consoles internally
The good news is that Diablo III is now available to play on consoles. The bad news is that you'd have to apply and get accepted for a job with Blizzard to see it. The company admitted that it's continuing its experiments with a console version of Diablo III, saying that the game is running on a non-PC platform in the office. Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo said that this doesn't signal a certainty from the company, just an indication of its interests: "We're still kind of exploring it. We've got builds up and running on it. We're hoping to get it far enough along where we can make it an official project, but we're not quite ready to release stuff about it, but it's looking pretty cool." Blizzard said that it wants to expand Diablo III, has plans for an expansion, and will be revealing "the next big thing" for the franchise during the next year.
"Awesome," the next expansion will be
Fresh off the Twitter-sphere today is news that the next expansion will be "awesome." What kind of awesome? Well, the kind of awesome that Rob Pardo (Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard) delivers. And no matter what, awesome is better than Pardo announcing the next expansion will be terrible. So there's that at least... Its been pretty fun getting deeply involving with WOW again. The next expansion is going to be awesome :) - Rob Pardo (@Rob_Pardo) October 26, 2012 All jokes aside, it is notable that Pardo is tweeting his involvement in this, even though he's always had his hand in WoW's expansions. Pardo does go on to say as well: @officrnasty Oh don't worry... we will go plenty slow lol. This is Blizzard after all :) - Rob Pardo (@Rob_Pardo) October 26, 2012 Pardo's announcement would have been a little bit cooler if he said it in Yoda-style. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Blizzard's Pardo: Single-player games are an endangered species
Blizzard big cheese Rob Pardo recently revealed his doubts about the future of single-player games in a wide-ranging interview with GamesIndustry.biz. "It's really sad," Pardo said. "There's just a lot of elements out there that conspire to make those games difficult to make now. Between pirating or the ability for people to rent games, it's hard for publishers to pour millions and millions of dollars into a game and not necessarily see the return they need to make those budgets realistic." The interview delves into the pervasive social connectivity inherent in many current-gen games, and it also touches on everything from cloud gaming to monetization and business models. Pardo says he's a fan of game designers dictating the monetization models rather than leaving it up to a producer or an executive. "Someone that's more business-oriented or production-oriented will graft a business model onto a game because that's what they think is going to drive the most revenue, but the game doesn't really support it," Pardo explains.
Blizzard has 'no particular fear' of Windows 8
Blizzard might be coming around to Windows 8, if only for practical business reasons. Blizzard Senior Software Engineer Darren Williams told CVG that the studio will support Windows 8 and expand to the OS in the future. "We put our games on platforms our players are already on, so yeah, it will be available on Windows 8," Williams said. "There's no particular fear we have of Windows 8." This past July, Blizzard Executive Vice President Rob Pardo said that Microsoft's upcoming operating system and its features were "not awesome" for the company.
Windows 8 is 'not awesome for Blizzard either' says studio exec
Calling Windows 8 "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space" may not endear Valve's Gabe Newell to the folks at Microsoft, but it struck a chord with a member of Blizzard Entertainment's top brass. Rob Pardo, Executive Vice President of Game Design at the Irvine-based company, took to Twitter and chimed in on the matter, stating that Windows 8 is "not awesome for Blizzard either." While far from a resounding indictment, it's not the warmest of welcomes for Redmond's latest desktop OS. By the sounds of it, the October-bound operating system will have to win over a few hearts and minds in the game development community.
Valve, Blizzard wary of Windows 8
Earlier this week Valve head honcho Gabe Newell made headlines by labeling Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space." Newell, whose company is responsible for the Steam digital download service, is concerned that Microsoft's move toward a closed platform will adversely affect game developers and publishers. Blizzard executive vice president Rob Pardo chimed in to support Newell's comments via Twitter. Microsoft's bid to control applications and Windows Store purchases is "not awesome for Blizzard either," Pardo tweeted.
Blizzard and Valve settle DOTA argument, Blizzard DOTA is now Blizzard All-Stars
Blizzard has dropped a short-and-sweet press release (reprinted below) informing us that it has landed on a "mutual agreement" with Valve regarding the contested "DOTA" trademark. DOTA, of course, stands for "Defense of the Ancients," which is a fanmade map and mode for Blizzard's Warcraft 3, originally based on a Starcraft map. Developer "IceFrog," who's overseen the DOTA map since 2005, has gone to work for Valve on DOTA 2, while Blizzard has been working on its official variation of the game, previously called Blizzard DOTA.The mutual agreement means that Valve will get the rights to use the "DOTA" trademark commercially, so DOTA 2's name won't change. Blizzard reserves the right for fans to use the trademark noncommercially, but will give up the DOTA name for its official variant. That game will instead be called Blizzard All-Stars, "which ultimately better reflects the design of our game," said Blizzard executive VP Rob Pardo. "We look forward to going into more detail on that at a later date."Valve's Gabe Newell also gave comment, saying that Valve is "pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one." Blizzard All-Stars doesn't have a release date yet, and DOTA 2 is due out next year.
Diablo 3 to feature player-to-player real money auction house for virtual items
Diablo 3 will sport a couple of in-game auction houses to sell items from player to player. One will be run entirely with in-game gold (very similar to the current WoW Auction House), and one will let players sell and buy items with actual money. During a press event at its headquarters in Irvine, CA last week, Blizzard Entertainment showed off both the Diablo 3 beta and its associated Battle.net service. While most of the Battle.net features were pretty standard (there will be persistent friends lists, cross-game communication, and full matchmaking services for all of the game modes), the auction system stood out. Yes, Diablo 3 players will be able to spend real money on in-game items, but rather than a traditional item store, Blizzard plans to create a system wherein players sell items to each other -- the eBay of Sanctuary, if you will. Players will be able to put items up for sale in each of the game's various regions around the world (with a different real-world currency for each), and other players will be able to spend real money to buy them, with the real-world money going back to the original item owners. Blizzard will take fixed fees (as yet unrevealed, though they'll be "nominal") out of the sale price both when an auction goes up for sale and when it is actually sold. And when an item is sold, players will either be able to keep earned money in a Battle.net account for spending on Blizzard products and services, or cash out entirely, with another, percentage-based fee through a not-yet-announced third-party payment provider. As you might imagine, Blizzard's been thinking about this one for quite a while. Vice President of Game Design Rob Pardo shared a lot of thoughts with us, including why they're going with a system like this, how it will all work, and what this means for the future of Diablo 3, Blizzard Entertainment, and the gaming market at large.%Gallery-129629%
Blizzard bigwigs recall company's first 20 years
Twenty years is a long time, and to illustrate how long (and make you feel old in the process), let's do a little retrospective. In 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev led the Soviet Union, James Cameron's Terminator 2 and Kevin Costner's Robin Hood ruled the box office, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was flying off toy store shelves everywhere following its August release. Also in 1991, a software company known as Silicon & Synapse started its life by working on ports for other gaming companies before re-branding itself as Blizzard Entertainment three years later. In a new interview at PC Gamer, Blizzard bigwigs Frank Pearce, Mike Morhaime, and Rob Pardo talk about the company's past, present, and future, as well as where PC gaming is headed in general. "I think the effect we're on the verge of having -- at least for World of Warcraft specifically -- is that right now, gaming is on the edge of not being the basement-geek entertainment anymore," Pardo says.
