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Blizzard CEO and president Mike Morhaime steps down
Mike Morhaime has been a part of Blizzard since it was founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, Inc., and now he's stepping down from his role as president and CEO. Former executive producer and senior VP for World of Warcraft J. Allen Brack will take over as president, while Ray Gresko (Overwatch, Diablo III) will step in as chief development officer, while co-founder and former WoW lead designer Allen Adham will join the executive leadership team. In a statement, Morhaime said "After many years of working with some of the industry's most talented people to create games and worlds for you to play in, I've decided it's time for someone else to lead Blizzard Entertainment. I will now serve as an advisor to the company I so love and admire...I truly believe that this amazing community has the potential to be a shining light to the rest of the industry by setting a positive example of inclusivity, tolerance, and acceptance toward others. In the words of one of Blizzard's core values: remember to always play nice; play fair. "
World of Warcraft once again tops 10 million subscribers
The last time we checked in on Blizzard's wildly successful online roleplaying game World of Warcraft, the MMO was bleeding players and subscriber numbers had fallen to 7.7 million. Thanks to the newly-launched Warlords of Draenor expansion, however, the game's fortunes have turned around. According to an Activision Blizzard press release, Warlords of Draenor sold through more than 3.3 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability. Additionally, the publisher reports subscriber growth "across all major regions" has once again boosted the now decade-old online game's total subscriber tally above the 10 million mark. "We're thrilled that so many players jumped in to play Warlords of Draenor on day one and are having a great time with the new content," said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. "We poured a lot of hard work and passion into this expansion, and we appreciate all the kind words from players and the overwhelming support they continue to show for World of Warcraft." [Image: Activision Blizzard]
Heroes of the Storm's closed beta starts January 13
Heroes of the Storm's closed beta starts January 13th. So sayeth the Blizz at today's BlizzCon. "We've very much enjoyed sharing the Technical Alpha with you, and your feedback over the past eight months has helped us make Heroes even more epic," Mike Morhaime said during today's opening festivities. "Thank you, as always, to everyone who has shared their thoughts on the game with us thus far. We can't wait to hear more from all of you as we move toward Closed Beta testing in January." If you're looking for an invite, make sure you opt in to the HotS testing via your Battle.net account management beta profile settings page. BlizzCon returns to Anaheim during the weekend of November 7th and 8th, 2014! Whether you're anticipating World of Warcraft's Warlords of Draenor expansion or the latest news from Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm, we aim to have it covered!
Blizzard officially cancels Titan
If you were holding onto hopes that Titan would be the next great thing from Blizzard, it's time to douse yourself with a cold bucket of reality. Polygon is reporting that Blizzard has officially canceled the Titan project, saying that it ultimately wasn't fun. "We had created World of Warcraft, and we felt really confident that we knew how to make MMOs, so we set out to make the most ambitious thing that you could possibly imagine," CEO Mike Morhaime commented. "And it didn't come together. We didn't find the fun. We didn't find the passion. We talked about how we put it through a reevaluation period, and actually, what we reevaluated is whether that's the game we really wanted to be making. The answer is no." Senior Vice President Chris Metzen said that the decision was necessary as the studio goes forward: "We were losing perspective and getting lost in the weeds a little. We had to allow ourselves to take that step back and reassess why the hell we were doing that thing in the first place." The studio didn't put out details on what Titan was going to be, except that it had "some cool hooks." Blizzard also said that it isn't going to be working on another MMO at this time, but won't rule out the possibility of a follow-up to World of Warcraft in the future. If you want to tease yourself with "what if," you can read Massively's summation of the Titan project.
Blizzard cancels Titan
Well, it's official - Blizzard has stopped all work on their mystery next-gen MMO Titan. The never announced project is as dead as Starcraft Ghost. In the interview with Polygon Mike Morhaime says that Blizzard 'didn't find the fun' and that they attempted something very ambitious only for it to never really come together. Chris Metzen states that the decision to pull back was 'excruciating' - "We were trying to do the right thing and build the right, smart product, and keep it all moving," Metzen said. "The opportunity to get that perspective and dust off a little bit, scraped knees and all, stand back up and reevaluate as a team, as leaders, as a culture - it was a big blessing." We reported last year when Titan went back to the drawing board - seems like it may have been a victim of Blizzard's desire to really only focus on the one MMO. When asked about supporting World of Warcraft, Metzen said "My hope personally is that we'll support it forever." Alas, Titan, we never knew ye.
Blizzard's Morhaime responds to player concern for diversity in WoW
Diversity is certainly a hot topic everywhere in the world today, and MMO communities are no exception. In particular, World of Warcraft has been under the microscope several times in the last few years for an imbalance of gender representation. When WoW player Starcunning wrote an open letter to Blizzard president Mike Morhaime that questioned the studio's treatment of its female players, including then-CCO Rob Pardo's statement that diversity isn't something that Blizzard is actively trying to do, she probably didn't expect a real response. Interestingly enough, Morhaime did respond with some real promise about making diversity a priority for the team. "We are very conscious of the issues you raise and are discussing them more than ever, at every level of the company, in an effort to make sure our games and stories are as epic and inclusive as possible," Morhaime promised. "Blizzard's employees form a broad and diverse group that cares deeply about the experiences we are creating for our players. And we know that actions speak louder than words, so we are challenging ourselves to draw from more diverse voices within and outside of the company and create more diverse heroes and content."
Mike Morhaime apologizes for lack of diversity in Blizzard games
It's been a bad year or so for women in Blizzard games, for a lot of reasons. At BlizzCon, Warlords of Draenor was described as a "boy's trip" that Aggra wasn't invited to -- which fits with the Warlords marketing material that shows almost exclusively male characters (a few women appear in the trailer and one in the art, but they're unnamed). But Warlords isn't the only concern: the company's April Fool's joke came off as tone-deaf to many, Heroes of the Storm uses female characters as eye candy (which game director Dustin Browder argued didn't send a message), and, recently, Rob Pardo stated in a talk at MIT that diversity wasn't really a value for the company. Though Warlords has come a long way since BlizzCon and both Browder and Pardo apologized, the fact that any of these things were an issue in the first place is off-putting -- at best -- to female gamers. Even long-term Blizzard fans have started to wonder why they're continuing to play in a gaming world that didn't accept women amongst the cast of heroes. It's from this place of disappointment that Starcunning wrote to Mike Morhaime, explaining why she's walked away from Blizzard's games. The surprise, however, is that Mike Morhaime responded stressing Blizzard's commitment to listening to the playerbase and building games that are fun for everyone. Mike Morhaime We are very conscious of the issues you raise and are discussing them more than ever, at every level of the company, in an effort to make sure our games and stories are as epic and inclusive as possible. Blizzard's employees form a broad and diverse group that cares deeply about the experiences we are creating for our players. And we know that actions speak louder than words, so we are challenging ourselves to draw from more diverse voices within and outside of the company and create more diverse heroes and content. We are also actively looking at our story development and other processes to ensure that our values are fully represented. We've always believed that positive, lasting change comes from examination, discussion, and iteration, and this applies as much to story as to gameplay. There is no reason why inclusivity should come at the expense of an amazing game experience. source
Diablo III tops 14 million sales across all platforms
Between the PC, the XBox 360, and the PlayStation 3 versions, in excess of 14 million copies of Diablo III have been sold since the game launched last year. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime announced the figure during an inventor call last night. He added that recent praise about the action RPG is centered on changes to the loot system and the fact that the auction house was ditched on consoles. Morheim continued, "Players and critics alike have noted that these changes have resulted in a more fun and satisfying game experience. That reaction factored in our decision to remove the auction houses from the PC version of Diablo 3 effective next March, which players have also responded very positively to."
Blink-182 will bring BlizzCon to an 'epic conclusion'
Blizzard's already starting its surprises for BlizzCon, announcing that the punk rock group Blink-182 will be closing the convention on November 9th. The concert is scheduled to wrap up BlizzCon 2013, and Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime can't stop gushing about the big show: "After two days of hard work watching games and playing games and talking about games, we can't think of a better way to kick back and relax than to have your face melted by Blink-182. We're thrilled to have such an awesome band helping us bring BlizzCon to an epic conclusion." While BlizzCon is completely sold out, fans can still purchase a Virtual Ticket from the site or a Pay Per View event from DIRECTV to see Blink-182's performance.
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 Titan 'unlikely to be a subscription-based MMORPG'
What's going on with Titan? Only Blizzard knows for sure, and today the gaming giant offered a quick blurb regarding its long-rumored MMORPG during an investor call. "We're in the process of selecting a new direction for the project and re-envisioning what we want the game to be," said Blizz CEO Mike Morhaime. "While we can't talk about the details yet, it is unlikely to be a subscription-based MMORPG."
The Daily Grind: Should World of Warcraft go free-to-play?
There's only one Western subscription MMO that can stand to lose 1.3 million subs in three months and shrug it off: World of Warcraft. But shrug it off doesn't appear to what Activision-Blizzard is doing. During the investor call that revealed the heavy sub losses, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick acknowledged the changing market and his plans to adapt with speedier content. "It's important to note that the nature of online games has changed," he said, "and [that] the environment [is] becoming far more competitive, especially with free-to-play games." And Blizzard president Mike Morhaime suggested the company is "studying" the comings and goings of players and how to entice former players to return. Well, we don't have to look much further than Star Wars: The Old Republic's recent rejuvenation to figure out that free-to-play is one of the better ways to entice gamers to return (and open their wallets). Surely, Blizzard has to be wondering whether F2P might be a huge boost to the game as it's approaching its ninth birthday later this year. What do you think -- will World of Warcraft eventually go free-to-play, and more importantly, should it? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
BlizzCon's golden tickets going on sale in two batches
Grabbing one of the year's hottest tickets will be a tricky prospect, especially considering how fast BlizzCon typically sells out. However, Blizzard is giving everyone a fair chance at grabbing one of these tickets by announcing the dates and times that they'll be going on sale. Dates plural? Yes indeed! BlizzCon tickets will be sold in two batches, first on Wednesday, April 24th, at 10:00 p.m. EDT and second on Saturday, April 27th, at 1:00 p.m. EDT. The tickets for the two-day convention are $175, although if you want to package in the Children's Hospital benefit dinner with the show, you'll be looking at parting with $500. The studio also assured fans that it will once again be selling virtual tickets to BlizzCon, although specifics regarding these have yet to come. BlizzCon is taking place on November 8th and 9th at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.
BlizzCon returns in November
After skipping a year, BlizzCon is back, baby! The near-annual Blizzard convention is scheduled to take place on November 8th and 9th at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. The event will provide hands-on time with Blizzard's titles, an e-sports tournament, dev panels, and contests. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime is looking forward to the return of the convention: "BlizzCon gives us a chance to connect with our players and share our latest projects in a very personal way. Members from all of our gaming communities have helped make this event bigger and better every time, and we look forward to meeting up and celebrating with them in November." While tickets are not yet on sale, the official BlizzCon site has posted hotel info for those looking to make Anaheim their temporary place of residence come this fall.
Mike Morhaime talks about eSports, pro-gaming
If for some reason you didn't recognize this year's Battle.net World Championship as a move towards cementing Blizzard's role in the pro-gaming world, Mike Morhaime is making the subtext into text. Clearly, with the release of Starcraft II's Heart of the Swarm expansion coming on in March 2013, Mister Morhaime's been thinking about how eSports are going to evolve, and whether or not there's a role for them in the US market. There's a lot of room for improvement in that area. It's really going to take mainstream news publications to start treating eSports like sports, and when events like this happen, report on them. Give them the recognition that they deserve. These guys are very good, and I think that the people that follow eSports recognize them as at the same level as pro athletes, but I think the mainstream press really needs to start covering it that way as well. So to take a look at Mike's thoughts about how piracy affected Warcraft, how Starcraft II functions as an eSport, about what he calls 'so-called free to play games', about the lack of respect for pro gamers and a lot more, head on over to Forbes and read what the man has to say. 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.
Patch 5.1: Latest build is a release candidate
On logging in to the Patch 5.1 PTR this morning to investigate some other issue, WoW Insider noticed a rather important change to the version information, which can always be found to the bottom left-hand side of the screen. This usually indicates the build of the PTR that is active on servers, notable but not of huge interest, but it recently changed: While this is exciting, it definitely doesn't mean that Patch 5.1 is ready to go live. This is one of what could well be several release candidates, far from a complete version. At the Activision Blizzard Investor Call, however, Mike Morhaime did mention that World of Warcraft had more content coming during the holiday season. Will Blizzard be able to keep up this pace? While patch 5.1 isn't complete, it's only been 8 weeks since the launch of Mists of Pandaria. 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 moves 2.7 million Mists of Pandaria units in first week
After two rounds of speculation, we finally have an accurate read on Blizzard's Mists of Pandaria sales numbers. The firm moved approximately 2.7 million copies of World of Warcraft since its September 25th launch. This doesn't count sales in China, where the expansion debuted on October 2nd. The company also reports that its global player base has surged upwards of 10 million subscribers. "With Mists of Pandaria, we set out to expand on the sense of fun and discovery that's always been at the heart of World of Warcraft -- in addition to adding a huge variety of new content and features to the game," said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. "It's been gratifying to see the results of all of the work we put into this expansion and to hear all of the positive feedback from players so far." [Source: Blizzard press release]
Blizzard's Morhaime: MoP is a 'bigger, meatier expansion' than Cataclysm
Blizzard bigwig Mike Morhaime gave an interview to GamesIndustry.biz today to coincide with the launch of World of Warcraft's latest expansion. "One of the things people will notice with Mists of Pandaria in comparison to our other expansions is the variety of things there are to do; it will feel like a bigger, meatier expansion compared to Cataclysm," Morhaime said. He also talks about the ongoing post-launch plans for Diablo III as well as the e-sport community surrounding Blizzard's StarCraft franchise. Morhaime also offers a frank assessment of the reasons for Star Wars: The Old Republic's quick move to a free-to-play model. "Probably if they [BioWare] had to do it over again they might have held the game over and worked on the endgame content a bit more," he said.
Mike Morhaime confirms BlizzCon is on for 2013
President and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Morhaime has confirmed the news everyone wanted to hear: There will definitely be a BlizzCon in 2013. Morhaime pointed out this year is a big year for Blizzard releases, so resources had to be focused on games rather than conventions. However, next year will see a return of BlizzCon and it should be back with a vengeance, according to Morhaime. Morhaime appeared on a recent episode of TableTop, Wil Wheaton's board game celebrity poker-style show that's featured on the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel created by Felicia Day. After playing a rousing game of Elder Sign, Morhaime did a quick interview about his history with Blizzard, Warcraft's development, gaming, and heavy metal, as well as the BlizzCon mention. When you're done watching the interview, pop in and take a look at the full episode of TableTop with Mike Morhaime, Felicia Day, and Bill Prady, co-creator and executive producer for The Big Bang Theory. Sure, it's not Warcraft, but it's a rollicking good time. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!]
Blizzard internal network hacked, some Battle.net account details compromised
Blizzard Entertainment has just posted an "important security update" to its official site. The studio responsible for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, and StarCraft revealed that its security team "found an unauthorized and illegal access" into Blizzard's internal network. While Blizzard president Mike Morhaime explains that no financial data (like credit card details, real names, and billing addresses) were compromised as a result of the security breach, he does admit that emails, answers to security questions, and encrypted Battle.net passwords of North American players (and others outside of China) were accessed. "Based on what we currently know, this information alone is NOT enough for anyone to gain access to Battle.net accounts," wrote Morhaime, but the company is still investigating the breach and recommends that all players change their passwords "as a precaution."
