Schreier took on the task of writing about Blizzard just before Microsoft announced its intent to buy Activision Blizzard.
Since the deal closed,sweeping layoffs have rocked theentire company.
During the mid-to-late 2000s, the in-game world Azeroth boasted more residents than several small nations.
© Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainmentis out Oct. 8.
Preorders are available now.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
© Photo: Blizzard Entertainment
What Was it Like Working at Blizzard Entertainment?
Youre pretty much the de-facto Blizzard expert at this point.
Jason Schreier:Its strange because I never worked there.
Employees gather for a group photo during a walkout at Activision Blizzard offices. Activision Blizzard Inc. employees called for the walkout on Wednesday to protest the company’s responses to a recent sexual discrimination lawsuit and demanding more equitable treatment for underrepresented staff. Photo: Bing Guan/Bloomberg
Ive been to their campus maybe twice in my life.
So in many ways, I have blind spots.
I dont know what it was like to be there day to day.
The joint exhibition area of Blizzard Entertainment. Photo: Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
I dont have that firsthand experience.
Schreier:I think it is a unique part of Blizzards culture.
The California lawsuit I mentioned earlier was because of some cultural issues.
And that caused some problems.
That also obviously led to good things for those people in their relationships.
Its a complicated subject, for sure.
Schreier:I think there are a couple of things.
One is that they were undoubtedly, undeniably, really good programmers.
They got some really elite talent.
This one guy at Interplay I spoke to said they worked with a lot of developers.
Blizzard was the best.
They knew how to put in those little details and polish everything and really take everything to an A+.
That included people who ran some in the video game companies.
And there is some merit to that.
Then the question becomes, if were only hiring gamers, are we going to reject potentially talented people?
And that ethos alone can cause some problems.
Gizmodo:You described the Blizzard office as a frat house in the book.
It always smelled like sweat.
Schreier:Blizzard really changed a lot as the years went on.
And for some women, it was hard.
There are some really bad examples of things that happened.
Its a bizarre thing to think about because most companies today are not like Blizzard was.
Even back then, most companies were not like that.
It was not only the stains and beer on the carpets.
Blizzard became your life.
When youre not working, youre playing games with people from work.
Blizzard was an extra inextricable from their lives.
But also those people in the office became their friends.
Schreier:It was everything.
It was the pressure.
It was the culture.
For some people, it was exhilarating and fun.
And for some people, it was awful.
For most of them, it was both.
I have a little anecdote in the book.
In the original StarCraft, you had these hero levels.
But that ruined peoples personal lives and relationships.
Schreier:The publishers were pretty hands-off with Blizzard for a long time.
And that was true for a very long time, until 2013.
In 2013 Blizzard canceledTitan, which was an $80 million debacle.
It was supposed to be their next big MMO, the successor to World of Warcraft.
Bobby Kotick was very excited about it.
So canceling that was a major blow.
And so that led to Activision beginning this whole process where they started applying more and more pressure.
That was the beginning of the end for Blizzard as people knew it.
Schreier:So Dreamhaven is announcing its next game next month.
So itll be interesting to see what happens there.
Itll be interesting to see what happens there.
Which I think was symbolic of some of their problems and led to some of their problems.
Dreamhavens first game is directed by women, which I think is notable for sure.
There was overt sexual harassment or more pervasive and insidious kind of subtle systemic discrimination.
Or they would say, Hey there, no women in leadership here.
There are no women directors here.
How can I possibly advance?
Gizmodo:And now Activision has merged with Microsoft.
Its now a mega-megalithic game company.
As you were finishing this book, theres been massive layoffs at Microsoft and elsewhere.
Where do you think the games industry goes from here?
Where does Blizzard go from here?
Schreier:Its really hard to make any predictions about what Xbox is thinking.
Its all over the place, and it does not seem to have a consistent strategy.
So, its hard to know what they want to do with Blizzard.
There was a lot of optimism surrounding the buyout on Blizzards campus for what it might mean.
Xbox head Phil Spencer came in, playing the games, and people lined up to meet him.
Three months after that, hundreds of people were laid off.
Is What Happened With Blizzard a Bad Sign for the Games Industry?
Is it possible we will reach a breaking point for the games industry?
Schreier:This is definitely not a new phenomenon.
I would say the video game industry has always been like this.
So, no, I dont really think much has changed.
I mean, as far as a breaking point, I feel like weve already hit a breaking point.
I think things are broken.
But I do think whats happening now, the scale is bigger than its ever been.
And thats largely because game companies hired more people than they ever had before in the wake of Covid.
So the numbers are much higher now.
But it feels like a correction to an industry that has just always been like this.
Its par for the course.
A lot of the companies that were Blizzards peers no longer exist.
Westwood no longer exists, Sierra no longer exists, Interplay no longer exists.
And that is not because they were all just releasing flops.
Its because thats the way this industry works.
One guy made Animal Well, and thats incredible.
Will we see another Blizzard in our time?
Schreier:Whats crazy about Blizzard is that any company in the world would kill to haveWarcraft.
That said, I mean, maybe thats for the better.
Maybe Blizzard had some problems that shouldnt be replicated.
Its hard to imagine a company quite on the same level as Blizzard ever again.
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