NEW: Even Blizzard president Mike Ybarra doesn't know what the Xbox era will look like. But free of Activision influence, Blizzard now enjoys more autonomy than it has in many years. Plus: the next StarCraft game may not be an RTS. My story from BlizzCon: https://t.co/telZ0xdJFI pic.twitter.com/iy04JeYjr8
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 6, 2023
That's part of it. But the most significant pressure point under Kotick was to make everything bigger and come out more frequently
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 6, 2023
Developers at Blizzard Entertainment, the maker of popular video-game franchises such as Diablo, Warcraft and Overwatch, nervously prepared for a big meeting with their new bosses.
On Blizzard’s Warcraft team, leaders scrambled to compile a PowerPoint presentation, as they would have in days past, detailing their vision for the future and the products they had in development. But when Spencer arrived at Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, California, he told them something pleasantly unexpected. He wasn’t interested in talking business. He just wanted to check out their games and meet their staff.
Before long, Spencer was battling orcs and trolls on his phone while playing the new mobile game Warcraft Rumble. Afterward, the company served barbecue outside, and Blizzard employees lined up for hours to ask questions and take selfies with the Xbox executives.
“What they were trying to communicate to us was really wanting to get to know us,” said John Hight, general manager of the Warcraft franchise. “‘We’re not here to tell you what to do. We’re not coming in with a master plan. How can we help you?’ It was awesome.”
Blizzard staffers are particularly hopeful that the new regime will restore the studio’s sense of autonomy. In an interview, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra said that Spencer had indicated that he wants Blizzard to be more like the independent studio it once was.
“I absolutely love that,” Ybarra said. “It motivates the teams.”
Before the acquisition, Blizzard’s hits, misses and delays could significantly impact the share price of Activision. Moving forward, Blizzard will account for a much smaller slice of the $2.6 trillion Microsoft — a difference that, in theory, could ease the overall pressure on the studio and give Ybarra more leeway to share numbers and results with his employees.
“Those kind of changes, I think, are going to increase transparency in an awesome way,” he said.
Ybarra said that on the heels of the acquisition he still intends to have big teams working on the largest franchises. But he is also open to less mainstream projects, including a possible return for StarCraft. Under Kotick, many Blizzard staff members with experience developing real-time strategy games left the company. So if the franchise does return, Ybarra hinted that the next iteration could be in a different genre altogether.
“It’s not me saying, ‘Go make a StarCraft game,’” Ybarra said. “I need to have someone who has the vision and passion that comes with the idea, and I’ll bet on that team.”
Ybarra, who spent more than two decades at Microsoft before joining Blizzard in 2019 and becoming president in 2021, said he has yet to discuss his own future with Spencer. He would like to stay at the studio as long as possible.
“Someone will drag me out of Blizzard,” Ybarra said. “That’s how long I will be here.”
