Blizzard absorbs Activision Studio after dismantling the classic game team

(Bloomberg)-Video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. takes a new step in strengthening control of Blizzard Entertainment, a division that once boasted of autonomy, by moving its 200-person design studio to the ranks. It was. The studio’s Vicarious Visions has been a subsidiary of Activision since 2005, working on franchises such as Skylanders, Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk. Instead of creating your own game, we will focus entirely on Blizzard’s franchise, including Diablo. Former Vicarious Visions studio head Jennifer Oneal will take a seat on Blizzard’s leadership team and report directly to the president. The news reported by GamesIndustry.biz arrived just weeks after Blizzard quietly dismantled one of its internal development teams. Familiar with the company.

Blizzard, the maker of games such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch, has traditionally developed most games in-house. However, in recent years, Activision’s publishing department has played a stronger role in Blizzard’s business. Based in Albany, NY, Vicarious Visions has been working with Blizzard in the Diablo franchise since last year, including a remake of Diablo II. They asked not to reveal their identity when discussing personal information.

A Blizzard spokesman refused to comment on Vicarious Visions’ current project, only confirming that the studio “has been working with Blizzard for some time.”

Until last year, the Diablo II remake was planned to be developed by Blizzard’s Team 1, which is part of the Irvine, California campus, which became known for its classic game remakes. Its latest release was a remake called Warcraft III: Reforged in January 2020. The title was rated low due to glitches and lack of functionality, with 59 out of 100 points on review aggregator Metacritic. This is the lowest score the Blizzard game has ever scored.

Team 1 members got together to discuss what went wrong. An internal Blizzard document reviewed by Bloomberg identified the game’s failure with poor planning, misunderstandings, and hasty releases due to financial pressure from management, among other factors. For example, according to some people working on Warcraft III: Reforged, Blizzard announced the game in November 2018 and started pre-ordering for 2019 without prior notice to most of the development team.

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Team 1 wanted to avoid repeating the mistakes of remaking Warcraft III: Reforged’s next project, Diablo II. However, shortly after his death, Blizzard withdrew the project from the team and took charge of the department behind Diablo IV. The Vicarious Visions group is also working on a remake known as Diablo II: Resurrected.

On October 15, 2020, Blizzard informed Team 1 members that they were reorganizing the entire division, according to those working on Warcraft III: Reforged. In the next few weeks, team members were given the opportunity to interview for work elsewhere in Blizzard. The number of people who couldn’t find a position in the company was gradually reduced. Frost Giant Inc, started by Blizzard co-founder and former CEO Mike Morheim. And Dream Haven Inc. Others heading to independent studios recently started by prominent corporate veterans, such as, have broadly signaled the beginning of the Activision acquisition.

Team 1 was also responsible for the Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft II games. Blizzard delayed development support for Heroes of the Storm in 2018. On the same day Blizzard announced the reorganization of the division, StarCraft II announced that it would end all ongoing development.

Blizzard has promised to continue fixing and updating Warcraft III: Reforged, but may do so with another outsourced team. A spokeswoman did not see who was handling the ongoing development of Warcraft III: Reforged, but said, “We are still working on updates to support the community.”

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