Mike Morhaime Starts New Gaming Company, Dreamhaven

Originally Posted by Wyattbw09

If Morhaime can talk Metzen into joining, it will be a damning condemnation of Activision and Blizzard's management.

Should be "how Corporates kill creativity" as I dont think ATVI snr management (of which Mike was a key member) get to shoulder the blame.
Idealistically being a Fanboy of Blizzard products you want to blame them but ultimately it's being a listed Corporate which kills it.

I expect Mike would have lost a lot of Blizzards freedom when Titan failed.

oggers: Real shit

Originally Posted by Nnyco

Considering they dont even have a game planned yet i doubt well see anythin from em for a few years.

dont worry - what they have planned is the campaign on every founding platform

and naive people will drop them buckets of $$$$$ for nothing but marketing materials.

i still hear that ppl saying „Activision has no influence“ echoing in my head. yeah, of course.

As long as their ambitions are not to make the next big thing but instead focus on smaller games with a focused story and gameplay they might succeed, and if they stay true to their words I hope they will because game development has become such a hostile industry.

Originally Posted by Osmeric

You missed the part where he didn't own Blizzard at that time.

I know but if someone buys it’s because someone sells.

What did he think? That shareholders would have cared about quality over money? In which world?

I don’t have anything particular against him, Blizzard is still my fav software house, but let’s not pretend he did not imagine how the story would have ended if they merged with Activision.

I also bet that years “in prison” brought him quite a hella lot of money.

It’s just fine he decided to step out and embark into a new journey but if Blizzard had to start feeling the revenue pressure it’s cause of him too.

Just a reminder that Rob Pardo quit a few years ago, started Bonfire Studios, and outside of the occasional announcement hasn't been much of a presence since. Bonfire has released no titles that I'm aware of nor have they even dropped a name for a project. A lot of the same things that are being said in this thread were said then. Whatever Morhaime is up to with Dreamhaven I wouldn't be expecting to see much any time soon. Likely for a few years if their first release is going to be something =big=.

I do wish everyone at Dreamhaven (including Pardo and Bonfire) a ton of luck. We can always use more good games. On another cautionary note, Morhaime was CEO during the whole Titan debacle and that was at a time when developers were given a lot of free rein at Blizzard.

I still believe that the entire Titan project and its cancellation was an extremely traumatic experience for everyone at the top at Blizzard and has affected those that remain and everyone who has left to a great extent. Overwatch was their first new IP in a while and that was launched four years ago. It's not a great record and Morhaime starting up a company that will give developers a friendly environment to indulge themselves may prove to be quite a risk. You may not see an actual game for sale before 2024 or 2025.

Originally Posted by Lobosan

I'm sure they'll be VERY successful, just like that other company filled with former Blizz guys, Bonfire Studios...

LOL totally forgot about them, wonder what they are doing now.

Other companies didnt work, money and leadershipskills, but mike has funds, good devs and he has experience with leadership. I think we will see a game come out very fast.

Originally Posted by Nerovar

Shots fired at Blizzard. lul

I cannot stress enough how excited I am for their first game so I can drink the tears of the fanboys when they realize nothing is ever gonna make them feel like <their favorite expansion> did.

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Originally Posted by Doffen

Dreamhaven will kill WoW. Just like Wildstar did.

Bro thats not fair bro...wildstar was a grindy game that wasn't direct with its leveling path and easy end ga....oh god.....

Ah right, just like Blizzard once was. And as soon as they some sort of success, they find out that having lots of money is really nice too and they go the corporate way. Like all of them.

Anyone who believes that Dreamhaven will remain a a game that cares more about player happiness than money is incredibly naive.

Originally Posted by Checkt

I cannot stress enough how excited I am for their first game so I can drink the tears of the fanboys when they realize nothing is ever gonna make them feel like <their favorite expansion> did.

You sound like a well-adjusted individual.

Originally Posted by chiddie

I know but if someone buys it’s because someone sells.

What did he think? That shareholders would have cared about quality over money?

Yes, someone sold. It wasn't him. At most Morhaime would have said he was ok with the transaction. But then every employee of Blizzard was in that position: they could personally go along with it, or they could quit.

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Originally Posted by TheRevenantHero

Anyone who believes that Dreamhaven will remain a a game that cares more about player happiness than money is incredibly naive.

This. Companies like Activision go the directions they do because that's ultimately how profits gets maximized. The purpose of a company isn't to be pure in its adherence to a vision; it's to serve its customers and, by doing so, make money. If a company does not serve its customers, some other company will.

Originally Posted by Osmeric

Yes, someone sold. It wasn't him. At most Morhaime would have said he was ok with the transaction. But then every employee of Blizzard was in that position: they could personally go along with it, or they could quit.

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This. Companies like Activision go the directions they do because that's ultimately how profits gets maximized. The purpose of a company isn't to be pure in its adherence to a vision; it's to serve its customers and, by doing so, make money. If a company does not serve its customers, some other company will.

Basically what will happen is this: It might START caring more about players than profit just to lure people in. Then when they have a safety net in the form of piles of money, they'll just switch to being a shitty company like all the big publishers.

Originally Posted by Xires

yeah, because decades in the industry and they have NO CLUE how much resources they need. You people need to stop putting what is going on in YOUR HEAD into the heads of others. If the man is making another company...he's got it all planned out and has decades of knowledge on the matter. YOU on the other hand...want him to fail.

No i dont want him to fail, the more good games to play the better, but its also alot diffrent being ceo at Blizzard and having Wow bringing in tons of money each month and having thousands of people working for you, and then go to start from 0 and try to create something with only the money you have yourself, seen many new companys the last years starting up with we will do everything outself, and later needing to find partners that could help them with money or other resources.

I'll admit; I'm actually a little surprised he didn't wind his way over to Bonfire Studios, but I'm definitely thrilled to see Morhaime staying in the industry. It's clearly going to be a smaller operation (same as Bonfire, who still doesn't have anything announced), but I'm hopeful we may actually see some of classic Blizzard in either of these studios.

Sounds like a lot of good people there. They just need a few more and it will be just like before. Heck, i might start buying "BLizzard" games again. I just hope it wont end up the same way in the end.

Originally Posted by shise

You do not know that and, obviously, that is the opposite to the real case. They would not create two studios if they didn´t have ideas.
Most likely he has something in mind which has been there for decades already and now found a good time to get on with it and see what happens.


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I wonder... could this be the "beginning" of something coming from the echo of the famous project Titan?

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Lots of respect for him. I´d go as far as calling him a hero of the gaming industry, and no, I am no die hard fan or something.

I really look forward to see if something comes out, which I expect to happen. But we probably won´t hear much more about it all for a good couple of long years, and then a good couple more.

I mean, his first statement about Dreamhaven (its even in the name of the company for God's sake) is taking MASSIVE shots at Activision Blizzard...

No, this is not going to be project Titan you ditz. That has already been talked about by Blizzard themselves. Project Titan was an MMO version of Overwatch that was not coming close to working out, so they cut the cord with it turned it into Overwatch.

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Originally Posted by Daemos daemonium

Years later after he helped hurt the industry and drove blizzard into its current course all while profiting heavily.

Is a hero some one who helped caused a problem while pocketing money to You?

So you were there? You saw every decision he made and therefore have some kind of inside knowledge as to how Blizzard got swallowed by Activision that was a direct result of what Mike did? I mean, the only thing that guy ever truly did (before Activision bought out Blizzard) was try to build the best possible games he could. He did that with Frank and Allen.

Now I agree with you that he is not a hero, but he is definitely not this nasty image you are painting of him.

Originally Posted by Aggrophobic

Sounds "old-school" to me.

lol fair ... except that single-player part.