Mike Morhaime Starts New Gaming Company, Dreamhaven

[gcsmith]

Hearing them talk about company value is a little bittersweet. This is what Blizzard used to be about.
I'm happy that at least with WoW and the direction of player-based feedback and iterating on it. Torgast is prime example of this.
I am sad that it's really just the dedicated few trying to push past the BS of Activision.

Who knows, maybe they can get the capitol to buy Blizzard away from Activision lol

[Tiev]

I hope they make an MMO. And it hope it's amazing.

[glowpipe]

bobby kotic himself said he wanted to take the fun out of making games

Might make sense for him as a business person. Effective faster workers over happy slower workers.
But happy slower workers make a better and more fun game, and thats what gamers want to buy. Not assembly line asset flips and high quantity, low quality call of duties

[Nerovar]

Yeah, he was one of these powerless CEO guys, unable to control his own company's destiny.

Weird how his new company seems to stand for all the things that have been eroded away at Blizzard over the last decade while being made up of largely ex-blizzard employees. Must be a total coincidence.

I hope they make an MMO. And it hope it's amazing.

I'd love to see a new MMO with a design philosophy closer to old WoW. I'm sure they could make it work. A new RTS game would be neat as well.

[Beloren]

I hope they make an MMO. And it hope it's amazing.

I'm sorry, but if they could sell out their original creation and leave, what makes you think they won't do it again IF and a big IF they become successful?

It's way past the 90s, the visions that set up their current hits are antiquated today, and won't gain that kind of traction unless they upgrade, have they adapted/grown with the times? or is their charm and conviction so powerful it can turn the times to their tune? I will note however that many people crave the 90s/00s type fantasy without all this excessive PC/SJW stuff going on. So who knows.

Still, they would also face intense efforts from industry competitors who would exert their muscle to SHUT them down, Activision, EA and others would see a guy like that doing his own thing as a threat, and Mike's a nice guy, I wonder if will be able to handle them coming for him at such an early stage. This wasn't the case when he started blizzard, they were no bodies and nobody cared, they had hit after hit after hit that built their reputation and muscle, by the time they became major players for people to be wary about and attack, they had the size and muscle to stand on their feet. Not now.

But none of this matters if they can pull off a great game title. So we'll see.

[Mikah]

These studios ... are entirely self-funded.

development friendly, values product,

This is what worries me though. In other words, they are developping games that will sell for $2.49 in the google store...

[Dylamoo]

There's so much of that subtle we don't want to deal with shitty investors in this that the people who defend activation for not being the ones to ruin the company can no longer defend themselves. It's so very clear Activision took advantage of nerds in a business deal they wouldn't know anything about, and steered them to their downfall for short term profits. Did Activision achieve their goal? of course, they gained so much of that short term profit that they don't give two shits about the degradation and quality of the companies they buy out. Not saying they did wrong, Just saying that people need to stop pretending they aren't a force of bad for the gaming industry. The industry has proven to thrive if the quality of content is good, none of this shell out for nothing schtick.

[mrgibb]

"We’re almost trying to create a haven for creators who want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures.”

That´s the recipe for great games right there.

[Ielenia]

Shots fired at Blizzard. lul

And if they prove successful, they'll be bought by a bigger company, and the cycle will repeat, ironically enough.

[Aggrophobic]

Intresting. Wish them all the best.

[ihate2beapessimist]

Nice little sneak diss there 'free from pressures of chasing short-term profit'

Sadly even if their ideas take off they will get bought out eventually.

[Justank]

There's so much of that subtle we don't want to deal with shitty investors in this that the people who defend activation for not being the ones to ruin the company can no longer defend themselves. It's so very clear Activision took advantage of nerds in a business deal they wouldn't know anything about, and steered them to their downfall for short term profits. Did Activision achieve their goal? of course, they gained so much of that short term profit that they don't give two shits about the degradation and quality of the companies they buy out. Not saying they did wrong, Just saying that people need to stop pretending they aren't a force of bad for the gaming industry. The industry has proven to thrive if the quality of content is good, none of this shell out for nothing schtick.

I would never argue that the Activision merger had zero effect, but the reality is likely more complex than that. Blizzard itself is a huge company now, and was probably quite large even by the time of the merger (I don't know a specific employee count at that time). The larger it gets, the less control any individual is going to be able to exert over things like the culture they want in place, and certainly less of a hand in ensuring a certain level of quality across the board. The introductions for both Moonshot and Secret Door talk about keeping the teams relatively small, which, just like the talk of quality > short term profits, says to me the size of Blizzard was too much for Morhaime to keep active control over. At least not to his liking, and it probably has as much to do with the cultural shift away from product launch polish at Blizzard as Activision's involvement.

[woofpup]

Looking forward to seeing the projects they develop!

[Darkeon]

All good values and principles but, to be fair, same type of people let it get bought by corporation greed in the past.

[SinR]

shit, if this doesn't confirm the theory that Morhaime was given two options with regards to Blizzard (Quiet bow-out or Public execution) I don't know what does.

Let's see what he can do without Activision breathing down his neck about Profits and Deadlines

[XDurionX]

The amount of mmo-c.com crys about "THIS IS THE REASON HE QUIT - DESTROY ACTIVISION" lol - any big game studio is there for money, it's just the way it is lol

Yup, some people are up to a rough awakening.

[lagiacrux]

Weird how his new company seems to stand for all the things that have been eroded away at Blizzard over the last decade while being made up of largely ex-blizzard employees. Must be a total coincidence.

right now, this is nothing more but lip service. we can talk again if they have more to show than just words.

[fruitypebble]

To be clear I don’t think he’s a villain, it seems pretty clear that he’s like most people in the gaming industry who put money before the good of the industry or even the customer he’s middle of the road like almost every one in the industry.

You clearly don't know anything about the man, if this is your sincere belief. Mike is about as close to a real life teddy bear as you're ever going to find. His games and his family (including his workplace family) are his entire world, leaving Blizzard was probably one of the most heart-wrenching decisions he's ever had to make.

[Sigxy]

"We’re almost trying to create a haven for creators who want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures.”

I do hope they really mean it and it's not just PR talk. Guess they'll prove it when they release a game and see how much care has gone into it!

[Lolsteak]

they will probably never make a game that will be as successful as wow has been.

And?

New games don't have to be as successful as WoW to be a success