https://classic.wowhead.com/news=297...by-john-staats
From the book:
There was nothing magic about Blizzard; it was simply one of the only companies in the industry not forced into Faustian bargains with “dumb money” publishers. Because we financed our own games, we could afford to maintain high standards; this was extremely rare and it gave us an important advantage in that we weren’t tethered to short-sighted partners with their own agenda. Publishers, distributors, and retailers can take 80–90 percent of sales revenue, leaving little return for the studio to reinvest into its own people (with bonuses) or funding future projects. Studios working with publishers rarely have control over their games, especially the shipping dates, which means polishing is never guaranteed. Blizzard didn’t have investors, marketing people, or other non-gamers dictating what to make or when to ship it, or even how it should look. There were no suits. Everyone in the company played games, from the CEO down to our receptionist. We even turned away qualified programmers who didn’t play games.Can there be any doubt left that the Blizzard we knew and loved, the one that once gave us quality games, for gamers by gamers, is well and truly dead? Its very soul consumed by Activision?Without constantly answering to impatient investors, Blizzard executives had more autonomy. This freedom meant they could delay or cancel their own projects and turn over more control to the employees building the games. And the fact that management frequently solicited opinions demonstrated their genuine interest in our input. If the worker bees resisted a decision, management put on the brakes and listened. It was still management’s call, but the fact that employees had a say in the matter made all the difference. If the executives did something we didn’t like or understand, they gave us the reasons for their decisions—usually by giving us pieces to the puzzle we weren’t previously aware of, and it usually made us feel better knowing the “bigger picture.”