Mike Morhaime Starts New Gaming Company, Dreamhaven

[Laerrus]

This just confirms what we've known all along, Blizzard CEO does not hold the real power in the company since the merger. Activision does.

[Tiev]

Its funny, these companies always get this beautiful art and spend all this time on presentation, meanwhile they take a decade to produce a game.
What's up with that?
Is it that hard to get people to want to make a game together that you need to lure in attention before you have even started?

That generates hype, which generates eyeballs which generates funding from investors, is my bet.

Come to think of it, maybe not this time because they're going self funded.

[aceperson]

That generates hype, which generates eyeballs which generates funding from investors, is my bet.

well mike says dreamhaven will be self funded so there shouldn't be any investors. but ya, getting attention where you can. this is probably more of a PR move than anything.

[meheez]

Best of luck , can't wait for some great games.

[Xilurm]

So...How long until Chris Metzen and Allen Adham rejoin them?

Metzen has his own thing going on.

[Tiev]

well mike says dreamhaven will be self funded so there shouldn't be any investors. but ya, getting attention where you can. this is probably more of a PR move than anything.

Yeah, true. I just thought of it as well.

[Xilurm]

i see fake news all around this

He personally twitted this on his own account.

[glowpipe]

we want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures.

Activision: Big oof

[Zenfoldor]

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

Yeah, but there are a lot of ways to make money. I like this one:

Create really good, world class games, and use the power of reputation that those excellent games provide, to promote and sell those games for a profit. Offer great deals and small incentives to your loyal fans to further promote and build trust in your brand.

[Raven]

Pretty clear picture now that Activision do call the shots over at Blizzard. Bobby is so bad for the gaming industry, i stopped many many years ago buying any of Activisions IP as they just are all the same year on year and WoW is going that direction as well.

And when their new game have microtransactions and lootboxes, will evil Activision still be blamed ?

[Archmage Alodi]

Still waiting for Rob Pardo and Bonfire studio's first game...

[letssee]

lol right now theres Bonfire studios and dreamhaven.

[aceperson]

And when their new game have microtransactions and lootboxes, will evil Activision still be blamed ?

i certainly will if the new games do. just because he is a person known for quality doesn't excuse greedy practices. though I would think that he wouldn't do something like loot boxes since the company isn't suppose to pursue short-term financial gains.

[jediknight12]

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

[Hitei]

i feel both of you are oversimplifying this. mike is a guy who wants quality at any cost. yes, he did some bad things like defending loot boxes (firing people is unlikely to have been a choice of his, more likely it was something activision forced). it's possible he stayed for as long as he did because he needed more funds to self-publish and he left as soon as he was able to.

he's clearly not a hero because he didn't speak out against injustice but by no means is he some heartless villain.

That might be a good guess if Blizzard hadn't already been doing that shit long before Activision got involved. It's crazy how much people try to pretend Blizzard wasn't doing the exact same shit pre-merger that they do now.

[MrHappy]

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.

[apelsinjuice]

we want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures.

Activision: Big oof

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

[Dreyen]

"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.”

oof.. Sounds like they really didn't like the new Blizzard.

[gcsmith]

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

Yeah... CEO's all powerful beings that totally don't get replaced when the shareholders don't agree with the vision any more... not like that's a major plot point of various films *cough Sam Rami Spiderman cough*

[DingDongKing]

So these studios are basically an opposite of what Blizzard has bcome.