OVERVIEW

Blizzard Entertainment is a developer and

publisher of premier entertainment software

They primarily focus on massive online computer

video games

Link to website: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/

POPULAR GAMES BY BLIZZARD

CREATORS & HISTORY

Founded in 1991 by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and

Frank Pearce, all of whom are UCLA grads

Began as a third party content developer for other game

studios under the name Silicon and Synapse

They became independent by1994 after they produced many

successful games, primarily the World of Warcraft series

Since then they have been the big dog powerhouse in the

market of online gaming

MISSION STATEMENT

Blizzard Entertainment is “Dedicated to creating

the most epic entertainment experiences…ever.”

They list eight core values that guides their

mission and employees• Gameplay first, commit to quality, play nice; play

fair, embrace your inner geek, every voice matters, think globally, lead responsibly, and learn and grow

PURPOSE

They entertain millions of people by creating state of the art

computer games

They have created alternate realities in which people can vicariously

live as humans, orcs, dwarves, etc.

Along with the alternate realities comes a global community

People from all over the globe chat, interact, and game together

everyday in the alternate universe's that Blizzard has created

In short, they connect people from all parts of the world by

providing a positive gaming experience people can partake in

ONLINE GAMING DIVERSITY

COMPANY USES

Blizzard has recently came out with a line of video

games that’s primary focus is educating younger

gamers

This company is primarily used at home for

entertainment purposes. People literally spend hours

on end playing this company’s games and never get

bored of it

HOW THEY MAKE MONEY

Blizzard makes use of multiple avenues to make money

When you first purchase their product you have to pay for the software

itself

Depending on the game, people who play have to pay monthly subscription

fees in order to play online

They also sell products and merchandise for their games

They also sell products within their games. For example, you can purchase

fake gold for your character to use within in the game world

Blizzard does earn a profit, but a lot of that money is spent on maintaining

their servers and developing new games and graphics

ARTICLES ABOUT BLIZZARD

“Activision Powers Through the Holiday with Call

of Duty Sales” • http://www.foxbusiness.com/topics/industries/entert

ainment/blizzard-entertainment.htm• Activision is actually combined with Blizzard. This is

an aritlce about the success of the sales of “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.” It also goes into detail about what the game is about and the profits Blizzard earned from the game. Blizzard reached over $1 billion in sales within the first 15 days of the games release

MORE ARTICLES

“A Day in the Life- Mickey Neilson”• http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/b20/intervie

ws.html• This article is just what the title intends. An overview of

an average workday for Blizzard employee Mickey Neilson

• Mickey is the lead story developer for many games• The articles is a walkthrough every part of Mickey’s day.

Beginning with getting his daughter ready to school in the morning and ending with how he writes at home after work

• It’s a great article that gives a first hand account of what working for Blizzard would be like

ONE MORE ARTICLE

“Inside the World of Blizzard”• http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-08-20/in

side-the-world-of-blizzardbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

• This article looks at how Blizzard was formed and how they became so successful

• It explains Blizzard primary focus and how they achieve that purpose

• It examines what Blizzard is like today: a huge company that is worth over $40 million annually

• It also goes into detail about the Blizzard Activision merger and why it was a recipe for success

AN INTERESTING JOB

I think the story developer job would be awesome. I love video

games, especially the storylines associated with role playing games. I

also love writing.

The story developer oversees many different projects at one time

and is constantly working on new material

They are responsible for the storytelling aspect of the video games

Because everybody loves a good story, writers have to be extremely

creative and open to new ideas

This would be a great job in a great company