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Shortly thereafter, Blizzard released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Blizzard went on
to create several other video games, including Warcraft sequels,
the Diablo series, the StarCraft series, and in 2004 the massively multiplayer
online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Their most recent projects include
the first expansion for Diablo III, Reaper of Souls, the online collectible card
gameHearthstone, the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft, Legion,
the multiplayer online battle arena Heroes of the Storm, the third and final
expansion for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Legacy of the Void, and
the multiplayer first-person shooter Overwatch.
Blizzard Entertainment hosts conventions for fans to meet and to promote their
games: the BlizzCon in California, United States, and the Blizzard Worldwide
Invitational in other countries, including France and South Korea.
Contents
[hide]
1History
o 1.1Key employees
2Games
o 2.1Games developed
2.1.1Expansion packs
o 2.2Ports
o 2.3Main franchises
o 2.4Unreleased games
3Technology
o 3.1Warden client
o 3.2Battle.net 2.0
5Legal disputes
o 5.2FreeCraft
6Related companies
7See also
8References
9External links
History[edit]
Employees Rob Pardo and Tom Chilton, 2007
In early 1994, they were acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates for
$6.75 million ($10.9 million today).[10] That same year the company briefly
changed its name to Chaos Studios, before finally settling on Blizzard
Entertainment (after it was discovered that another company with the Chaos
name already existed).[11] Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their
breakthrough hit Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.
Blizzard has changed hands several times since then. Davidson was acquired
along with Sierra On-Line by a company called CUC International in 1996. CUC
then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS
Corporation to form Cendant in 1997. In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had
engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger. Cendant's stock lost
80% of its value over the next six months in the ensuing widely discussed
accounting scandal. The company sold its consumer software operations, Sierra
On-line (which included Blizzard) to French publisher Havas in 1998, the same
year Havas was purchased by Vivendi. Blizzard was part of the Vivendi
Games group of Vivendi. In July 2008 Vivendi Games merged with Activision,
using Blizzard's name in the resulting company, Activision Blizzard.
In 1996, Blizzard acquired Condor Games, which had been working on the
game Diablo for Blizzard at the time. Condor was renamed Blizzard North, and
has since developed the games Diablo, Diablo II, and its expansion pack Lord
of Destruction. Blizzard North was located in San Mateo, California. The
company originated in Redwood City, California.
Blizzard launched their online gaming service Battle.net in January 1997 with
the release of their action role-playing game Diablo. In 2002, Blizzard was able
to reacquire rights for three of its earlier Silicon & Synapse titles, The Lost
Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing and Blackthorne, from Interplay Entertainment and
re-release them for Game Boy Advance, a handheld console.[12] In 2004,
Blizzard opened European offices in the Paris suburb of Vlizy, Yvelines, France.
On May 16, 2005, Blizzard announced the acquisition of Swingin' Ape Studios,
a video game developer which had been developing StarCraft: Ghost. The
company was then merged into Blizzard's other teams after StarCraft:
Ghost was "postponed indefinitely". On August 1, 2005, Blizzard announced
the consolidation of Blizzard North into the headquarters at 131 Theory in UC
Irvine's University Research Park in Irvine, California. In 2007, Blizzard moved
their headquarters to 16215 Alton Parkway in Irvine, California.
The first expansion set of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on
January 16, 2007.[15] The second expansion set, Wrath of the Lich King, was
released on November 13, 2008.[16] The third expansion set, Cataclysm[17]
[18]
was released on December 7, 2010.[19] Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of
Draenor, were released respectively on September 25, 2012 and November 13,
2014. The most recent expansion, Legion, was released on August 30, 2016.[20]
[21]
Key employees[edit]