# Co-Founder of Blizzard Starting New Game Company **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 23, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345 "2020-09-23T20:55:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345/1 "2020-09-23T20:55:39Z")
> **[Blizzard cofounder Mike Morhaime launches new gaming endeavor Dreamhaven](https://venturebeat.com/business/blizzard-cofounder-mike-morhaime-launches-new-gaming-endeavor-dreamhaven/)** > > Mike Morhaime, cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, has launched a new game company called Dreamhaven, with two new game studios. Fans of Blizzard properties will recognize the name Mike Morhaime. He “retired” from Activision Blizzard not long after that merger. And now he’s got a new company with some new studios staffed by Blizzard veterans. One quote in the article is being parsed by the Blizzard user community I read as a jab at what his former company has become: > 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 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345/2 "2020-09-23T21:27:23Z")
I’m whatever the level just below ‘cautiously optimistic’ is. It’s not like Blizzard was exciting and innovative before the merger. But hey, maybe he’s got a folder full of ideas the Blizzard rejected in favor of riding the WoW gravy train. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345/3 "2020-09-28T12:49:10Z")
Blizzard’s big thing wasn’t really being ‘exciting and innovative’, it was taking an existing idea, removing unfun stuff and adding fun stuff, and then executing it really well. Warcraft and Starcraft were really good RTSs but didn’t do anything especially innovative, Diablo was pretty much ‘roguelike with graphics’, World of Warcraft was ‘Everquest without the grind or forced grouping to level’. It sounds like this company is going for that Blizzard philosophy, trying to make refined games on a ‘it’s ready when it’s ready’ kind of schedule instead of milking for microtransactions. If that is what they’re shooting for, I think the gaming would could really use it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345/4 "2020-09-28T21:35:51Z")
What I have to wonder is, why is he not doing this within Blizzard? Why was the new company necessary? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345/5 "2020-09-29T15:27:55Z")
Blizzard was bought out by Activision, he probably can’t do it within Blizzard. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345/6 "2020-09-29T19:19:46Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Blizzard’s big thing wasn’t really being ‘exciting and innovative’, it was taking an existing idea, removing unfun stuff and adding fun stuff, and then executing it really well. Maybe ‘innovative’ is the wrong word, but they used to have a reputation as a company that took its time and then put out near-perfect products. Then they became a company that created very, very good sequels of existing IP. Now they’re a company that maintains existing games and creates almost nothing new. Just endless expansion packs for WoW and then desultory upkeep to existing games. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/co-founder-of-blizzard-starting-new-game-company/921345/7 "2020-09-29T22:33:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What I have to wonder is, why is he not doing this within Blizzard? Why was the new company necessary? Activision is a pretty awful company for coming out with good new games, and Activision owns Blizzard now. They do a lot of sequels-upon-sequels and milking titles for money, not a lot of high quality games with the old ‘it will be released when it’s ready’ Blizzard philosophy. Also from what I’ve heard it’s a really Hellish place to work for the people lower down, and the higher ups are subject to the whims of Activision’s management.