A collection of industry figures and former Blizzard veterans have left the company and started a new publisher and game developer called Dreamhaven, which will be free of the influence of Activision. Activision merged with Blizzard owner Vivendi Games in 2008 and the developer became a subsidiary of the publisher. But there have been allegations about the working conditions and control that Activision has forced upon the studio.
Over the last year, there have been numerous reports about the apparent working conditions and low pay of Blizzard employees. A survey carried out at the start of 2020 organizing efforts to try and improve conditions. Staff have even started Slack channels to demand fairer pay and promotion opportunities.
A number of former Blizzard employees have left the developer to form a brand new company called Dreamhaven. Jason Schreier reports that the Blizzard vets had grown tired of the influence that Activision had over the developer and wanted to be free of the publisher's control. The new team is being led by Mike Morhaime, the co-founder and former CEO of Blizzard, along with a selection of leading industry figures. Dreamhaven will act as a parent company to publish and developer games around the world. In an official announcement, Dreamhaven reports that it already has two development studios, in the form of Moonshot and Secret Door. Moonshot is being led by former Hearthstone director Jason Chayes and will "celebrate curiosity and courage." Meanwhile, Starcraft II and Hearthstone executive producer Chris Sigaty will take charge of Secret Door. Morhaime proclaims:
“I’m excited to team up with such talented people who care deeply about games and their communities. I’ve always believed in the power of games to bring people together regardless of backgrounds or boundaries. With Dreamhaven, we look forward to creating and sharing new experiences with players everywhere.”
Earlier this week, Blizzard announced the dates for its latest convention. BlizzCon 2021 will now take place in February, running between February 19-21. The event will be a completely digital affair due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic making it impossible to hold BlizzCon as normal. Fans will be able to stream footage directly from the event and even take part in a variety of contests such as a cosplay competition.
Considering how many horror stories have been coming out of Blizzard and Activision over the last few months, it is not a huge shock that a significant number of developers would leave since the companies merged. Activision appears to have had a negative impact on the culture of the developer, so seeing a group of former staff leave to set up their own studio makes complete sense. Hopefully, Dreamhaven will be able to allow Mike Morhaime and his colleagues to be creative without the restrictions of a corporate publisher behind them.
Source: Jason Schreier, Dreamhaven
