Tag Archives: Mike Morhaime

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has said Call of Duty: Black Ops will be getting “the biggest investment” the company has ever made for a title launch.

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Blizzard’s just announced StarCraft II sold 1 million units last week during its first 24 hours on sale, and 1.5 million during the first 48 hours.

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Blizzard has just confirmed that plans to implement Real ID on its forums won’t go ahead, following a community backlash to the scheme.

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Mike Morhaime has said that Blizzard plans on updating lower and mid-level content in WoW so that it is on-par with current expansions on a graphic and gameplay level.

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Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has said that the company intends to find a new e-sports partner for StarCraft in South Korea, due to IP rights.

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Blizzard’s formally announced Blizzcon 2010, which will take place on Friday, October 22 and Saturday, October 23.

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Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said last night that only 30 percent of new World of Warcraft players continuing to play after reaching level 10, with 70 percent dropping out.

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Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime just said that World of Warcraft’s subs base is static at 11.5 million users, at the same level it’s been since late 2008. Yep: that means it’s not going up.

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StarCraft II’s closed Beta will begin this month, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime just confirmed.

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Blizzard has said that StarCraft II is still on track for launch during the first half of 2010, according to the company’s Q3 financial call to investors.

The developers are continuing to polish the game, driving towards the Beta, and expected game launch during Q2 2010.

It will be massive when it launches though, Mike Morhaime said during the call that the StarCraft II series has sold 11 million units worldwide.

ActiBlizz’s Q3 monetary announcement is still ongoing, so it is quite possible we will hear more during the Q&A.

Update: Ripten is reporting that Mike Morhaime has told DirecTV that, while he won’t give a specific date, Diablo III will be released this year.

Okay, now that sounds a lot better than 2011. Shockingly better. Unexpectedly better. Dreamland better.

Still, we will have Nathan poke around for more to be sure. It sounds too good to be true, honestly.

Original Story: Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has confirmed to Geoff Keighly and Kate Hunter that the just-revealed World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm and StarCraft II are only titles the company expects to release in 2010.

So where does this leave Diablo III? Apparently, not in 2010 as expected.

We will have Nathan corner a Blizzard person and get more on this. Make him threaten bodily harm if need be – or at least a heavy tickling.

Thanks, Shack.

Speaking in the Acti Blizz Q2 earnings call tonight, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime caved on the subject of whether or not two Blizzard games would release next year, saying it was “correct to conclude” that StarCraft II’s now-confirmed delay into 2010 means the publisher’s about to double up.

Morhaime stated in a previous earnings call that Blizzard plans to release one major game per calendar year.

“I’d just like to reiterate that we haven’t announced any release dates on any future titles, and I’ll also reiterate that the move of StarCraft into next year does not impact the schedule,” he said after being asked whether or not we’ll see two Blizzard games next year twice by two separate analysts.

“So, it would be correct to conclude that you could expect two releases of Blizzard next year, but I would not make any conclusion on what those titles are going to be.”

The second analyst mentioned Diablo as the 2010 game, but, as you can see, Morhaime was having none of it.

StarCraft II was delayed into 2010 tonight to match up with Battle.net’s relaunch in the first half of next year.

Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime’s confirmed that StarCraft II will release this year, speaking in a pre-E3 investor webcast.

“We’re targeting an end of year release-this year-for StarCraft II, but, as always, we won’t release it until it meets our standards and the expectations of our players,” he said in the call.

Good news. The RTS’s beta is slated to start this summer.

Thanks, BigDownload.

Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime has warned that the Chinese version of World of Warcraft may be taken offline while the company swaps operators in the country.

“Some downtime may be necessary for a limited time,” said the exec, speaking in Activision Blizzard’s Q1 earnings call.

Morhaime said a website‘s been set up to keep players informed of what’s going to happen and when.

Blizzard is currently in the process of switching the MMO over to NetEase from The9 in China.

The amount of people playing the game in China appears to be a bit of a mystery, but “a lot” is a safe bet.

Globally, the game passed the 11 million subs mark in October 2008.

Blizzard just confirmed it’s gone with NetEase for its Chinese licensing, as has been rumoured for the last few days.

The9 was the previous holder of the contract.

NetEase will now run the Chinese version of World of Warcraft “for a term of 3 years following the expiration of the current license agreement,” according to this press release.

“We appreciate the enthusiasm that Chinese gamers have shown us over the years, and we’ve always worked hard, in collaboration with our partners, to ensure that these players receive the same high-quality service and gameplay experiences that we deliver in other regions,” said Blizzard head Mike Morhaime.

“This new agreement with NetEase will support that goal for years to come, and we look forward to collaborating with them on a smooth transition for World of Warcraft moving forward.”

Full thing through the link.

Speaking to MTV at the Wrath of the Lich King launch this week, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime said that the American subs rate for World of Warcraft won’t be changing in the US any time soon.

“The monthly rate for WoW in the United States has not changed, and we’re not planning any changes to it,” said the exec.

Note the “United States” bit. just to compound the point he was talking specifically about America, Morhaime added:

“I think we’re pretty happy with our pricing in the United States. I think it feels right to us and our players.”

No mention of Europe or Asia there, is there?

There’s a full interview through the link.

Blizzard bosses Mike Morhaime and Frank Pearce are to turn up at the midnight launch of Wrath of the Lich King in New York this week, which starts at 8.00pm EST on Wednesday at the “Best Buy store near Times Square.”

There must only be one.

“At Best Buy, we’re passionate about helping gamers get the most enjoyment from their gaming systems – from having the latest releases to a full complement of gaming platforms, accessories, electronics and services,” said the incredibly-named Jill Hamburger, Best Buy vice president games and movies.

“Our newly introduced Reward Zone Gamers Club provides additional benefits and amazing experiences for our most loyal customers who love gaming.”

Press release after the link.

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Speaking in an earnings call following the release of third quarter financials yesterday, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime said that those leaving World of Warcraft for competing MMOs have a very strong chance of ultimately returning.

According to the exec, of players trying Age of Conan, 68 percent came back to World of Warcraft, with the figure for people having a go on Warhammer Online a lesser 46 percent.

There’s no escape. Well, there is for some. Kind of.

Thanks, Joystiq.

This BigDownload article has Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime saying that the company’s next MMO won’t be a World of Warcraft sequel.

“It’s not going to be a World of Warcraft sequel.” he said. “So let’s just say it’s going to be different and it’s not going to be a sequel to World of Warcraft. It will be different. We’re not trying to replace World of Warcraft with this new MMO. We’re trying to create a different massively multiplayer experience, and hopefully World of Warcraft will still be going strong when that one is released.”

Bit more through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Speaking to GI at BlizzCon, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime said that merging with Activision will allow the firm to move to consoles when it likes, and said being first in the console space with an MMO isn’t a requirement to taking a significant share of the market.

“I think that, it comes down to games, so I’m not too worried about being first to make a claim or first to take a market share,” he said. “Actually Blizzard has rarely been the first to create a genre, unless you consider Diablo a new genre, nobody said that at the time, they all said it wasn’t new.”

“For us we’re looking for what is the next thing, what is the next step, what is the next evolution and I think that it’s not really dependant on platform.”

“That argument probably gets even more powerful with the partnership with Activision,” he added. “Activision will have a strong business on consoles so whenever Blizzard decides to go and enter the console market we have this huge infrastructure of people that is already successful in the console business, so I don’t think we’re losing anything.”

More through the link.