Tag Archives: Mike Morhaime

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.

Speaking in “an interview” at BlizzCon, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime has said Diablo III will be evaluated as to whether or not it can work on console as development goes ahead.

“Every game we have the discussion about which platforms make the most sense,” he said, as relayed by Shacknews. “As Diablo III takes shape, I think we’ll do an evaluation.”

“I think there is a pretty good argument to be made that that type of game might work very well on consoles,” he added. “There might be some technical limitations though that we might need to get past.”

More soon, hopefully.

Following a fairly shambolic sales period of BlizzCon 2008 tickets, company boss Mike Morhaime’s made a public apology for the fact the official site exploded and all the tickets sold out faster than a small cheese pile at a rat convention, and made grace by putting another 3,000 tickets on sale.

Anyone thinking about picking up one of the new tickets should know that the offer is only open to those with an active Blizzard Account as of 9.00pm PST on August 12, the time Blizzard first posted its “Sold Out” notice.

More on Massively.

BlizzCon 2008 runs from October 10-11 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime has assured that while Diablo III doesn’t have a release date as yet, the hugely anticipated action RPG is now a heavy focus for the development superstar.

“We do not currently have a release date for either StarCraft II or Diablo III, but we can say that they are heavily in development on both games and we are committed to making sure these games meet and exceed the high expectations of our players,” he said.

Morhaime added: “The original Diablo has been widely credited with helping to revitalize the role-playing game genre. Combined, previous games in the series have sold over 18.5 million copies worldwide. As with StarCraft II, Diablo III will benefit greatly from our revamped online game service, Battle Net, since the focus will be on cooperative online play.”

Morhaime was speaking in Activision Blizzard’s first quarter earnings call last week.

Speaking in Activision Blizzard’s Q1 earnings call last week, Blizzard head Mike Morhaime said that the company’s refusing to talk about its unannounced MMO for fear of bolstering the competition.

“Blizzard has begun staffing on another unannounced massively multiplayer online project but for competitive reasons, we are not able to share any additional information on that project at this time,” said the exec.

The game is strongly rumoured to be a StarCraft MMO, a project likely to give Blizzard a leading position in both the fantasy and science fiction MMO spaces.

Speaking in an investor call following the release of Q1 financials last night, Blizzard confirmed that WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King will be releasing in the final quarter of this calendar year.

“We have said that it will be coming out this year,” said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. “I can tell you it’s not coming in the July to September quarter.”

The beta for Lich King’s running now. Thanks, Shacknews.

Blizzard sent word today that BlizzCon tickets are to go on sale on August 11.

BlizzCon 2008 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, CA, October 10-11. Tickets will cost $100.

“We have an entertaining show planned, and we look forward to delivering another memorable experience for our attendees,” said Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime.

Head over to the official BlizzCon site for more info.

Speaking to Wired, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime has said that Blizzard fans shouldn’t worry about the company’s merger with Activision.

“Fans shouldn’t really see any changes,” he said. “We’re always trying to improve and to make our games better. I wouldn’t really expect the fans to notice a difference.”

Morhaime added: “In the beginning, we were pretty cautious about the merger, but it just made a lot of sense from a long-term growth perspective.

“The first step for us was to meet with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and the other senior leaders. We grilled them: ‘Why are you doing this? What do you hope to accomplish with the merger?’ We had to feel comfortable that they understood our culture.”

More through the link.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime has added his voice to an increasing band of developers and publishers emphatic that PC gaming isn’t on the wane.

“I think that it is just completely dead wrong to think about the PC gaming market and conclude that it’s a declining market,” he said at the Worldwide Invitational last weekend.

“It is far from declining. If you look at the numbers, there are probably more people playing games on the PC than any other platform. More than there ever have been before. If you look at the revenue, it’s also growing. It’s only not growing if all you’re looking at is PC retail, and even then, I think it’s just flat, I don’t think it’s declining very much.”

It’s pretty hard to argue with 10 million WoW subs. Full interview here.

Epic president Mike Capps has said that allowing creatives to have free rein within games businesses is dangerous, and that Blizzard’s model of senior staff staying out of the creative process is nothing to be proud of.

“I think it’s crazy,” he said here. “Because talent without focus on business is a really, really dangerous thing. Blizzard is a great example. I don’t know how they’ve been so successful and as huge as they have. But to throw away a game three times… That’s not necessarily something to be proud of in perhaps your methodology, so much as that somebody somewhere up high has the willingness to say, ‘You know, it’s not working.’ That’s very different from saying you’re producing efficiently.”

His comments came after Blizzard’s conference at DICE last week, where co-founder Mike Morhaime claimed that senior business staff have no sway on the creative process at the company.

Speaking at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, Blizzard boss and co-founder Mike Morhaime has shown off a slide full of projects that never saw light of say, saying, “We don’t have a 100 percent success rate. We just don’t release failures.”

The unused projects included titles such as Crixa, Shattered Nations, Pax Imperia and Denizen.

Morhaime also spoke on the impending merger of Activision and Blizzard, joking, “Once the Activision Blizzard merger goes through, Bobby Kotick will be my eighth boss.”

DICE comes to a close tomorrow. The Interactive Achievment Awards are going to be announced at the summit sometime this evening.