MMO Weekly 12/05/09

Hey there, fellow MMO fanboys and fangurls, and welcome to this week's edition of MMO Weekly.  In this week's article, we'll divert from our now well-trodden path of exploring specific MMO games, and instead take a look at a “meta MMO” topic.  In this case, I'm referring to an award recently won by Blizzard Entertainment, and what that award represents.  

According to an evaluation by Developer magazine just published today, Blizzard Entertainment is the “most bankable” developer in the world.  Develop publishes its annual list of the top 100 development companies in gaming (known affectionately as the Develop 100) at this time each year, and this year Blizzard was top dog.  Blizz beat out some other serious heavyweights to win this award, toppling last year's winner, Nintendo.  It also bested other top dev houses, like Infinity Ward, Harmonix, and Rockstar North.  Here's the top 10:

1.    Blizzard Entertainment
2.    Nintendo
3.    Rockstar North
4.    EA Canada
5.    Capcom
6.    Ubisoft Montreal
7.    Treyarch
8.    Infinity Ward
9.    Epic Games
10.    Bethesda Softworks

This evaluation was based on criteria that evaluated game development companies' reported sales figures, Metacritic review ratings of their games, and something Develop referred to as 'industry standing.'  Editor-in-chief Michael French cited Blizzard's ability to develop truly great games as the singular factor in its topping the list.  According to French, Blizzard consistently “creates compelling experiences” in its games.  Blizzard's games are so popular, they've permeated pop culture, and have even been referenced on numerous TV shows.
 
Ok, ok, so Blizz is a profitable company.  But what does an award like this really mean?  What does it say about Blizzard as a company?  Develop actually published three write-ups about its Develop 100, and while the magazine described a bit of its selection process, it left much to the imagination.  However, it can certainly be said that the number one spot, as well as the title 'most bankable', recognizes the fact that Blizzard simply doesn't fail.  It is an unbelievably reliable, profitable game developer.  Every game it produces is a grade A title, generating both critical accolades and a legion of pleased players.  The award also recognizes Blizzard's fiscal success with its games.  Specifically, World of Warcraft was either mentioned directly, or alluded to, several times. 

Now look:  I've been a gaming journalist and blogger for years, and I've reported on a wide range of development houses.  Obviously, this includes Blizzard.  I can say, after attending so many game-related events that I felt like I'd spent days in the spin cycle, that Blizzard is unlike any other developer I know.  Do not mistake this for fanboyism.  It's not.  There is just something different about Blizzard as a company.  In fact, after years meeting Blizzard's devs, attending company events, and scrutinizing the company's methods, I'd have to agree with Develop on this one.  Blizzard is, in my opinion, the most stable, reliable, and profitable game development house on the planet.  From what I've seen, it’s going to stay that way for a long, long time, too.  Why?  Let me tell you...

Employee Loyalty

For one thing, Blizzard's got a phenomenally loyal set of employees.  I've never met one, on the record or off, at an official function or social event, who seemed in any way disaffected with the company.  I've never even met one who was looking for a job elsewhere.  I don't know what it is, exactly, but Blizzard is able to attract the best talent in the industry. 

Another little tidbit on the issue of retention:  it's also clear that many of Blizzard's people have been with the company for years.  In an industry that functionally rewards developers for job hopping, Blizzard is doing something to keep its employees happy.

The Games

Blizzard's games are polished to an exceptional level.  The games not only play well, but they contain a level of detail that few other companies can compete with.  This doesn't simply mean that the games have been thoroughly debugged; it means the games contain details which attract attention.  Blizz  games are chock full of offbeat NPCs, pop culture references, side quests, and plot twists.  The developers and employees talk about this openly.  (There was even a time that it was strongly implied that a game was basically finished, but just needed a bit of polish before release.  “How long will that take?”  A casual shrug, “Six months or so.”)

Staying power is also a factor.  Recently, both Starcraft and Diablo II made top sales charts both in the EU and in the US.  Starcraft was published in 1998, and Diablo II in 2000.  I cannot name another company that has ten year old video games still selling in the top ten, and this speaks volumes about the quality of those games. 

Financial Stability

The huge popularity of World of Warcraft cannot be underestimated.  WoW is currently the star of Blizzard's stable of games, and this is for good reason.  Blizzard has taken a fairly small niche genre – the MMO – and made it mainstream.  The biggest western MMOs prior to WoW had half a million subscribers.  WoW has 11 million, more than 20 times that of their predecessor.  The game is a cross cultural phenomenon and has penetrated even the most remote areas of the world. What's more, it generates more than a billion dollars in revenue each year.  That's billion with a 'b'.

Historically, Blizzard has been careful to reinvest its profits.  Blizz hasn't just sat on its laurels.  It's well known that it now has a handful of titles in development.  This not only includes Diablo III and Starcraft II, but also the next WoW expansion, and an unnamed MMO.  There are also rumors that Blizzard is working on a fifth project, but this is speculative.  The point to be understood here is that Blizz is taking the huge revenue stream provided by WoW, and it’s making more games with it. (I mention this because there's an ever increasing list of developers that have disappeared, partied, or did other sundry things when they made a huge piles of money.)

I'm not trying to say that the reasons I've listed above are the reasons this small development house from Irvine is now the 'most bankable' company in gaming.  These are simply the things that have really struck me, as a journalist and observer, over the years.  Oddly, as I write this, I find myself trying to think of a company that is similar to Blizzard in the above respects, or one that has struck me in a similar way.  Quite honestly, not a single example comes to mind.  Again, please don't mistake any of what I've written as fanboyism, or anything of the sort.  I simply think that, in an industry dominated by corporate development houses, it's interesting to see how differently Blizz is doing business.  It's also interesting to see that it's taken it straight to the top.

And with those last little licks, friends and neighbors, we have to depart.  If you enjoyed this bit of MMO exploration, come and visit us over at WanderingGoblin.com, where we engage in this kind of 'mental experimentation' and other forms of random faux intellectualism each and every day.  For now, ciao!