Digital Business Application of Blizzard Entertainment
Introduction
This paper explores business application of Blizzard Entertainment, a leading company in game industry. Its main focus is on the strategic advantages that the company has over its competitors, and how they leverage those to secure a stable position in interactive entertainment industry. The advantages include unique set of values that are at the heart of company’s philosophy and approach to gaming. Unique business strategy which enables them to see the industry through the eyes of customer is presented. Report also mentions subscription based business model that was applied in one of the games released by Blizzard. Advantages and possible threats of said model are assessed and evaluated. Organizational strategies of the company are described.
Company overview and history
Blizzard Entertainment is an American game developer and publisher. The company was established in 1991 under the name Silicone & Synapse, by three friends Allen Adham, Michael Morhaime and Frank Pearce, who shared love for gaming. First publishing of the company included creating entertainment software for variety of platforms like MS-DOS, Macintosh, Sega Genesis, and Super NES.
Since its inception in 1991, Blizzard (known as Silicone & Synapse) released couple of titles that brought them initial recognition on the market (ex. The Lost Vikings, Rock’n Roll Racing), but the real breakthrough came with the first edition of the game called Warcraft, which was a Real Strategy Time game, that set the new standards for further developments in that genre. Warcraft’s considerable accomplishment paved the way for next successful releases, like Warcraft II, Warcraft III, Diablo, Diablo II StarCraft, S...
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