Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment

by Jason Schreier

Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From a New York Times bestselling author and investigative journalist comes The Social Network for the video game industry, a riveting examination of Blizzard Entertainment's rise and shocking downfall.

For video game fans, the name Blizzard Entertainment was once synonymous with perfection. The renowned company behind classics like Diablo and World of Warcraft was known to celebrate the joy of gaming over all else. What was once two UCLA students' simple mission — to make games they wanted to play — launched an empire with thousands of employees, millions of fans, and billions of dollars.  

But when Blizzard cancelled a buzzy project in 2013, it gave Bobby Kotick, the infamous CEO of corporate parent Activision, the excuse he needed to start cracking down on Blizzard's proud autonomy. Activision began invading Blizzard from the inside. Glitchy products, PR disasters, mass layoffs, and a staggering lawsuit marred the company's reputation and led to its ultimate reckoning.

Based on firsthand interviews with more than 300 current and former employees, Play Nice chronicles the creativity, frustration, beauty, and betrayal across the epic 33-year saga of Blizzard Entertainment, showing us what it really means to "bleed Blizzard blue." Full of colorful personalities and dramatic twists, this is the story of what happens when the ruthless pursuit of profit meets artistic idealism. 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538725429
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	10/08/2024
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	431
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Jason Schreier is the New York Times bestselling author of Press Reset and Blood, Sweat, and Pixels and a reporter at Bloomberg News, where he covers the video game industry. He lives in Westchester, New York with his wife and two children.

Editorial Reviews

08/19/2024

This damning report from Bloomberg News journalist Schreier (Press Reset) details how Blizzard Entertainment, the video game hitmaker behind the World of Warcraft and Diablo franchises, lost its way. Schreier traces the studio’s history from its founding in 1991 by two UCLA grads and its raucous early days (screaming and fistfights were common occurrences around the office) to its maturation into an industry star and its fateful 2008 acquisition by competitor Activision. With an ear for pithy soundbites (“When millions turn into billions, everything changes”), Schreier draws on interviews with game testers, programmers, executives, and other Blizzard personnel to create a vivid portrait of the company’s decline under Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, whose prioritizing of profits over quality resulted in demoralizing mass layoffs and curtailing creative risks in favor of milking established franchises. Schreier makes clear that not all of Blizzard’s problems stemmed from Kotick; a 2021 lawsuit brought by the state of California alleged that since the company’s early days, the few women who worked there contended with unequal pay, sexual harassment, and an HR department unwilling to discipline perpetrators of misconduct. Animated by thorough reporting, this deep dive into the gaming industry’s dark side unsettles. Agent: Charlie Olsen, InkWell Management. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

One of Schreier’s great strengths is that he can control a crowd. He brilliantly maintains many different threads — corporate, personal, artistic — while giving so many coders, designers and money-minded executives their due, all without putting too much strain on his book’s momentum.” —New York Times Book Review

"As it turns out, the turbulent history of game developer Blizzard Entertainment is just as absorbing as any of the AAA titles it has produced. . . Jason Schreier takes the reader through three decades of incredible highs and appalling lows that let you in on what was going on behind the scenes while gamers were voraciously consuming blockbusters like StarCraft, Diablo, and World Of Warcraft."—AV Club

“Here’s a thrilling adventure story from the untamed, online wilderness of modern capitalism. Think Barbarians at the Gate, but with digital dragons and blood-thirsty trolls. Gaming is now a more powerful and influential business than Hollywood, and Jason Schreier has delivered a masterful narrative that shows how the industry really works.”—Christopher Leonard, New York Times bestselling author of Kochland and The Lords of Easy Money

“A fast paced thrill ride, perfect for anyone who has ever played a video game. Jason Schreier’s comprehensive history of Blizzard Entertainment offers a completely enthralling look at the company’s founding and the bitter battle for its future. A must read!”—Ben Mezrich, New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires, Dumb Money, and The Midnight Ride.

"Jason Schreier's Play Nice is a riveting chronicle of one of gaming's most iconic companies. With gripping detail and unmatched access, Schreier pulls back the curtain on Blizzard Entertainment's meteoric rise, turbulent history, and struggle to balance uncompromising creativity with corporate America's unyielding pursuit of profit. Play Nice is a must-read exposé of the passion, ambition and dysfunction behind some of the most beloved games of all time."

—Bradley Hope, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Billion Dollar Whale

"Jason Schreier's PLAY NICE is a gripping narrative not just of a single influential company but the evolution of the entire video game industry, changing from a niche pursuit to one of the largest cultural products in the world. This is vital reading for anyone hoping to understand the state of entertainment in the 21st century. Video games are an unavoidable force; PLAY NICE breaks down the genre as well as the personalities behind it."—Kyle Chayka, author Filterworld

“Schreier cleverly incorporates commentary from original Silicon & Synapse programmers, tech experts, executives, game programmers, and Blizzard employees themselves to create a well-rounded image of the company as well as the grave mistakes costing the company its reputation… A thorough, well-researched report on the evolution of Blizzard Entertainment.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A vivid portrait of [Blizzard's] decline… Animated by thorough reporting, this deep dive into the gaming industry’s dark side unsettles.”—Publishers Weekly

"Play Nice is the ultimate insider account of the creation of some of the most beloved games ever, and a colorful portrait of the computer-game gold rush. Who knew that behind the scenes of Warcraft and Overwatch was a story of power plays, betrayals, and quests for glory as epic as the games themselves?"—Zeke Faux, author of Number Go Up

"To a lot of people, Blizzard is the most important video game company whose mascot isn't an Italian plumber. As one of those people, I found myself sucked into to Play Nice, Jason Schreier's compulsively readable deep dive into the studio behind WarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. At once a warts-and-all page turner about the making of some of the biggest video games of all time, a parable about how corporate greed corrupts even the most beloved cultural institutions, and a labor story about the inequities of a booming gaming industry, Play Nice is both satisfying and illuminating. I'd wondered over the years why there wasn't a big book about the history of Blizzard. Well: Job's done."—Brian Merchant, bestselling author of Blood in the Machine

 “Jason Schreier’s outstandingly researched book warps us to video gaming’s earliest years –– a world of multi-million-dollar lawsuits, business deals finalised with a handshake and a snarl, at a time when game designers could become as famous as rock stars –– and reveals how an industry titan was born. With a cast of vivid characters –– some of whom are unforgettable for all the wrong reasons –– Play Nice is a work of historical importance that also manages to be irresistibly entertaining.”—Simon Parkin, award-winning author of The Island of Extraordinary Captives

"Jason Schreier is the closest thing video games have to David Grann. Fearless, intrepid, and always fair-minded, Schreier gets at stories no one else can. He makes clear that the history of Blizzard is a microcosm of a larger, uglier story: the clash between shareholder capitalism and creativity, the unseemly corporate toleration of bad behavior, and the exploitation of workers who in many cases sacrifice their youth to make wealthy people even wealthier. This is riveting, essential reading for anyone who cares about how art is made in the twenty-first century." —Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives

PRAISE FOR JASON SCHREIER

"Schreier writes lucidly and entertainingly. For neophytes, PRESS RESET is a useful introduction to the business of videogames. For those who play… the book may prove compulsively readable."

 —Wall Street Journal on PRESS RESET

"A must-read... Schreier's reporting is unparalleled."—Forbes on PRESS RESET

“Schreier covers the notoriously secretive gaming industry… and he knows it well… He also clearly respects [the] developers and their achievements, and treats their rueful tales of selfless struggle with an admiring deference…a useful survey of the landscape of game production at this cultural moment.”—GQ on BLOOD, SWEAT, AND PIXELS

From the Publisher

2024-08-30
Chronicling the ups and downs of a popular video game empire.

Beginning with the friendship and shared video game obsession of two UCLA tech buddies, Allen Adham and Mike Morhaime, who in 1991 founded a video game company called Silicon & Synapse, Bloomberg News journalist Schreier astutely charts the evolution of Blizzard Entertainment, whose hits like World of Warcraft and others put the entertainment developer on the gaming map. Though originality during the company’s early days was challenging to achieve, eventually, after numerous name changes and the development and immense popularity of Warcraft and its spawned sequels, Blizzard catapulted into the tech gaming arena. The ensuing contract negotiations, acquisitions, and mergers, namely with Activision, ushered the company forward, but those progressions came preloaded with pitfalls. Schreier doesn’t overlook or sugarcoat the less savory details of Blizzard’s sketchy “frat house” corporate culture, its “aura of secrecy,” its questionable office politics and philosophies, or how its games like Diablo and StarCraft suffered sagging sales. The author also digs into the scandal surrounding Morhaime, Blizzard’s president for two decades, who would abruptly leave to start his own company. A frequent documentarian of the gaming industry, Schreier cleverly incorporates commentary from original Silicon & Synapse programmers, tech experts, executives, game programmers, and Blizzard employees themselves to create a well-rounded image of the company as well as the grave mistakes costing the company its reputation, despite being purchased by Microsoft in 2023 in an acquisition lauded as the largest in tech and video game history.

A thorough, well-researched report on the evolution of Blizzard Entertainment.

Kirkus Reviews