Blizzard Co-Founder Mike Morhaime Launches Dreamhaven, A New Studio

Mike Morhaime, co-founder and former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, has recently launched a new studio called Dreamhaven. It's clear that given its location in Irvine, California, Morhaime and his wife Amy are not finished with the gaming industry. Mike will serve as CEO, while Amy will be in charge of operations. They have gone on to hire a number of industry veterans, mostly former Blizzard developers, to help run their studios which will work on separate games. This is an ambitious startup, as working on multiple games at the same time is challenging. Mike Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment and CEO of Dreamhaven. Morhaime and his wife are financing the venture themselves given the importance of controlling the destiny of an organization in its early stages. No one knows this better than Mike, given that he spent 27 turning Blizzard into the largest and most valuable developer in the industry with over 4,000 employees before finally departing in 2018. In spite of his establishment of Dreamhaven, Morhaime has said that he and his wife "did not have anything planned" and were simply going to "take a bunch of time off to travel." Evidently, they spoke to many other friends and colleagues about where they wanted to take themselves, and most were unsure if they wanted to stay in gaming or not. After running into Hearthstone executive producer Jason Chayes, a group of ex-Blizzard folks joined together to try to create "something really special." Amy Morhaime, head of operations at Dreamhaven. At the moment, the company has 27 employees spread across three entities, and it's planning to hire more staff and offer internships. The artwork, in classic Blizzard fashion, combines aspects of fantasy and science fiction. Of course, there has been no official confirmation as to what it is working on or its genres. However, the model it is working on is familiar, because it is designed to resemble the way Morhaime ran things while in charge of Blizzard. That is emphasizing quality, iteration, and giving creatives sufficient time to see their visions through. "We're trying to create a haven for creators who want an environment that is development friendly, values product, and player experience over short-term financial pressures. We believe in the power of gaming to bring people together and as an escape of the unpleasant things that reality can bring. In that sense, it’s a haven as well. We like the imagery of a lighthouse as a beacon, and that inspires us because we hope that Dreamhaven can be a beacon of hope to others in the industry who share our values and philosophies. There is a better way of approaching business and game creation that can work and be sustainable and be a lot of fun and yield positive results." Mike Morhaime As a parent company, Dreamhaven is designed to provide mentorship and funding, in addition to central services that each studio will require, like communications and human resources. However, each studio will need to make its own choices with how to go about making the best games. Founders have equity in the parent company. In the words of Morhaime, "They can make the games they are passionate about...they're in control of their destiny and hopefully feel like they have the best of both worlds: the entrepreneurial spirit, the stability, and resources that often only larger companies can provide." Moonshot Games One of the divisions of Dreamhaven includes Moonshot Games, whose leaders include Jason Chayes, Dustin Browder, and Ben Thompson. Chayes previously worked as an executive producer at Blizzard, where he worked on Hearthstone. He also has a resume of past work with Disney and Electronic Arts. Browder's career, which spans, 25 years, includes roles as game director on Command & Conquer, StarCraft II, and Heroes of the Storm. Thompson served as the creative director on Hearthstone and art director for the World of Warcraft TCG, with additional credits for Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. Moonshot also has a base of seasoned devs who have worked on many of the most popular franchises in gaming. Secret Door Secret Door is the second game studio under Dreamhaven, with leadership by Chris Sigaty, Eric Dodds, and Alan Dabiri. Sigaty's roles include lead producer on the original Warcraft III, and executive producer on Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, and StarCraft II. Dodds served as the original game director for Hearthstone and was a veteran of StarCraft and World of Warcraft. Dabiri has worked in technical director and game director roles and has worked on Heroes of the Storm, Warcraft III, and StarCraft II. Sigaty worked for Blizzard for nearly 24 years and closely collaborated with Chayes on games like StarCraft II. He departed Blizzard at the end of 2019. Dreamhaven's Mission Morhaime said that the parent company will work to obtain more funding and take careful measures to establish how many studios it will set up and how many people will be in every studio. "We’re not in a hurry to go out and get funding because the most important thing is to make sure we retain control over the company’s decision-making...when we do go out and seek investment, we want to be aligned in terms of vision and values." Mike Morhaime Still, the general idea is to unify a shared vision on various projects and make business decisions based on that. Studios haven't taken any game platforms off the table or zeroed in on any decisions just yet. Morhaime has placed an emphasis on the need to create environments that cultivate creativity and innovation in a sustainable way that unlocks the potential of talented teams. He felt as if that was something he could achieve with Dreamhaven. Given that this is so early on, do not expect to hear about game announcements soon. The company wishes to stay closely connected with players like they did with Blizzard. While the leaders of Dreamhaven loved their tenure at Blizzard, they aren't talking much about their specific reasons for leaving. When asked if they had unfinished business, they agreed. Morhaime, the co-founder and former President himself, said that he assumed it was difficult in many ways for people to leave. As he was there for nearly 28 years, so much of his identity was wrapped up in Blizzard. But everyone at Dreamhaven loves gaming, loves the community, and believes there is a great opportunity to use technology, entertainment, and games to "bring people together in a new way."

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