Bloomberg video game journalist broadcasts Blizzard Entertainment drama

In athletics, referees protect players and ensure fair play. But there’s no “referee” in the video game industry to make sure people “play well” – and that’s where investigative journalists like Jason Schrier come into play.

At the Silicon Valley Talks in Stanford, Schrier, an investigative journalist from Bloomberg who covers the video game industry, was a guest. At the lecture last Monday he presented his new book “Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment”.

Blizzard Entertainment, founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, has spawned billion-dollar video game franchises such as “World of Warcraft,” “Diablo” and “Overwatch.” The company completed a major merger with Activision Games in 2008, creating Activision Blizzard, which was then acquired by Microsoft in 2023.

Schrier spoke about the company’s development – ​​past, present and future. The journalist told the story of Blizzard’s many parent companies and the mergers the company faced.

He also touched on the entry and exit of Bobby Kotick, Activision’s former CEO, and much of the reason why Blizzard’s founders left the company, according to Schrier’s research.

“It was the classic battle between creativity and business,” Schrier said. “We can all identify with it [this story] in some ways – both the business side and the cultural side.”

On the economy, Schrier highlighted the unusual and spotty pattern of economic growth over the decades. When it comes to culture, Schrier focused on allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace.

Many of Blizzard’s executives were married or dating employees, creating a power imbalance as described in Schrier’s book. He said the manager-employee dynamic has created an “If the boss can do it, why can’t I” mentality among managers interested in interviewing employees.

Schrier emphasized the value of diversity in companies in an interview with The Daily and reflected on the gender imbalance at Blizzard.

“It’s really important to be inclusive from the start,” Schrier said, suggesting that inclusivity could have prevented the problems Blizzard has faced over the years.

Schrier said that when Blizzard was founded in the 1990s, the company was about 10% women, with the first woman hired as the company’s secretary.

This gender imbalance has become increasingly difficult to remedy over the years. Blizzard places a strong emphasis on seniority and time with the company when offering promotions. This made promotions for female employees rare, as most were recent additions to the company.

Ryan Morgado, associate director of career coaching and education in the School of Engineering and Doerr School of Sustainability, attended the talk as an avid fan of Schrier’s podcasts and books.

“I found it incredibly insightful to get confirmation or new information about how the company operates from the perspective of someone outside the industry,” Morgado said.

Community members covered a variety of topics in their questions, asking Schrier for details about how Blizzard had worked to end harassment, the company’s future and how it responded to the state of California’s lawsuit.

“The topics [of the talk] “Definitely consistent with what was discussed in the book, but it was especially cool to hear questions from the community,” Morgado said.

Henry Lowood, curator of the Hohbach Hall exhibitions at the Green Library and director of the Silicon Valley Archives, said he enjoyed Schrier’s talk and admired the journalist’s commitment to reporting.

“I think he’s a great writer, especially as a journalist – he has a lot for people in academia to learn from his books,” Lowood said. “I’m still in awe of doing 350 interviews for a book.”