Blizzard North Article Index for
Blizzard
Website Links For
Blizzard
 

Information About

Blizzard North





HISTORY

Blizzard North was originally an independent company. It was established in 1993 under the name Condor, with the founders being Max Schaefer , Erich Schaefer , and David Brevik . The company was purchased and renamed by Blizzard about six months before the release of their hit game, '' Diablo '', in 1996 . Diablo proved to be a considerable success, and the still-more successful sequel '' Diablo II '' was released in 2000 . An expansion pack followed the year after.

On June 30 2003 , several key employees left the company to form the new companies Flagship Studios (8 moved here) and Castaway Entertainment (9 moved here). Two unannounced games were in production at the time, with one forced to be canceled due to around 30 employees leaving the company in total. Geoff Fraizer of Blizzard Entertainment has since said the canceled game was a "Blizzard North kind of game", from which some draw the conclusion that "Diablo 3" has been canceled. Blizzard North had only worked on Diablo games since Blizzard's acquisition of Condor until the time of this exodus. The resignations were partly due to a conflict with Blizzard Entertainment's owner Vivendi Universal , and partly due to employees wishing to start something new.

On August 1 2005 , Blizzard Entertainment announced the shutting down of Blizzard North, saying that it will move its remaining employees to its head offices to resume work on an “unannounced project" which most believe is the third installment in the Diablo series.


GAMES


As Condor