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Former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment on "Downturn" in Gaming Industry

Mike Morhaime believes the downturn is "a little bit overstated."

It’s no secret that the gaming industry has faced challenges in the wake of the pandemic — we're almost getting used to how it shrunk its size and the sense of pessimism that follows. As the audiences get more numb about this over the years, the news of massive layoffs probably doesn't hurt as much recently as it did when they first popped up. 

Mike Morhaime

Mike Morhaime, co-creator and former CEO of Blizzard, discussed the "tough, bleak climate" that the gaming industry has been experiencing recently. When talking with Jason Schreier at Bloomberg Live, he said that the industry's "downturn" is "a little bit overstated." The reason is obvious and direct, as "the gaming industry in general … is still growing. More people are playing games than ever before."

Mike Morhaime further shared his observations and thoughts on how the pandemic and people's behavior during that time have affected the industry and the companies involved.

"... going through the pandemic, people didn't have a lot to do, and so they turned to the streaming platforms and they turned to games. And it was a huge increase in usage. And a lot of companies saw that and they thought that was the new trend and that was just going to continue, and so there was a lot of investment. And when that didn't continue, I think probably the finance department said 'Oh, wait a minute, margins and everything.' And so they wanted to sort of cut back to the trend line."

Dreamhaven

The former Blizzard CEO started up a new video game company, Dreamhaven, in 2020, a year after he left Blizzard. Their debut title, Sunderfolk, was recently announced. As a company that hasn’t had a product tested by the market or customers yet, Morhaime said Dreamhaven hasn’t been affected by the "downturn." 

Other than this topic, Morhaime also talked about how the new company he founded would strive to stand out and make its title different from other games amid intense competition. You can watch the live recap here.

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