Episode 40: Activision Blizzard

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2017

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ben & David cover the creation of the gaming world’s equivalent of the 70’s rock supergroup: the 2008 merger of Blizzard and Activision. We tell the story from the Blizzard perspective, tracing the history of one of the most innovative companies in the business from humble beginnings at the hands of UCLA undergrads, to surviving multiple acquisition rollups (including at one point being owned by the French national water company), to joining ultimately with Activision to form the largest gaming company in the world, all while inventing multiple game genres that define the industry as we know it today.

Sponsors:
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta

Statsig: bit.ly/statsigacquired
Modern Treasury: https://bit.ly/acquiredmoderntreasury

Topics covered include:

Blizzard’s founding in 1991 as "Silicon & Synapse” by recent UCLA grads Allen Adham, Frank Pearce, and Mike Morhaime
The team’s first projects making ports for other games, including Battle Chess on the Commodore 64
Early success on the Super Nintendo with Rock & Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings
Origin of the Real-Time Strategy game genre (“RTS”) and Blizzard’s fist mega-hit, Warcraft
Blizzard’s crazy corporate ownership changes over the years
Development of further legendary game franchises like Diablo and Starcraft, along with sequels to Warcraft and the rise of the rise of player modding
Emergence of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre (“MOBA”) from the Warcraft III modding community, and its growth into one of the biggest sectors in the games and esports industries today
Blizzard’s role in developing the concept of online gaming, from early hacks to play against friends to World of Warcraft and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (“MMORPG’s”)
The 2008 merger with storied gaming company Activision
Growth and success since the merger, including the launch of new game franchises Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch

The Carve Out:

Ben: Dick Costolo on Vanity Fair’s Inside the Hive podcast
David: Nellie and Joe's 100% Natural Key Lime Juice (tip: buy in bulk from Walmart/Jet)

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're getting like professional actors on here. I know. The human torch was denied a bank loan. Welcome back to episode 40 of Acquired, a podcast about technology acquisitions and
0:27.2	IPOs.
0:28.2	I'm Ben Gilbert.
0:29.2	I'm David Rosenthal.
0:31.2	And we are your hosts.
0:33.0	Today we are covering the 2008 merger of Activision
0:36.5	and Vivendi Games, the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment.
0:41.3	We've got a pretty wild episode because these companies have had a crazy history that's got a lot of
0:47.7	A lot of outs a lot of what have used and it's really been kind of a winding path has a lot of confusing names so we will try and
0:54.6	demystify the winding river that is Blizzard Activision.
0:58.3	Yeah, yeah, I mean you'd think that you know if you look at this like merger happened between these two huge game companies, you know, Blizzard and
1:05.6	Activision, and you know, probably Blizzard was like, you know, another public company like Activision
1:10.1	had a normal path there you think maybe I p.
1:13.0	Nope.
1:14.0	Turns out that they have been subsequently owned by the publishers of the Math Blaster
1:19.5	software, remember that Ben?
1:21.4	Oh yeah.
1:22.4	Back in the day. The holding company that owned Ramada and Days In hotels in the U.S.
1:28.4	And then the one of the French national water companies created by Napoleon the III during the Second Empire in France.
1:35.4	We'll get into it on the show, but we will. This is going to be fun. Indeed.
1:41.3	All right listeners, our sponsor is one of our favorite companies, Vanta, and we have something very new
1:48.0	from them to share.
	...

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