Digital Business Application of Blizzard Entertainment
Introduction
This paper explores business application of Blizzard Entertainment, a leading company in game industry. Its main focus is on the strategic advantages that the company has over its competitors, and how they leverage those to secure a stable position in interactive entertainment industry. The advantages include unique set of values that are at the heart of company’s philosophy and approach to gaming. Unique business strategy which enables them to see the industry through the eyes of customer is presented. Report also mentions subscription based business model that was applied in one of the games released by Blizzard. Advantages and possible threats of said model are assessed and evaluated. Organizational strategies of the company are described.
Company overview and history
Blizzard Entertainment is an American game developer and publisher. The company was established in 1991 under the name Silicone & Synapse, by three friends Allen Adham, Michael Morhaime and Frank Pearce, who shared love for gaming. First publishing of the company included creating entertainment software for variety of platforms like MS-DOS, Macintosh, Sega Genesis, and Super NES.
Since its inception in 1991, Blizzard (known as Silicone & Synapse) released couple of titles that brought them initial recognition on the market (ex. The Lost Vikings, Rock’n Roll Racing), but the real breakthrough came with the first edition of the game called Warcraft, which was a Real Strategy Time game, that set the new standards for further developments in that genre. Warcraft’s considerable accomplishment paved the way for next successful releases, like Warcraft II, Warcraft III, Diablo, Diablo II StarCraft, S...
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The following paper analyzes the initial release of Microsoft's XBOX 360 gaming system release into the United States and the changes that occurred with the supply, demand and pricing of the product in the months following its release. The social science of economics tells us that supply, demand and price are closely related to one another and have a significant on how much of a particular good is purchased and the rate at which it is purchased by consumers. The XBOX 360 phenomenon is a solid example of the impact that changes in supply, demand and price have on the marketplace and the rate at which goods are purchased.
Have you ever wondered how much money these guys make? Well let’s take Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. It took about 200 million dollars to produce and they sold 500 million dollars’ worth of copies. Take 500 million and subtract 200 million, 500 subtracted by 200 and that equals 300, and you get a profit of 300 million dollars! They made a lot of money and because of that they created a lot of other games.
World of Warcraft has been the largest massively-multiplayer online game for over five years running, featuring more than 11.5 million concurrent subscriptions (MMOGChart.com, 2009). Focusing on discussions within the World of Warcraft official online forums (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com), I present analyses addressing how players have engaged with the game's lead designer (Dr. Greg Street, a former marine science academic who has been very active within the game's fan communities), and vice versa. Presenting the results of content analyses (Mayring, 2000) and Discourse analyses (Gee, 2006) on online forum text, I highlight a revealing debate between these parties regarding the use of a specific data-gathering tool ("SimulationCraft," an open-source tool used by players to gather data on game mechanics). In this exchang...
The company has strong diversified product portfolios and generate high returns and revenues from all the target segments but the media networks contributes The Walt Disney also focus to create various revenue streams such as franchise that provides a digital multiple platforms that directly connect with people and gives them plethora of accessible options. The company also sees consumer product line as one of its important revenue generation stream. Other major revenue platforms for the Disney Company includes the Social Games based on famous characters such as Avengers. Furthermore, the introduction of the TV series and kid channels provides an immense opportunity for the company to expand its presence and generates a mammoth income from it.
Lynch (2012) asserts that it is necessary for an organization to carry out an analysis of its resources and capabilities as it help it in identifying the places where value can be added by the organization. This also helps the company in finding out ways to gain competitive advantage in the market. The given case on Nintendo showed that by 2005, Nintendo appeared to be heading towards an end as its rivals Microsoft and Sony has captured the market through Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 respectively. In this scenario, Nintendo innovated Wii which changed the market scenario in 2007. The case showed that innovative new strategy by Nintendo with its Wii games machine has transformed the industry and revived the profitability of the company. Since the release of the Wii, Nintendo is the leader in the video game industry. By introducing a totally new, one of a kind console, Nintendo has set clearly its goal and objectives, i.e. to reach an unexplored market share by introducing new gaming experiences, and therefore being the leader over its two main competitors, Sony and Microsoft. The case thus highlights the need to take a resource based view of the capabilities of the company so that such resources can be exploited to generate higher value for the firm.
The competition amongst the key players of video game industry in the mid-1990s to the early-2000s is noteworthy, considering the fact that technological endeavors were deeply intertwined with competitiveness. Some of the key players of the video game industry namely, Sony and Microsoft had developed and released their exclusive video game consoles, the PS and the Xbox, respectively.
Call of Duty, also known as “Cod” has, as many know it as, has become one of todays most popular video games. So popular, that Cod has raked in more money than the highest grossing movie in America. However, despite it’s popularity, Cod is killing the gaming industry. Many may be puzzled why a game so popular could possibly be ruining the gaming industry, but it is. Cod is affecting the gaming industry through it’s popularity and influence.
Blizzard’s Entertainment is being sued for unfair business practice. This company has online game called StarCraft, which is big a strategy game with many users going online to play. The suit claims that while a game player is online, the software transmits the gamer's name and e-mail address without their permission or knowledge. The reason Battle.net, Blizzard’s Internet gaming site, transmit data from the gamer player’s computer is to help identify which user are using illegal software.
Gaming in Korea played a very important role in the growth of their technological infrastructure and is one of the reasons why Korea became so well-known to the West. Gaming started to first evolve in Korea during the late 1990’s at the time of the Asian Financial Crisis. During this time many people in Korea were unemployed and the general mood at this time was not so great. Because of this people looked toward entertainment to help cheer themselves up and to pass time. But because many Japanese gaming products were banned in Korea, they had to look toward games made from other countries. The most popular game at this time was StarCraft, a game made in the U.S. that was playable only on computers. At this time, StarCraft was a game that was not only very fun to play, but it was also a very cheap game. The game could be easily pirated and played either solo or with othe...
The customers always ask for the change the product to get new and best product. The company can follow the changes by changes happen in the market. The resource and development of Alphabet Games focus on technology that is expected to deliver in the market. Division product development teams are responsible for commercializing products to market.
Video games have come a long way. They have evolved from the simple game of Pong into a complex, multi-platform, multi-genre, multi-billion dollar industry.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed., Global ed.). Boston, [Mass.: Pearson.
People suspect the growth of this competitive scene is due to the gambling aspect of gaming. In 1994, the Kiplinger Washington Letter stated, “Gambling will be the fastest growing industry of the Nineties.” This statement is very true and applies to competitive gaming as well. As soon as you enter the world of competitive gaming, it's nearly impossible to leave. The industry of competitive video gaming has been up and coming, but now it is at it's peek. The world around us is changing every day, similar to the world of competitive sports, but the world of competitive gaming is here to stay.
...players in counties like the U.S. and Australia. However, a close examination of the plummeting physical media product sales could be countered by the increasing sales of digitized media content. The techno savvy generation may not after all, be interested in downloading music or movies for unauthorized use, but just to get the entertainment services which is why online sales of digital media products is on the increase. In order to counter the effect of online piracy, media producers need to remodel their approach to business to make more money through advertising and in-app purchases the way some video game producers are doing it. Overall, the effects of piracy on the media industry could be exploited to increase income for the industry players rather than point an accusing finger without adopting the best practices that are in sync with media consumption trends.