Blizzard Entertainment, Orange County’s top video game developer, is moving from the computer screen to the big screen.
The Irvine company, part of France’s Vivendi, plans to announce a deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.’s Legendary Pictures to make a movie based on its “World of Warcraft” online game, according to Variety Magazine.
“World of Warcraft,” a fantasy role-playing game where players face off with each other via the Internet, has more than 6 million online users around the world.
Blizzard employs an estimated 600 people in Orange County and ranks fourth on the Business Journal’s list of software companies.
The announcement comes as the video game industry prepares for the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, which officially starts Wednesday.
Details of the movie deal weren’t disclosed.
Paul Sams, Blizzard’s chief operating officer, told Variety the company “searched for a very long time for the right studio” to develop a movie based on the game.
Blizzard considered hiring a scribe to adapt the game for the big screen, as Microsoft Corp. did with its “Halo” game, but ultimately decided to work with a partner, Sams said.
