A heavy hitter is re-entering the online gaming world: Mike Morhaime, the former chief executive and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, has started up Dreamhaven in Irvine.
The new enterprise has already announced its first two studios—Moonshot Games and Secret Door.
“I’ve always believed in the power of games to bring people together regardless of backgrounds or boundaries,” Morhaime said in announcing the new venture on Sept. 23. “With Dreamhaven, we look forward to creating and sharing new experiences with players everywhere.”
Dreamhaven, working with several industry veterans, will create and publish original games for players around the world.
“Right now we’re all working remotely but plan to have offices in Irvine late this year,” a Dreamhaven spokesperson told the Business Journal on Sept. 24. “We’ll continue to monitor the COVID situation, so the plan is to work remotely until it’s safe to return to work and our employees feel comfortable doing so.”
The spokesman said Dreamhaven had 26 employees as of Sept. 23, and it was advertising for 11 positions, all of them in Irvine.
Online Gaming
Dreamhaven is currently funded by Morhaime and his wife, Amy, according to the company spokesperson.
Amy Morhaime will head operations for the new company, tech and game industry website VentureBeat.com said
Mike Morhaime is credited with pioneering multiplayer online gaming.
He was serving as president of Blizzard Entertainment in 2018 when he ceded that role to World of Warcraft Executive Producer J. Allen Brack. Morhaime left the company in 2019.
“The artwork on the company’s homepage combines aspects of both fantasy and science fiction,” according to tech and gaming website VentureBeat.com. The company’s model “closely resembles the way Morhaime ran things at Blizzard, with an emphasis on quality, iteration, and giving creative staff enough time.”
VentureBeat said that in the future Morhaime expects “to obtain more funding.”
Dreamhaven’s game industry veterans include Jason Chayes, previously an executive producer at Blizzard, and Dustin Browder, whose career includes game director on Blizzard’s StarCraft II and Heroes of the Storm.
“Dreamhaven has assembled some amazing people, folks who truly share our values, and we’re really excited to begin this next adventure together,” said Chayes, the Moonshot studio head. “We aspire to be bold in our approach, and we think the best way to do that is to create a culture centered around trust.”
So far, no release target dates have been announced.
Game Development
“The amount of game development and publishing experience at Dreamhaven combined with the camaraderie between our studios is already providing an unparalleled environment for creative collaboration,” said Secret Door studio head Chris Sigaty.
The Orange County area is an epicenter of online gaming activities. There are over 400 esports and video gaming-related companies within a 65-mile radius of Irvine, according to industry estimates.
The coronavirus pandemic has kept more people at home and hindered social gatherings, boosting demand for online gaming and esports.
Blizzard, whose online games also include Call of Duty and the Diablo video game series, was advertising for 218 new positions as of late last month. Across town in Irvine, gamemaker Obsidian Entertainment was advertising for 15 positions on its website.
