Blizzard Entertainment Inc.’s latest game in development marks another milestone for the Irvine-based company as it continues to offer new types of games in an ambitious schedule of product releases.
A key new offering is “Overwatch,” a first-person shooter game with a fresh cast of characters that square off in well-known global locations in the not-too-distant future.
It will be the first new franchise in 17 years for Blizzard, the biggest software maker based in Orange County, with $1.1 billion in annual revenue and an estimated 1,900 employees at its iron-gated campus in the Irvine Spectrum.
The announcement of “Overwatch” during the highly anticipated opening ceremony stole the show at BlizzCon, the company’s annual fanfest, which drew 25,000 boisterous gamers for its Nov. 7-8 run at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The crowd included attendees from every state and nearly 60 countries across six continents, some traveling from as far as Russia, South Africa and New Zealand. Millions of viewers were expected to tune in and watch the show from 15 streaming broadcasts in 14 languages, according to Chief Executive Michael Morhaime.
“We are truly a global community,” he said. “This is our biggest BlizzCon yet.”
The fan festival is Blizzard’s unique take on releasing gaming news in a rock-concert-style format set against a backdrop of cinematics and lighting and sound effects—all of which came in handy for Metallica’s performance the following night.
“Overwatch” players can team up and choose among soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and odd creatures in a new universe of battlefields that include hologram-lit streets of London and a high-tech version of the Egyptian pyramids.
“We wanted to make a game and genre that we have always been passionate about at Blizzard,” said game director Jeff Kaplan.
BlizzCon goers tested the new title and game play on 600 PCs set up near the main stage. A beta version will be available next year, along with new characters and maps, according to the company.
BlizzCon was also the stage for an announcement of the first expansion set—“Goblins vs Gnomes”—for its debut free-to-play video game “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft,” which has amassed more than 20 million players since its March release. The collectible-card game that features characters from the company’s World of Warcraft franchise is on pace to crack $100 million in revenue in its first year. That forecast should get a bump when “Heroes” is released on Android tablets next month in another first for Blizzard.
The company’s other free-to-play game in development, “Heroes of the Storm,” pits favorite characters from its Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo franchises against each other in online brawls and clashing universes, drawing from two decades of Blizzard lore.
The company has not disclosed the business model, but free-to-play titles typically incorporate some e-commerce mechanism to boost power levels and add weapons or accessories.
Game advertising or sponsorships also could be an option, although those could dilute a brand Blizzard has built and spread to comic books, art exhibits, toys, other products, and an upcoming movie.
Blizzard also announced the trilogy in the StarCraft II series, which includes “Legacy of the Void,” where the fate of three races pitted against each other in the military real-time strategy game will come to a conclusion in the stand-alone title that builds on the storyline of previous expansions “Wings of Liberty” and “Heart of the Swarm.” “Heart of the Swarm” ended 2013 as the top selling PC game in North America.
The previous titles have sold more than 11 million units combined.
Blizzard last week released World of Warcraft’s fifth expansion, “Warlords of Draenor,” which sends players back to familiar lands inhabited by characters from the game’s early history after its 1994 “Warcraft: Orcs & Humans” debut.
Blizzard Adds Subscribers
Blizzard added 600,000 players at the end of the third quarter to 7.4 million subscribers ahead of the launch.
The fantasy game, which costs about $40 to buy and $15 a month to play online, is still the largest massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the world.
“Hearthstone” and “Warlords” helped drive results for Blizzard, a unit of Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc.
The company posted revenue of $388 million in the recently ended quarter, up 37.5% from a year earlier.
Income from operations hit $164 million, up 86.3%.
