Some 28,000 fans of Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc.’s video games got their geek on last month at BlizzCon, the online video game company’s annual fan fest.
The event, which took place during two days at the Anaheim Convention Center, was a chance for die-hard fans to gather and share their love of Blizzard’s three big game franchises, “World of Warcraft, “StarCraft” and “Diablo.”
“The main goal is to show off the new things we are working on to the people that are the most passionate about it,” Chief Executive Mike Morhaime said. “It’s about helping to support and grow the community that already exists around these games.”
Blizzard’s fantasy-themed games, which are played by millions over the Internet, are big business. The company, part of Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc., a unit of France’s Vivendi SA, is Orange County’s largest software maker with $1.3 billion in yearly sales.
Blizzard has more than 2,000 local workers.
BlizzCon isn’t a money maker but rather a way to give back to followers and inspire employees, according to Morhaime.
Attendees, who deck themselves out as their favorite game characters, get to play unreleased versions of Blizzard games. They also get first crack at Blizzard swag. Most of all, they get to geek out en masse.
“I like being surrounded by so many nerds at the same time,” said Taylor Parsons, 23, an attendee and Marin County native. “It’s awesome. Everyone is really passionate about gaming.”
Grohl, Black
The convention concluded in epic style with a raucous performance by Tenacious D, the comedic rock band fronted by movie funnyman Jack Black.
Setting the performance over the top was a surprise cameo on drums by Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame.
Attendees were treated to a swag bag full of goodies and a collectible figurine. They also were among the first to hear about new additions to “Diablo III” and “StarCraft II.”
BlizzCon—while designed for the fans—gets Blizzard employees’ juices going.
“There’s really no better way to see what our work means to our players than to be here and watch them react to the new games we are working on,” Morhaime said. “They are so appreciative of the hard work that goes into these games. It’s really rewarding. In terms of morale building, there’s really nothing that compares.”
The convention followed the July release of “StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty,” the first in a trilogy of “StarCraft II” games that are a follow up to 1998’s “StarCraft.”
In December, Blizzard is set to release “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm,” the latest expansion pack addition to its “World of Warcraft” series. The first two expansion packs shattered PC game sales records.
At BlizzCon, Blizzard’s game developers get lots of feedback from players, both good and bad, Morhaime said.
“Our players have a lot to say about our games,” he said. “They are very engaged and very passionate. We are a stronger company for listening to them.”
BlizzCon attendees typically skew young and male.
With each passing year, the group gets a bit more diverse.
“I have a couple of friends who work at Blizzard who got me into the game,” said San Clemente’s Ramona Ireland, who attended BlizzCon with her 8-year-old daughter. “We play ‘World of Warcraft’ together.”
One of the highlights every year is a costume contest, emceed by comedian and actor Jay Mohr.
The winner this year was Christina Estrada, whose “Diablo III” monk costume featured hand-tooled leather with patterns almost identical to the ones seen on characters of the game.
Other fans roamed the halls in some pretty fantastic getups. There were dozens of elves from “World of Warcraft” and a few militant ghosts from “StarCraft II.”
Some were incredibly elaborate, with glowing lights, stilts, body paint and special effect contact lenses.
“I always look forward to the costume contest,” Morhaime said.
Blizzard works with a slew of companies that had booths selling stuff to a captive audience.
They included Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp., which pushed its high-end processors and graphics cards.
Lake Forest-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. had a booth, along with Taiwanese computer maker AsusTek Com-puter Inc.
DC Comics Inc., part of Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., was there selling detailed figurines and other collectibles.
“When we first started doing BlizzCon, we totally underestimated the number of people who would want to buy stuff,” Morhaime said. “The lines were ridiculous. We have increased the number of stores that we have.”
Tickets to BlizzCon went for $150 a pop and sold out within minutes.
“We’ve pretty much filled up the convention center to capacity,” Morhaime said. “So this is about as big as we can get.”
Those who didn’t nab tickets were able to watch the event.
Blizzard has a deal with DirecTV to broadcast BlizzCon via pay-per-view television. It also streams it online.
Far-Flung Attendees
People come from as far away as South Korea and Australia to attend.
Lindsay Powell, who hails from Canada, and David Pillars, a Phoenix native, traveled to BlizzCon for their first face-to-face meeting.
The two have played “World of Warcraft” together online for nearly five years.
“This is the first time we’ve met in person,” Pillars said.
Both were chatting as they waited patiently in a long line of fans looking to buy souvenirs exclusive to BlizzCon 2010, including decorative steins, plush characters and T-shirts.
“I’m here to buy some sheet music,” Powell said. “And maybe a baby gift.”
Fantasy Camp
Nearly 30,000 devoted fans of Blizzard Entertainment Inc.’s fantasy-themed Internet games came out in force for the company’s annual BlizzCon fan fest last month in Anaheim. The gathering was a spectacle, with fans going all out as their favorite characters from Blizzard games.
Attendees got to play upcoming versions of games and received a swag bag full of goodies and a collectible figurine. Booths were set up to sell products based on Blizzard games. The show isn’t a money maker for Blizzard, but rather a way to give back to fans and inspire employees. The company is the county’s largest software maker with yearly sales of $1.3 billion.
