A German YouTuber takes Blizzard to task. How Blizzard went from being the best to one of the most hated gaming companies is clearly illustrated.
Blizzard Entertainment. The name is likely to evoke quite different feelings among players around the world. While some old fans nostalgically remember classics like ‘Warcraft III’, those who have only known the company for a few years likely have mainly the scandals in mind. Whether it’s the sexism scandal, the disastrous launch of ‘Warcraft III: Reforged’ or the burying of the PvE mode in Overwatch 2 – there’s plenty that comes to mind from recent history.
A German YouTube video now deals extensively with the history of the company that once started with ‘The Lost Vikings’ and for many is just a shadow of its former glory.
What kind of channel is this? The YouTuber ‘Jules’ has been revisiting topics that have made significant waves on the internet in recent months, presenting them in an engaging way (complete with plenty of memes). In addition to the rise and fall of Blizzard, he had previously covered topics such as the ‘9-Euro-Ticket’ and the associated rush to Sylt. The videos are elaborate, and many in the comments describe him as ‘one of the best that YouTube Germany has to offer’.
What does the video show? The video begins with the origin story of Blizzard, back when it was ‘Silicon & Synapse’ in a garage – then it breaks down the entire development of the company, including all major successes. However, inch by inch, this success begins to shift, which many attribute today to the merger with Activision and also to the (still current) CEO Bobby Kotick.
Jules showcases all scandals, successes, and major internet phenomena. Among them are some past ‘gems’, such as Blizzard’s attempt to implement a real-name policy in the forums. Something that was discarded in under 24 hours.
The video is a perfect mix of nostalgia and hard reality, showing all the highs and lows of Blizzard and its games.
It is therefore hardly surprising that the video has already received over 1,000,000 views in just 2 days.
Those who look closely can also spot one or two articles from colleague Schuhmann in the video as source material (I had to mention this; it was very important to him).
Even though the video, at 84 minutes, is extremely long and might strain the attention span of ‘Generation TikTok’, for everyone who has played Blizzard games in recent years, it is well-invested and entertaining time.
How it will continue with Blizzard, we will find out at BlizzCon in 4 days.
