Few online game corporations have the moment title recognition of Blizzard Leisure. The studio is accountable for a number of the largest PC sport franchises of all time, together with Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. Nevertheless, sexual misconduct scandals and a sequence of rocky sport launches have tarnished the corporate’s status lately. In the event you’ve ever needed to know the complete story, veteran video games journalist Jason Schreier chronicles the corporate’s 33-year-long historical past in his upcoming e-book, Play Good: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Leisure.
Play Good options interviews with over 300 present and former Blizzard crew members from each period of the corporate, ranging from its earliest years creating lesser-known console video games and the golden eras of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo within the ’90s and 2000s, to its merger with Activision in 2008 and up to date acquisition by Microsoft. The e-book’s title is a reference to one of many firm’s core company values “Play Good; Play Truthful.”
Play Good will launch on October 8. You possibly can preorder the hardcover version for $30 at Amazon. Preordering now locks you in for Amazon’s preorder worth assure, which means you will solely be charged the bottom worth and do not need to pay till your order ships. The e-book is not discounted but, however most books wind up dropping in worth at Amazon forward of their publication dates. It is also out there in a $15 Kindle version.
Schreier has coated video video games for shops like Kotaku and Bloomberg since 2011, and Play Good is his third e-book investigating the business. His first e-book, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, coated the event tales of common titles like Stardew Valley and Dragon Age: Inquisition; and his second e-book, Press Reset, particulars the working circumstances and labor points rampant in sport growth. Whereas each books are value studying, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is one in every of a number of books on online game historical past which are a part of Amazon’s purchase one, get one 50% off promotion. Another notable works within the sale embrace Misplaced In Cult’s A Handheld Historical past, Ask Iwata, edited by Hobonichi, and The Recreation Console 2.0 by Evan Amos.