Blizzard Entertainment was founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse by three UCLA graduates. It developed games for other studios initially and created its own games starting in 1993. It was later acquired and renamed Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is known for popular game franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and World of Warcraft, and has hosted gaming conventions called BlizzCon.

1. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game
developer and publisher based in Irvine, California, and is a subsidiary of the American
company Activision Blizzard. The company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the
name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of
the University of California, Los Angeles:[4]
Michael
Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Allen Adham. The
company originally concentrated primarily on the
creation of game ports for other studios before
beginning development of their own software in
1993 with the development of games like Rock n'
Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. In 1994 the
company became Chaos Studios, then Blizzard
Entertainment, Inc. after being acquired by
distributor Davidson & Associates.
Blizzard released:
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Blizzard went on to create several other video games,
including Warcraft sequels, the Diablo series, the StarCraft series, and in 2004 the massively
multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Their most recent projects include the first
expansion for Diablo III, Reaper of Souls, the online collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of
Warcraft, the sixth expansion for World of Warcraft, Legion, the multiplayer online battle
arena Heroes of the Storm, the third and final expansion for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Legacy of
the Void, and the multiplayer first-person shooterOverwatch.
Blizzard Entertainment hosts conventions for fans to meet and to promote their games:
the BlizzCon in California, United States, and the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in other countries,
including France and South Korea.

2. History
Blizzard Entertainment was founded by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank
Pearce as Silicon & Synapse on February 8, 1991, a year after[4]
all three had received
their bachelor's degrees from UCLA.
In early 1994, they were acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates for $6.75 million ($10.9
million today).[10]
That same year the company briefly changed its name to Chaos Studios, before
finally settling on Blizzard Entertainment (after it was discovered that another company with the
Chaos name already existed).[11]
Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their breakthrough hit Warcraft:
Orcs & Humans.
In 1996, Blizzard acquired Condor Games, which had been working on the game Diablo for Blizzard
at the time. Condor was renamed Blizzard North, and has since developed the games Diablo, Diablo
II, and its expansion pack Lord of Destruction. Blizzard North was located in San Mateo, California.
The company originated in Redwood City, California.
Blizzard launched their online gaming service Battle.net in January 1997 with the release of
their action role-playing game Diablo. In 2002, Blizzard was able to reacquire rights for three of its
earlier Silicon & Synapse titles, The Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing and Blackthorne,
from Interplay Entertainment and re-release them for Game Boy Advance, a handheld console.[12]
In
2004, Blizzard opened European offices in the Paris suburb of Vélizy, Yvelines, France. On May 16,
2005, Blizzard announced the acquisition of Swingin' Ape Studios, a video game developer which
had been developing StarCraft: Ghost. The company was then merged into Blizzard's other teams
after StarCraft: Ghost was "postponed indefinitely". On August 1, 2005, Blizzard announced
the consolidation of Blizzard North into the headquarters at 131 Theory in UC Irvine's University
Research Park in Irvine, California. In 2007, Blizzard moved their headquarters to 16215 Alton
Parkway in Irvine, California.
On November 23, 2004, Blizzard released ,
a massively multiplayer online role-playing
game. World of Warcraft is the fourth released
game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe,
which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs &
Humans in 1994.[13]
Blizzard announced World
of Warcraft on September 2, 2001.[14]
The game
was released on November 23, 2004, on the
10th anniversary of the Warcraftfranchise.

3. Games developed: Blizzard Entertainment,
Blackthorne[33]
1994
Super NES, MS-DOS, Classic Mac
OS, Sega 32X
Platform game
The Death and Return of
Superman[33] Super NES, Genesis
Side-scrolling video
game
Warcraft: Orcs &
Humans
MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS
Real-time strategy
game
Justice League Task
Force[34]
1995
Super NES Versus fighting game
Warcraft II: Tides of
Darkness
MS-DOS, Windows, Sega Saturn
Real-time strategy
game
Warcraft II: Beyond the
Dark Portal
1996
Expansion pack
Diablo
Windows, Classic Mac
OS, PlayStation
Action role-playing
game
The Lost Vikings 2 1997 Super NES
Side-scrolling video
game
Title Year Platform(s) Genre

4. StarCraft
1998
Windows, Classic Mac OS, N64
Real-time strategy
game
StarCraft: Brood War
Windows, Classic Mac OS
Expansion pack
Warcraft II: Battle.net
Edition
1999
Real-time strategy
game
Diablo II 2000
Windows, Classic Mac OS, Mac OS
X
Action role-playing
game
Diablo II: Lord of
Destruction
2001 Expansion pack
Warcraft III: Reign of
Chaos
2002
Real-time strategy
game
Warcraft III: The Frozen
Throne
2003 Expansion pack
World of Warcraft 2004
Windows, OS X
MMORPG
World of Warcraft: The
Burning Crusade
2007
Expansion pack
World of Warcraft: Wrath
of the Lich King
2008
StarCraft II: Wings of
Liberty
2010
Real-time strategy
game
World of Warcraft:
Cataclysm
Expansion pack

5. Diablo III
2012
Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox
360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Action role-playing
game
World of Warcraft: Mists
of Pandaria
Windows, OS X Expansion pack
StarCraft II: Heart of the
Swarm
2013
Hearthstone
2014
Windows, OS X, iOS, Android Digital CCG
Diablo III: Reaper of
Souls
Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox
360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Expansion pack
World of Warcraft:
Warlords of Draenor
Windows, OS XHeroes of the Storm
2015
Multiplayer online battle
arena
StarCraft II: Legacy of
the Void
Expansion pack
Overwatch
2016
Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One First person shooter
World of Warcraft:
Legion
Windows, OS X Expansion pack
StarCraft: Remastered 2017 Windows, OS X
Remaster, Real-time
strategy game