In the year of the company's 35th anniversary, Blizzard Entertainment president Johanna Faries wants to usher in a new era for the revered game developer, and that includes the expansion of its franchises into cinema and TV. In an interview with Variety, Faries stated:
We talk a lot about this. We’re not Blizzard Games, we’re Blizzard Entertainment. We want to be able to show up on every screen imaginable. We want to be able to create new fans who may not have been with us for the past 35 years. How we continue to engage Hollywood or film and TV in bigger ways is going to be, in the near term, probably a big part of that recipe. We also play in music. We also play in non-traditional spaces, beyond gaming, certainly.
I would confidently say that every one of our IPs could be some of the greatest linear media experiences that the world could experience. So more to come on the specifics. What I will say is that there are highly generative, proactive, near-term discussions across almost every one of our worlds right now, with respect to what can we do, what format works, who’s the right team to take that to new audiences in a high caliber way.
It is indeed a bit strange that Blizzard didn't pursue transmedia opportunities more. Sure, there was the $160 million live-action Warcraft movie released in 2016 with a strong cast (Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Dominic Cooper, Clancy Brown, and Ruth Negga), but it didn't exactly earn a great critical or box office success. Beyond that, fans of the main franchises (Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, and Overwatch) were largely left wanting.
Faries is definitely correct that each of them could be a great source for adaptations. Ultimately, it all depends on the team behind the project. Historically, adaptations from game IPs haven't done that well, but that has changed dramatically in the last few years with the likes of Sonic, The Last of Us, Fallout, and Super Mario, thanks to filmmakers who understood the worlds they were adapting. Even the second and final season of the Halo TV show showed significant improvements, although the series was still ultimately canceled. Hopefully, other projects like the upcoming God of War, Mass Effect, and Baldur's Gate 3 series follow the same golden rule.
If you could choose just one Blizzard franchise to adapt, which one would it be? Vote in the poll below to voice your opinion!
In other Blizzard news, check out our fresh interview with the World of Warcraft team about the upcoming 11th expansion, Midnight, which is out next week.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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