Blizzard Entertainment is a game development studio and publisher based in Irvine, California, USA and founded on February 8th, 1991 by Michael Morhaime, Frank Pierce Jr. & Allen Adham.

​

The company operated under Silicon & Synapse during 1991-1994, primarily working on ports for other studios. S&S began work on Rock’n Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings between ports in 1992 and '94. In 1994 the company briefly became ‘Chaos Studios’ before being acquired by Davidson & Associates educational software company. Following a legal dispute on naming, the company cemented its name as ‘Blizzard Entertainment, Inc’.

​

Over the next 4 years, Blizzard went on to develop the first games in their flagship series: Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft. With the repeated successes of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Diablo, and Starcraft, Blizzard quickly established themselves as industry innovators in Real-time Strategy and Action RPGs. Between 1998 and 2013, Blizzard released multiple sequels to these games, building a strong reputation for quality. A large international fan base followed in the wake of the sequels.

​

With the release of Hearthstone (2014), Heroes of the Storm (2015), and Overwatch (2016), Blizzard's following exploded back into the limelight. With the power of these franchises combined, roughly 1.1-billion in income and near 4.7-thousand present employees, Blizzard holds a considerable share of the PC gaming market.