Blizzard North
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Blizzard North is a division of Blizzard Entertainment. They are known for the Diablo series. The studio is based in San Mateo (near San Fransisco), with Blizzard proper being based in Irvine (in southern California).
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History
Blizzard North was originally an independent company. It was established in 1993 under the name Condor, with the founders being Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, and David Brevik. The company was purchased and renamed by Blizzard about six months before the release of their hit game, Diablo, in 1996. Diablo proved to be a considerable success, and a sequel was released in 2000. An expansion pack followed the year after.
On June 30 2003, several key employees left the company to form the new companies Flagship Studios (8 moved here) and Castaway Entertainment (9 moved here). Two unannounced games were in production at the time, with one forced to be canceled due to around 30 employees leaving the company in total. Geoff Fraizer of Blizzard Entertainment has since said the canceled game was a "Blizzard North kind of game", which has made some draw the conclusion that a "Diablo 3" has been canceled. Although nothing has been officially confirmed yet, it is a logical conclusion since Blizzard North had, at the time of this exodus, only worked on Diablo games except for before the days they were acquired by Blizzard Entertainment, but then they were using another name as well; Condor. The resignations were partly due to a conflict with Blizzard Entertainment's owner Vivendi Universal, and partly due to employees wishing to start something new.
Games
As Condor
- Justice League Task Force (1995)
As Blizzard North
- Diablo (1996) - action-oriented CRPG
- Diablo II (2000) - action-oriented CRPG
- Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (2001) - expansion pack