The Developer of Popular Game “World of Warcraft” Brings In Great Annual Income
For putting out some pretty radical games, one could assume that the developing and publishing company Blizzard must some hearty cash. Blizzard has been in the game since 1991, so it is safe to say that the assumption is correct. With nearly thirty games on the market, Blizzard has made its name in mythical strategy games and wondrous RPGs. Although they’ve been providing us with great content for over 20 years, our focus will be zoomed in on just one of those years in the Blizzard universe.
If we go back to the early days when Blizzard was still Silicon & Synapse, we will find racing games and old-school developed side-scrollers. Back in those days I’m sure these games brought in great revenue.
When 1994 rolled around, Blizzard officially became the snowstorm that turned the gamer world upside-down. Through the course of the 90s, they put out many games for the Super NES, Genesis, and eventually PC systems. People all around rid themselves of the burdens of a social life and started spending countless hours completing quests in front of their computes.
Each and every person that stayed up past 3:00 A.M., with faces illuminated by the bright white light of their computer screen contributed to the wealth of Blizzard. To this day, these same people and the generations following them are right there helping rake in the revenue.
It is estimated that Blizzard’s newest game Overwatch brought in about $269 million dollars in May of 2016. During its release, it was also considered the fastest selling digital game. These numbers look fantastic for just one single month out of the year.
How Much Revenue Was Made In 2015 Exactly?
Now if you think that’s a lot, wait until you hear what they achieved in 2015. From you trudging through dungeons and defeating totally badass bosses, you helped Blizzard bring in a 1.1 billion revenue in 2015. That’s a whole lot of dough if you ask me. If only we could make that much by playing the games, am I right? Some of us would have a lot of hours clocked and maybe some hefty bonuses.
With that much of a profit, you know damn well that their employees are being well-taken care of. An obvious place to start is at the top where the head honchos sit (and trust me, it’s not in the same place you sit with cracking black leather and a permanent imprint of your butt.) They’re sitting real pretty at the top with gold-infused desks and ballpoint pens that cost more than your car.
One man in particular is considered one of the most wealthy people in the world of gaming. That would be Mike Morhaime, also known as the co-founder of Blizzard. His net worth alone is 1.8 billion dollars.
It’s a good thing these developers and companies are so well off and making so much money off of us nerds. If not, we wouldn’t have the massive worlds to escape to after a long day in the real world at our boring jobs or dealing with annoying folk. So for that, we are as grateful as a person who has spent way too many hours battling the Deathwing and finally defeated him.
If I Had A Million Dollars…
That truly is the age-old question, isn’t it? What would any of us do if we had even a fraction of that money? This is a conversation for another day but I can tell you what Blizzard does with their assets. The most reputable is their donations and charity. It is truly admirable to go out of their way to give their piece of the pie away to help others.
Blizzard is known for helping out the cause for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They have held auctions to raise even more money to donate to these sweet children. It is honorable to give 100% of the earned money to help fund the end to cancer. With the help of many people just like you and me, Blizzard contributes its proceedings to aid in kicking cancer in the teeth just like a frustrating boss in World of Warcraft.
Besides their charitable actions and the obvious employee salary, you know they put extra into the expansions we have bestowed upon us. With now six expansions for WoW and the new game Overwatch, as of 2016, it is necessary to assume we know there is cash being piled into great new content for us players.
Conclusion
So in short, how much does Blizzard make in a year? Well, the answer is simple. It is over a billion and that, my friend, is more than some of will see in our entire lifetime. So we might as well just keep going and keep questing on. Time spent on any Blizzard game is time well spent.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_Entertainment
http://naibuzz.com/2014/08/24/6-richest-people-gaming-industry/
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/charity-auction/
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