In a recent interview published by VGC, Holly Longdale, executive producer and VP of World of Warcraft, explained that Microsoft he left a notable legacy independence to Blizzard after the acquisition of the Activision Blizzard conglomerate.
“It was a productive situation,” Longdale explained, “We spent time with Helen Chang from Mojang, we shared information and we basically had access to what worked well for them,” the Blizzard executive reported.
“We also spoke with the Elder Scrolls Online team and shared more information with them about what would work best, it's like having received some important benefits.”
Soft approach from Microsoft
“No one is there asking to do something in a certain way” Longdale explained, ” World of Warcraft is doing very well and we're very proud of what we've been able to do so far, so it's a bit of wanting to keep things going as long as they're successful.”
It therefore seems that, also for Blizzard, Microsoft wanted to maintain that soft, “hands-off” approach, which was also noted following other acquisitions, trying to leave the newly acquired group intact with the current organization.
“They were enormously supportive and willing let Blizzard be Blizzard“, explained Longdale, which is similar to what happened after the acquisition of the ZeniMax group with Bethesda and the other teams.
This type of organization has led to conflicting assessments: although the fact of wanting to leave creative and decision-making freedom to important and talented teams is certainly a very positive thing, in other cases there has been talk of a need for greater control on Microsoft's part, as seen in the case of Redfall and the alleged chaos over the development of Perfect Dark.
In any case, Blizzard in particular is a large company with its own organization of a certain level, so at least for the moment it will probably continue on its own path, although some intervention by Microsoft is likely in the near future.
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