GameReplays.org recently posted an article on their trip to the new Blizzard Head Quarters in an upscale part of Irvine, California. There they were able to take a tour of the facilities as well as ask a few questions.
The article starts off with a brief description of the studios grounds, from the parking lot to the museum and theater that the offices hold. Although the tour was taken over a month ago, the article was not released until today along with the Zerg press release.
Gateway to Heav...Blizzard - GameReplays.orgWhat seemed to separate the new offices from the old was a larger parking lot area, more room for Blizzard employees and apparently a recreational area that will soon have a 20-foot tall bronze statue of an Orc riding a Wolf. If that wasn't enough, the pictures that were taken for the article's gallery show several pictures with large models of StarCraft and WarCraft units all over the place. Sadly the theater that is mentioned was never photographed because they were not allowed to do so, but we can imagine.
The latter half of the article deals with StarCraft 2 and more specifically it's role as a professional eSport.
The key thing about Starcraft 2 is that it is designed and engineered specifically to be a competent eSports title.
Their dedication to making this an eSports title is shown in the creation of Blizzard's eSports team, which will be responsible for "making sure the game goes big, and that people are encouraged to see what esports is all about." It seems everything about StarCraft 2 has been wired to make sure that it can succeed as an eSport title, with "fun and balanced first" as their development team's mantra.
At this point an time, success is synonymous with Blizzard and its games. The new offices are an obvious testament to their success and their pursuit of the advancement of eSports is a testament to their dedication. With the press release of the Zerg, the success of StarCraft 2 is becoming more and more likely. As development of StarCraft 2 continues I'm sure we are all waiting anxiously to be apart of that next step forward in not just StarCraft's success, but for all of eSport's.
Links
GameReplays.org - Source
GameReplays.org - Gallery
