Ex-Blizzard Boss Mike Morhaime Founds New Studio, Dreamhaven

After stepping down as CEO from Blizzard Entertainment in October 2018 and leaving the company entirely in April 2019, former company president and co-founder Mike Morhaime is still working in the industry. Despite his apparent absence or silence, Morhaime has now established a new company.

Dreamhaven is Morhaime's new base of operations. It's a company that will "create and publish original games for players around the world" and aims to "empower creators, help bring their ideas to life, and create original gaming experiences that foster meaningful connections between players," according to a blog post. In announcing this new publishing house, Dreamhaven also unveiled two new studios.

Moonshot Games is led by three ex-Blizzard developers who worked on titles such as Command & Conquer, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. The studio is also comprised of other employees who contributed to "some of gaming's most popular franchises." These franchises weren't specified in the blog post.

The other development house, Secret Door, is similar to Moonshot. It's also composed of developers who worked on Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, as well as Starcraft II and Warcraft III. Secret Door also has employees with "extensive industry experience [that] are beginning to explore new game experiences together."

Neither team has confirmed whether it has games in development.

Morhaime's Dreamhaven is joined by Ben Thompson (Hearthstone creative director), Dustin Browder (Starcraft II lead designer), and Jason Chayes (former Blizzard Entertainment executive producer) at Moonshot and Alan Dabiri (Heroes of the Storm game director), Chris Sigaty (StarCraft II executive producer), and Eric Dodds (original Hearthstone game director) at Secret Door. Morhaime also expressed excitement at the prospect of Dreamhaven's potential to bring people together through the power of games.

"I'm excited to team up with such talented people who care deeply about games and their communities," said Morhaime. "I've always believed in the power of games to bring people together regardless of backgrounds or boundaries. With Dreamhaven, we look forward to creating and sharing new experiences with players everywhere."

In other Blizzard news, the company announced that Blizzard Online (or BlizzConline, as Blizzard calls it) will take place in February 2021. The event will be hosted remotely and is expected to feature news about Blizzard's upcoming games, such as Diablo IV and Overwatch 2.