It’s no secret that Blizzard has changed a lot over the years. The iconic company behind World of Warcraft has made countless headlines for its hostile, crunch-heavy work culture, worsened by multiple lawsuits over sexual harassment in its offices. Now, the experience of Andy Weir, the author of The Martian (the novel behind the movie Mars) and Project Hail Mary, has come to light. Weir was part of Blizzard’s team around the time of Warcraft 2.
Bloomberg editor Jason Schreier is set to release his new book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, which, as the title suggests, delves deep into Blizzard’s rise and fall as a game developer. According to an excerpt shared by Ryan K. Rigney on X, Weir not only worked at the studio but also suffered “bullying” for asking to be compensated for overtime. Specifically, the writer was rejected, ridiculed, or simply ignored and became “the target of endless bullying at the office.”
“A lot of people were horrible to me. I have to assume I brought this on myself in some ways,” Weir, who was a programmer at the time, told Schreier. Although Weir made some mistakes in his work, no one was willing to teach him anything about the field. Less than a year later, Blizzard fired him. “This was a dream job for me, working at Blizzard,” Weir said. “I was absolutely devastated.”
Fortunately, Weir decided to leave programming behind and pursue a different career. Now, he’s made a fortune with his science fiction books. In fact, the movie adaptation of The Martian grossed $630 million worldwide, which is $200 million more than the official Warcraft movie.
This isn’t the first time Weir has spoken about his Blizzard experience. Back in 2015, the author held a Reddit Q&A where he left the following message: “I lived through a terrible time at Blizzard. The mid-1990s were a tough time to be a programmer. The hours were crazy. You were awake, you were at work. I got burned out.” Now, this story is being revisited in Schreier’s new book.
Project Titan: The $80 million failure that never surpassed World of Warcraft
This isn’t the only story shared in Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment. Schreier also delves into Blizzard’s failed projects, including Project Titan, a successor to World of Warcraft that cost $80 million and six or seven years of lost opportunities before being canceled in favor of Overwatch.
Source: 3djuegos
