As Blizzard marks its 35th anniversary, president Johanna Faries says the company no longer sees itself only as a videogame studio: there are active discussions to take Blizzard’s universes into film, television, and other “linear” formats. In her view, virtually every IP has the potential to become a major screen experience, and more details are expected soon.
There’s a point where a company stops defining itself only by what it sells and starts defining itself by what it wants to become. Blizzard has spent decades building worlds with the scale, depth, and fanbases to work beyond games – and now it’s making it clear it wants to push in that direction.
In an interview with Variety, Johanna Faries said plans to adapt the company’s franchises are real, and that the internal framing has shifted. She put it bluntly: “We’re not just Blizzard Games, we’re Blizzard Entertainment.” She also stressed that this is not idle speculation and that conversations are already underway.
Faries added that “I can say with confidence that each of our intellectual properties has the potential to become some of the most notable linear media experiences in the world”, and continued: “So, there will be more details forthcoming. I can say there are active and productive discussions in the near term across pretty much all of our IP.” The reporting notes the quotes also circulated via Wccftech.
No specific franchises were named, but the current read is that Overwatch could be one of the closest candidates for film or television.
The “transmedia” push is not happening in a vacuum. Franchise lead Walter Kong previously said that “whenever we put out any kind of lore, including cinematic content, there’s often a feeling of wanting more, a desire to experience these narratives”. He also said that when he accepted his current role, “the potential for future projects motivated me to embrace the role with enthusiasm”, which suggests Overwatch’s broader roadmap as a screen-friendly universe has been in motion for a while.
Faries also framed the strategic goal: “to attract new fans who maybe haven’t been with us across our 35 years of history.” Blizzard’s closest Hollywood precedent remains the 2016 Warcraft film: it grossed $433 million worldwide, but still failed to recoup its production cost, even though many players enjoyed it.
And there is a hard condition attached. Faries recently said Blizzard will only move forward if a project meets the prestige of the brand: “On behalf of Blizzard, it has to be best in class… we have set the bar very high on creative excellence, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Source: 3DJuegos
