Editing Blizzard Entertainment (section)

== Company structure ==
As with most studios with multiple franchises, Blizzard Entertainment has organized different departments to oversee these franchises. Formally, since around the time of ''World of Warcraft'' in 2004, these have been denoted through simply numerical designations.<ref name="polygon three lives">{{Cite web | url = https://www.polygon.com/features/2014/10/3/6901193/blizzard-entertainment-three-lives| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20210928/https://www.polygon.com/features/2014/10/3/6901193/blizzard-entertainment-three-lives| archive-date=2021-09-28 | title = The Three Lives Of Blizzard Entertainment | first = Philip | last= Kollar | date= October 3, 2014 | access-date = January 25, 2021 | work = [[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] }}{{cbignore}}</ref> The original three teams were:
* '''Team 1''' manages the ''StarCraft'' property.<ref name="polygon three lives"/> The team also oversaw the development of the ''StarCraft'' spin-off ''[[Heroes of the Storm]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.redbull.com/int-en/heroes-of-the-storm-interview| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20210928/https://www.redbull.com/int-en/heroes-of-the-storm-interview| archive-date=2021-09-28 | title = The unlikely evolution of Heroes of the Storm | first= Ben | last= Sillis | date = May 3, 2015 | access-date = January 25, 2021 | work = [[Red Bull]] }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Team 1 also included the Classics Team to work on remastering Blizzard's earlier properties for modern computers, which have included ''[[StarCraft: Remastered]]'', ''[[Warcraft III: Reforged]]''<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/starcraft-remastered-interview-doing-this-right-is-keeping-the-core-community-happy/| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20210928/https://www.pcgamer.com/starcraft-remastered-interview-doing-this-right-is-keeping-the-core-community-happy/| archive-date=2021-09-28 |title=StarCraft: Remastered interview: 'Doing this right is keeping the core community happy' |first=Kwanghee |last=Woo |date=July 3, 2017 |access-date=January 26, 2021 |magazine=[[PC Gamer]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and ''[[Diablo II: Resurrected]]''. The Classic Games team was disbanded around August 2020, about eight months after ''Warcraft III: Reforged'' was released; according to [[Jason Schreier]] of ''[[Bloomberg News]]'', this was due to Activision Blizzard driving Blizzard away from remastering its old properties, which figured into the launch issues with ''Warcraft III: Reforged''.<ref name="bloomberg troubles">{{cite web | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-22/inside-activision-blizzard-s-botched-warcraft-iii-reforged-game| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20210928/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-22/inside-activision-blizzard-s-botched-warcraft-iii-reforged-game| archive-date=2021-09-28 | title = Blizzard Botched Warcraft III Remake After Internal Fights, Pressure Over Costs | first= Jason | last = Schreier |author-link=Jason Schreier| date = July 22, 2021 | access-date = July 22, 2021 | work = [[Bloomberg News]] }}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* '''Team 2''' continues to manage and create content for ''World of Warcraft''.<ref name="polygon three lives"/>
* '''Team 3''' oversees the ''Diablo'' franchise.<ref name="polygon three lives"/>

Since 2004, two new teams were created:
* '''Team 4''' was created around 2007 to work on Blizzard's first new IP since ''World of Warcraft'', that being ''[[Titan (Blizzard Entertainment project)|Titan]]''. ''Titan'' had development difficulties near 2013, and most of Team 4 was reallocated to the other teams, but the remaining members, led by Jeff Kaplan, revised ''Titan''{{'}}s concept into ''[[Overwatch (video game)|Overwatch]]'', which remains in Team 4's hands since its release in 2016.<ref name="polygon three lives"/>
* '''Team 5''' was created in 2008 to explore smaller games that could fit into Blizzard's portfolio. This resulted in the creation of ''[[Hearthstone]]'', a collectible card game based on the ''Warcraft'' property, which became Team 5's priority.<ref name="guardian 2015" />

Blizzard has used an informal motto, "it'll be ready when it's ready" to describe the release schedule for its games. The concept of accepting delays in software releases originally came about when the company opted to push back the release of ''Diablo'' to assure a quality product at release. By the time of ''World of Warcraft'', employees began using the phrase in response to eager fans looking for a release date.<ref name="play nice chap3">Schreier, 2024, Chapter 3: Click Click Click</ref><ref name="play nice chap9">Schreier, 2024, Chapter 9: ''Everquest'', but Better</ref>