Editing Blizzard Entertainment (section)

=== Founding (1991–1994) ===
[[File:Mike_Morhaime_BlizzCon_2007.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Blizzard co-founder and former CEO [[Mike Morhaime]]]]
Blizzard Entertainment was founded by [[Michael Morhaime]], Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce as Silicon & Synapse in February 1991, after all three had earned their [[bachelor's degree]]s from the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] the year prior.<ref name="UCLAHonorDinner2006_11_06">{{cite web |url=https://samueli.ucla.edu/newsroom/featured-news/archive/2006/november/ucla-engineering-celebrates-accomplishments-at-annual-awards-dinner |title=UCLA Engineering Celebrates Accomplishments at Annual Awards Dinner |publisher=UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science |date=November 6, 2006 |access-date=September 22, 2007 |author=M. Abraham |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716201249/http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/newsroom/featured-news/archive/2006/november/ucla-engineering-celebrates-accomplishments-at-annual-awards-dinner |archive-date=July 16, 2011}}</ref><ref name="GameSpy" /> The name "Silicon & Synapse" was a high concept from the three founders, with "silicon" representing the building block of a computer, while "synapse" the building block of the brain.<ref name="pcgamer naming"/> The initial logo was created by Stu Rose.<ref name="GameSpy">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamespy.com/articles/697/697083p9.html |title=GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 9 of 19 |first=John |last=Keefer |date=March 31, 2006 |website=[[GameSpy]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609133006/http://www.gamespy.com/articles/697/697083p9.html |archive-date=June 9, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> To fund the company, each of them contributed about $10,000, Morhaime borrowing the sum interest-free from his grandmother.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/mike-morhaime-founded-blizzard-thanks-to-a-15000-loan-from-his-grandmother/ |title=Mike Morhaime founded Blizzard thanks to a $15,000 loan from his grandmother |first=Bo |last=Moore |date=September 13, 2017 |access-date=September 13, 2017 |magazine=[[PC Gamer]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914034844/http://www.pcgamer.com/mike-morhaime-founded-blizzard-thanks-to-a-15000-loan-from-his-grandmother/ |archive-date=September 14, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Their offices were established in a business park near the [[University of California, Irvine]] in [[Irvine, California]].<ref>Schreier, 2024, Chapter 9: Everquest, but Better</ref>

During the first two years, the company focused on creating game [[porting|ports]] for other studios. [[Interplay Productions]]' [[Brian Fargo]] was friends with Adham and had a 10% stake in Silicon & Synapse. Fargo provided the company with conversion contacts for the games Interplay was publishing, starting with ''[[Battle Chess]]''.<ref name="schreier play fair chap1">Schreier, 2024, Chapter 1</ref> Other titles included Ports include titles such as ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (1990 video game)|J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I]]'' and ''Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess''.<ref name="blizz_tline">{{cite web |url=https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/blizz-anniversary/timeline.shtml |title=Blizzard Timeline |publisher=Blizzard Entertainment |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010215105033/http://www.blizzard.com/blizz-anniversary/timeline.shtml |archive-date=February 15, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/blizzard-entertainment-inc/ported-by/list-games/ |title=Ported by Blizzard Entertainment Inc. |publisher=Mobygames |access-date=March 10, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228220612/http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/blizzard-entertainment-inc/ported-by/list-games/ |archive-date=February 28, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Fargo then enlisted Silicon & Synapse around 1991 to help develop ''[[RPM Racing]]'' that Interplay was preparing for the launch of the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]]. Fargo remained impressed with Silicon & Synapse's work, and provided them the ability to write their own games to be published by Interplay. The first two titles developed solely by the company were ''[[Rock n' Roll Racing]]'', a sequel to ''RPM Racing'',  and ''[[The Lost Vikings]]'' inspired by ''[[Lemmings (video game)|Lemmings]]''.<ref name="schreier play fair chap1"/>

Around 1993, co-founder Adham told the other executives that he did not like the name "Silicon & Synapse" anymore, as outsiders were confusing the [[Chemical element|element]] [[silicon]] used in [[Integrated circuit|microchips]] with [[silicone]] [[polymer]] of [[Breast implant|breast implants]]. By the end of 1993, Adham changed the name to "Chaos Studios," reflecting on the haphazardness of their development processes.<ref name="pcgamer naming">{{cite magazine | url = https://www.pcgamer.com/how-blizzard-got-its-name/ | title = How Blizzard got its name | first = Tom | last = Marks | date = December 7, 2016 | access-date = December 11, 2019 | magazine = [[PC Gamer]] | archive-date = December 11, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191211231450/https://www.pcgamer.com/how-blizzard-got-its-name/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

Near this same time, the company started to explore options in publishing their own games, as their conversion contracts were not as lucrative for the company. Inspired by the multiplayer aspects of [[Westwood Studios]]' ''[[Dune II]]'' and the [[high fantasy]] setting of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the company began work on what would become ''[[Warcraft: Orcs & Humans]]''. Adham saw this as a start of a series of interconnected titles, similar to the ''[[Gold Box]]'' series by ''[[Strategic Simulations]]''. To support its development and keep the company afloat, the studio took several more conversion contracts, though the founders were going into debt to keep their twelve developers employed.<ref name="schreier play fair chap1"/> [[Davidson & Associates]], a company that published educational software and which had previously employed Silicon & Synapse for conversion contracts, made an offer to buy the company for $4&nbsp;million. Interplay was negotiating to be the publisher for ''Warcraft'', and Fargo cautioned Adham and Morhaime against selling the company. Adham and Morhiame rejected Davidson & Associates' initial offer, but the company came back with another offer of $6.75&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|6.75|1994|r=1|fmt=c}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}), assuring to the founders that they would have creative control over the games they developed.<ref name="schreier play fair chap2">Schreier, 2024, Chapter 2</ref> Adham and Morhaime accepted the offer in early 1994.<ref>{{cite news | first = Dean | last = Takahashi | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-13-fi-33584-story.html | title = Co-founder Looks at Chaos in Early Stages and Future Challenges | work = [[Los Angeles Times]] | date = March 13, 1994 | accessdate = October 20, 2024 }}</ref> 

Shortly after the sale, they were contacted by a Florida company, Chaos Technologies, who claims their trademark rights on the name "Chaos" and wanted the company to pay {{USD|100,000}} ({{Inflation|US|100000|1994|fmt=eq}}) to keep the name.<ref>Dean Takahashi: ''[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-24-fi-61596-story.html Briefcase: Technology.] '' In: Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1994.</ref> Not wanting to pay that sum, the executives decided to change the studio's name to "Ogre Studios" by April 1994.<ref name="pcgamer naming"/> However, Davidson & Associates did not like this name, and forced the company to change it. According to Morhaime, Adham began running through a dictionary from the start, writing down any word that seemed interesting and passing it to the legal department to see if it had any complications. One of the first words they found to be interesting and cleared the legal check was "blizzard", leading them to change their name to "Blizzard Entertainment" by May 1994.<ref name="pcgamer naming"/><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-24-fi-61596-story.html | title = Briefcase: Technology | first= Dean | last= Takahashi | date = May 24, 1994 | access-date = December 11, 2019 | work =[[Los Angeles Times]] | url-status = live | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629025604/http://articles.latimes.com/print/1994-05-24/business/fi-61596_1_chaos-studios | archive-date=June 29, 2012}}</ref> ''Warcraft'' was released in November 1994, and within a year, helped to establish Blizzard among other development studios like Westwood.<ref name="schreier play fair chap2"/>