A group of ex-Blizzard employees, including the former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, Mike Morhaime, have started a new game development company under the name Dreamhaven.
Joining Morhaime at the startup are Blizzard veterans Jason Chayes (Hearthstone), Dustin Browder (StarCraft 2), Ben Thompson (Hearthstone), Chris Sigaty (StarCraft 2, Heroes of the Storm), Alan Dabiri (Warcraft 3, StarCraft 2), and Eric Dodds (Hearthstone, World of Warcraft), among others. Dreamhaven currently comprises two studios, Moonshot Games and Secret Door.
Here’s a description of the studios, from Dreamhaven’s news release:
Moonshot is led by Jason Chayes, Dustin Browder, and Ben Thompson. Chayes was previously an Executive Producer at Blizzard Entertainment where he led the Hearthstone team, a Senior Director at Electronic Arts, and before that, led art teams for the Walt Disney Company’s game division. Browder’s twenty-five year career includes roles as Game Director on StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm, Command and Conquer, and The Lord of the Rings. Thompson’s credits include Creative Director on Hearthstone, Art Director for the World of Warcraft trading card game, with additional credits on Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Moonshot is also home to a team of seasoned developers who’ve collectively worked on some of gaming’s most popular franchises.
Secret Door is led by Chris Sigaty, Alan Dabiri, and Eric Dodds, who’ve worked on multiple genre-defining games. Sigaty’s roles have included Executive Producer on Hearthstone, StarCraft II, and Heroes of the Storm, as well as Lead Producer on the original Warcraft III. Dodds was the original Game Director of Hearthstone and veteran game designer on World of Warcraft and StarCraft. Dabiri has filled both Technical Director and Game Director roles and has worked on Warcraft III, StarCraft II, and Heroes of the Storm. They are joined by a team of highly talented developers with extensive industry experience and are beginning to explore new game experiences together.
Dreamhaven and its “first two” studios did not announce specific projects. According to the company’s website, Dreamhaven aims to “reimagine the studio model by empowering studios to establish independent identities, voices and cultures” and “take the chances that most big publishers won’t and many smaller studios aren’t always able to.”
Morhaime left Blizzard in 2018 after more than 27 years at the company. He was succeeded by J. Allen Brack.
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