Blizzard Co-Founder Mike Morhaime has recently announced the launch of a brand new development studio called Dreamhaven, with two other studios already signed onto the central team. This comes more than a year after Morhaime left Activision Blizzard, and this return to game development brings him to a similar leadership position as he held at his previous company.
Morhaime previously worked on a number of titles at Blizzard before taking his leadership position there, where he was eventually followed-up by current President J. Allen Brack. As far as leading a development studio, both in as large a capacity as Blizzard has grown to, as well as smaller-scale start-ups like the original Silicon & Synapse he helped create, Morhaime has the resume to back up the launch of a new studio.
Dreamhaven will be launching with two development studios under its wing, Moonshot Games and Secret Door. Both are helmed by industry veterans, including those that have previous experience at Blizzard. Some of the big names coming to these new studios include former Hearthstone Executive Producer Chris Sigaty at Secret Door, and former StarCraft 2 Director Dustin Browder will be a Designer for Moonshot Games alongside other ex-Blizzard developers.
At the time of this writing, neither Dreamhaven nor its internal studios have announced what the development teams will be working on for their debut games. However, the initial launch statement, as well as materials on the Dreamhaven website, have outlined the basic ideals of the company and the combined studios' intent to establish and grow independent developers. Fans of previous Blizzard titles may not expect a new World of Warcraft-styled title from either Moonshot Games or Secret Door, but the previous experience between the combined companies will likely make for some powerhouse indie titles in the future.
As Dreamhaven and its subsidiaries Moonshot Games and Secret Door are equally fresh, these newly-launched development studios are currently hiring. While some fans might be anticipating titles reminiscent of early Blizzard releases, as previously mentioned there are no public announcements as to what they are working on, so this may be a prime time for indie developers to get in on the ground floor with something new alongside industry giants. Given the combined track record of the veterans forming Dreamhaven, there is a considerable amount of potential for the early success of the overall company, and time will tell whether it meets those expectations.
Source: Dreamhaven