1UP Interviews Blizzard President

Jeff Green has an interview with Mike Morhaime, the CEO and president of Blizzard Entertainment on the recent merger between his company and Activision.

I love Jeff Green. I've been reading his stuff in Computer Gaming World and Games for Windows for years. He's a funny, insightful writer, and he asked Mr. Morhaime the most immediate question I had about this merger: what does Blizzard get out of it? The last part of Morhaime's response was the most interesting, saying of the merger: "I think this actually takes a little pressure off of us. Because when you have multiple pistons firing, you're not just dependent on one thing happening on schedule, something else can release, which can buy you a little time."

Huh?

Blizzard practically invented the mantra "the game is done when it's done." They've always missed release dates. Lately, they barely even bother speculating when a game will be ready. Instead, they wait until a few months before they're ready to release, and then kick up the hype. So I guess I'm a little unclear to what scheduling pressure Mr. Morhaime is referring. I've always perceived Blizzard dictating their own schedule, with consistently spectacular results.

By the way, in the wake of Gertsgate, I'm abandoning GameSpot in search of another quality gaming news site. I subscribe to Games for Windows magazine and am happy with the crew that produces it. So I'll be checking out http://pc.1up.com/ in the coming weeks to gauge if it's a suitable replacement.