Når man tænker på den "IP-guldfeber", der for nylig har fejet gennem Hollywood og støvsuget mange af de største og mest populære spilfranchises, er det næsten overraskende, at Blizzard Entertainment ikke er blevet trukket med ind i varmen endnu. Ganske vist har Blizzard dyppet tæerne i adaptations-vandene før med den animerede Warcraft-film, men deres mange andre ikoniske serier har ikke set samme grad af fokus. Men det vil måske snart ændre sig.
I en samtale med Variety forklarer Blizzards præsident, Johanna Faries, at virksomheden ikke holder sig tilbage fra at udforske andre underholdningsmedier, da de presser på for at være på "every screen imaginable."
Faries bemærker: "We talk a lot about this. We're not Blizzard Games, we're Blizzard Entertainment. We want to be able to show up on every screen imaginable. We want to be able to create new fans who may not have been with us for the past 35 years. How we continue to engage Hollywood or film and TV in bigger ways is going to be, in the near term, probably a big part of that recipe. We also play in music. We also play in non-traditional spaces, beyond gaming, certainly."
Hvad angår hvordan dette rent faktisk kan komme til at se ud, udtrykker Faries, at der er "highly generative, proactive, near-term discussions across almost every one of our worlds right now, with respect to what can we do, what format works, who's the right team to take that to new audiences in a high caliber way." Dette følges op af en meget dristig påstand om, at "every one of our IPs could be some of the greatest linear media experiences that the world could experience."
I betragtning af de mange fremragende filmiske trailere, som Blizzard udgiver, har mange efterspurgt, at især Overwatch bliver udforsket i større omfang, hvilket Faries også kort berører:
"It's something that we see signaled to us very consistently. So whenever we put out any type of lore, including a cinematic thesis, there is a very common expression of, I wish we could have more of this, I wish that we could enjoy these stories. So when I took on the role of franchise GM, these future opportunities and possibilities were something that pushed me to say yes, yes, yes, because I think we have delivered on the game, but there's still so much on the broader franchise experience that I wanted to bring to players and fans."
Ville du have lyst til at se Blizzard udforske muligheden for at bringe deres største franchises til andre underholdningsmedier yderligere?