Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment

The writing style reminded me at times of Michael Lewis ("The Big Short", "The New New Thing") in the way Jason Schreier captures the madness of gaming executives trying to succeed despite their bosses. The way the book describes various antics often had me chuckling or even laughing out loud: "As Pardo's responsibilities grew and his time became stretched between projects, he became known for what many of his subordinates called seagull management: He would swoop down, poop on ideas, and then fly away." It's full of insight about what makes a good game, or even a good remake of a game: "One tenet, adapted from legendary Civilization designer Sid Meier, was that one-third of the units should return from the old game, one-third should be modified versions, and one-third should be brand-new." This book is masterful. I found it impossible to put down: one of the very best books I've ever read about a games company, or any company for that matter. If you are in the games industry, you like reading about crazy businesses or you just like games, get it.

Positive: "Play Nice" by Jason Schreier is a fun, eye-opening dive into the highs and lows of Blizzard Entertainment. Schreier does a fantastic job unpacking the tension between Blizzard's creative magic and the corporate pressures that started to shift the company’s culture, especially after its merger with Activision. It's filled with juicy insider stories that give you a sense of what it’s really like to work at a powerhouse game studio. For any gamer or industry enthusiast, it’s a fascinating look behind the curtain that also feels relatable for anyone who's had their passion collide with corporate demands. Negative: On the downside, the book sometimes gets a bit repetitive. Schreier really drills in on the company's struggles with work-life balance and workplace culture, which are important but can feel like they’re hitting the same notes over and over. And while the insider jargon adds authenticity, it can be a little hard to keep up if you’re not already familiar with game dev lingo. But honestly, these are minor gripes in what’s otherwise a great read about the complex, often messy reality of making games.

“Play Nice” offers an enjoyable deep dive into the tumultuous history of Blizzard Entertainment, chronicling its journey from a ragtag group of brilliant college students to its evolution under corporate ownership and its current state. Schreier provides fascinating insights into the antics of Blizzard’s early employees, showcasing their outlandish attitudes, relentless work ethic, and tight-knit camaraderie. The book explores how Blizzard transitioned from a company renowned for producing high-quality, polished games that left competitors in the dust to one struggling to preserve its heart and soul amid mounting corporate pressures. While the corporate side and C-suite executives are often cast in a negative light, Schreier thoughtfully examines the motivations behind their decisions, offering perspectives from all levels of the company—from executives and middle management to QA testers. This balanced approach provides a refreshing take, avoiding oversimplified blame and instead considering multiple sides of the story. And while it’s easy to villainize the suits in the boardroom, Schreier does a great job showing why some decisions were made. From executives to QA testers, he pulls back the curtain to reveal a mess of perspectives, reminding us that every bad decision has some kind of reason behind it (even if it’s still a bad decision). The book also revisits the scandals that put some serious smudges on Blizzard’s reputation, offering new angles and fresh commentary. As someone who once lived for Blizzard games—cheering at Overwatch League matches and losing entire weekends to Diablo marathons—I can’t help but root for Blizzard to find its way back to glory. And hey, if it means waiting another decade for their next masterpiece, so be it. It’s done when it’s done.

Great book—thoroughly researched and delightfully written! Highly recommend to all my gamers and friends from that era.

As someone who grew up playing blizzard's games for an unfathomable amount of hours I've always been interested into their inner workings, especially considering their downfall in recent years. This book holds a ton of information and knowledge, is well sourced, and is the work of someone with obvious deep familiarity with the industry and its particularities. Besides the information itself, the book it written in fun and interesting prose, and it keeps the rhythm fast and entertaining, so it reads more like a novel than a journalistic article. Overall, an entertaining piece of insight into a world that is normally quite unknown, even to long time gamers like myself.

Extremely interesting book

My main issue with the book is the lack of non-american stories that explained the bigger picture. As a former Blizzard dev, there's much more than what happened in Irvine and Korea, with Europe's office mentioned almost as a footnote, and nothing else from the other regional stories. Shame but I guess the book would've been double the size.

An intriguing, well-written exploration of Blizzard’s history and its staff, from inception to modern day, and their design decisions, successes and failures along the way. I loved the many quoted insights, and learning more than just the surface level story that might be found on typical gaming news outlets.

If you have read previous articles or the wikipedia then most of this stuff was pretty well known already, Overwatch also was barely mentioned.

Compré el libro y me vino totalmente destrozado, tuve que devolverlo. Una pena

Très bon bouquin.

Lo compré en su versión para Kindle. Diablo es mi saga favorita [Fue el primer juego de PC con el que me enganche por allá de 1997]. Muy bien narrado y para cualquier fan de los juegos de Blizzard es un disfrute total [Sobre todo para aquellos que nos enganchamos antes de la era de "Activision-Blizzard"]. Muy buenos insights relacionados a los retos que uno se enfrenta en el desarrollo de productos digitales.

Accurato, ben documentato e ben esposto. Come sempre Schreier si dimostra ancora una volta un giornalista in un settore spesso fatto di recensori e opinionisti, e ci guida in un viaggio piacevole, chiaro e talvolta nostalgico nell'evoluzione di una delle software house più singolari e importanti dell'industria videoludica. Tutto è sempre referenziato con nomi e cognomi: non c'è speculazione; non c'è ipotesi, ma solo riportare i fatti come raccontati dai protagonisti, aggiungendo solo un flare narrativo che aiuta a digerire facilmente quello che è un contenuto sostanzialmente informativo.