Team 1 was a designation for one of the internal development teams of Blizzard Entertainment. As of late 2020, it consisted of around 200 individuals.[1]
Overview[]
Team 1's existence (in terms of staff, the name was coined much later[2]) stems back to at least 1994. It was primarily concerned with box products. The original StarCraft was produced by Team 1.[3] However, the team was formally created after the release of StarCraft: Brood War.[4]
They subsequently worked on Warcraft III.[5] Later projects included StarCraft II and Heroes of the Storm.[3] Round about 2006, Team 1 consisted of only 39 people.[6]
In 2015, the StarCraft II element of Team 1 was divided into at least two sub-teams. One focused entirely on e-sports and multiplayer. The other focused on singleplayer. Other team members also worked on the Arcade.[7] As of November 2018 however, the team appeared to be predominantly based around Heroes of the Storm.[8] As of April 2019, Heroes was under management from Classic Games.[9]
In the late 2010s, Team 1 made numerous RTS pitches to Blizzard, including Warcraft IV and a Call of Duty-themed RTS. However, none of the pitches/prototypes were accepted, as there was no appetite in Blizzard's executive team for a new RTS.[10]
Team 1 worked on Warcraft III: Reforged.[11] Reportedly, members of Team 1 hoped that if Reforged was successful enough, it could open the doors to Warcraft IV.[10] After the game's release, Team 1 began working on a Diablo II remake. However, Reforged was poorly received, and in a postmortem, development of the project was turned over to Team 3 and Vicarious Visions.[1] While Warcraft IV had never been a guaranteed project, the Reforged debacle more or less shut the door on any Warcraft IV project.[10]
On October 15, 2020, Blizzard informed members of Team 1 that it was reorganizing the entire division. In the following weeks, members of the team were given opportunities to interview for jobs elsewhere within Blizzard. Those who did not find positions in the company were gradually cut. Others left for independent studios such as Frost Giant Studios and DreamHaven Inc.[1] That same month, Blizzard publicly announced that Team 1 would be moving on from StarCraft II (sans maintenance), but would look at new projects within the StarCraft universe.[12]
In January 2021, it was announced that Team 1 had been taken off Reforged development.[11]
As of late 2023, the team apparently no longer exists. Many ex-Team 1 members founded/joined Frost Giant Studios.[13]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 2021-01-23, Blizzard Absorbs Activision Studio After Dismantling Classic Games Team. Bloomberg, retrieved on 2021-02-17.
- ↑ 2014-10-03, THE THREE LIVES OF BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT. Polygon, accessed on 2014-10-04.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 2014-02-07, Heroes of the Storm Developer Q&A Part 2 (Jan 22, 2014) – Transcript. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2014-06-11.
- ↑ Schreier, Jason. Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Grand Central Publishing.
- ↑ 2014-08-20, Heroes of the Storm Interview with Kaeo Milker. Icy Veins, accessed on 2014-08-23.
- ↑ 2025-06-12, PC Gamer magazine from 2007. Reddit, accessed on 2025-06-12
- ↑ 2015-06-22, E3 2015 – PCGamer StarCraft II: Whispers of Oblivion Prologue Missions Announced. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2015-06-24.
- ↑ 2018-11-08, Our Full BlizzCon Interview With Blizzard Co-Founder Allen Adham. Game Informer, accessed on 2018-11-19.
- ↑ 2019-04-20, A week in review: Heroes is a Classic, Cloaken leaves, a dank panda. Tim Rizzo. Inven Global, accessed on 2021-03-19.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 2024-09-29, I'm Jason Schreier, reporter at Bloomberg and author of PLAY NICE: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, AMA. Reddit, accessed on 2024-10-01
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 2021-01-24, Tony Hawk Dev Vicarious Visions Reportedly Making Diablo 2 Remake At Blizzard. GameSpot, accessed on 2021-02-08.
- ↑ 2020-10-20, Frost Giant announced. Speculation: No RTS in the Horizon from Blizzard?. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2020-11-08.
- ↑ 2023-11-30, Stormgate Is a Very StarCraft-y RTS Made By Ex-StarCraft Developers. IGN, accessed on 2023-11-30