Saturday February 4, 2012 8:07 PM AEST

Blizzard Campus

By Justin Robinson
10:58 Jun 29, 2009 | 9 Comments
Tags: Blizzard | Campus | Headquarters | walkthrough | woot
Blizzard Campus
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Atomic takes a walk around Blizzard's Campus to check out how this dev gets things done.

Blizzard is one of those companies that seem to be able to pull off a hugely popular game with seemingly a small risk - just take a look at Starcraft, Warcraft (especially the money-printing WoW) and Diablo - but have you ever wondered how they worked?

While it's nothing quite as extreme as a leather mask wearing slavedriver whipping each employee for hours on end until the games are finished, their actual workplace is actually something pretty awesome.

Each employee is treated to either their own or a shared space, but are allowed to decorate and organise it however they see fit; from a mood-lit beanbagged curtained room, all the way to a brightly lit collection of the nerdiest toys this side of a sci-fi convention.

Even the reception area for the company is impressive, with lifesize statues and a giant glowing Blizzard sign. Dotted around the complex proper are basketball courts, volleyball courts, a gym that is open 24/7 and a cafeteria.

Added in to the mix are breakrooms and random rooms with TVs, consoles and comic books - this really is one bloody cool place to work.

Jump into the gallery of pics to see all this stuff together, and while we couldn't shoot inside most of the offices proper (people were working), there's a whole lot to see! Remember to click for fullsize versions, and post below with your favourite statue - ours is Kerrigan.

 

 
 
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9 Comments
sUpEr gEEk
Jun 29, 2009 11:34 AM
Awesome tour of Blizzard Justin... Now it really puts Microsoft head office to shame (as if we didn't already know that).

Cheers
Tezlin
Jun 29, 2009 3:26 PM
Aw man...So it's a choice between Google and Blizzard now. :(
Sorceror
Jun 29, 2009 7:17 PM
Argh, too many tilted photos, now I feel sea-sick! :P
zebra
Jun 30, 2009 7:22 AM
Cool - but no actual shots of the "real" innards of Blizzard :(. Show us the computing resources, and their render farms + distributed build clusters!

z
TheFrunj
Jun 30, 2009 10:28 AM
Sorceror, ever seen Battlefield: Earth? :P

zebra, they had quite a lot of serious tech there - but I wasn't allowed to take any photos of it :(

-JR
Fenn
Jul 1, 2009 3:49 PM
Did you feel really, really sad coming back to the real world?
TheFrunj
Jul 1, 2009 4:04 PM
It really sucked when I had to leave :(

Also that they didn't let me see any of Diablo III >.>
Post Insanity
Jul 4, 2009 5:03 PM
Why does that Starcraft Ghost statue in the lobby look like Marg Helgenberger aka Catherine Willows from CSI?
ColonelSanders
Sep 21, 2009 10:40 AM
Tilted pics remind me of the 60's batman series where it was done to show the villians lair
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Issue: 133 | February, 2012

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

Every month we bring you the latest reviews of new technology and PC components, in depth features on everything from overclocking to console hacking, and gaming previews and interviews.
 
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