Ex-Blizzard Leaders Unveil New Venture at Dreamhaven Event

Five years ago, when Mike and Amy Morhaime founded Dreamhaven, I had the opportunity to speak with several of the founding members about their vision for the company. They shared their ambition to create a sustainable publishing and support system for game studios, including the two they were founding at the time, Moonshot and Secret Door, as well as other partners they planned to collaborate with.

At the conclusion of our interview, Mike Morhaime expressed a bold goal for the new company:

"We want, if I may be so bold as to say, to be a beacon to the industry," he remarked, gesturing towards the company’s lighthouse logo. "There's a better way to approach the business of games and the operation of a game company that can lead to great results in terms of products, financial rewards, and work environment, potentially elevating the entire industry."

At the time Dreamhaven was established, numerous studios founded by former AAA leaders with similar ambitions were emerging, promising a brighter future for gaming. However, the industry has since faced significant challenges, including a global pandemic, economic instability, mass layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations. Many of these visionary studios have either shut down before releasing a single game or postponed their goals indefinitely.

Unlike many others, Dreamhaven has persevered. Today, they partnered with The Game Awards for their first-ever showcase, unveiling not one or two, but four games. Two of these are internally developed: Sunderfolk, a turn-based tactical RPG featuring couch co-op, set to release on April 23, and Wildgate, a newly announced crew-based first-person shooter focused on space heists (which we've had the chance to preview!). The other two games are being developed externally but published and supported by Dreamhaven: Lynked: Banner of the Spark, an action-RPG from LA-based developer FuzzyBot, currently in early access and slated for a 1.0 launch in May, and Mechabellum, a turn-based tactical auto-battler from Chinese studio Game River, which launched last September. With Dreamhaven's assistance, Game River aims to maintain Mechabellum's freshness through ongoing updates.

This represents a significant undertaking for a relatively new company like Dreamhaven! But their ambitions don't stop there. They are also supporting ten other external studios, many founded and staffed by former AAA developers, through investments, consultancy, and fundraising support. While this support sometimes includes publishing, it's not always the case. Speaking to Mike Morhaime at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week, he explained that Dreamhaven's leaders have always aimed to create a "net" to "capture some of this great talent that was dispersing" throughout the industry.

Wildgate - First Screenshots

10 Images“We saw all these studios starting up and we have a lot of relationships,” he says. “We knew many of the folks starting up and wanted to create a structure that allowed us to be helpful and support these studios. We built a framework that provides guidance and advice, encouraging their success.”

Throughout GDC, conversations have revolved around the ongoing industry crisis, particularly the prioritization of profits over other considerations, leading to widespread cancellations, shut-downs, and layoffs. I asked Morhaime about the tension between craft and business, and he believes these aren't mutually exclusive. However, he emphasized the importance of allowing room for occasional failure.

“I think to foster an environment that allows for innovation, you need to provide a certain level of safety and space for experimentation,” he says. “We're not against our products being successful and profitable. It's about focus. What are these teams focusing on? They're not solely focused on maximizing profitability at every step but on creating the best experience possible, which we believe is the right business strategy in the long run. With so much competition and so many games released each year, the only way to stand out is by offering something special.”

With Dreamhaven and many of its partners staffed largely by AAA veterans, I asked Morhaime about the key lesson he took away from his time at Blizzard. He highlighted the importance of an “iterative” game development process.

“It was never linear. It was never a straight line where you have a perfect plan that you execute flawlessly, leading to success and happiness. We always encountered obstacles and things that didn't work as planned, but we had the flexibility and adaptability to address them. So, it's crucial to approach everything with the mindset of being experimental, trying things, and if they don't work, revisiting and fixing them to end up with something we're proud of."

On the other hand, what's the biggest difference between his work at Blizzard and his current role at Dreamhaven? In one word: agency.

“Probably the biggest difference is that this is such an experienced team, and we're structured in a way that gives a lot of agency to our leadership teams in the studios,” he says.

“It's a unique environment in terms of the relationship between our studios and the central company. The central teams exist to support the studio's needs, and our studio heads and leadership are also founding members of Dreamhaven. So, it's really more of a partnership.”

Our discussion then turned to new technologies, specifically the ongoing tension around generative AI in the games industry. Though this technology is controversial among gamers and worrisome for many developers, numerous AAA gaming companies are starting to implement it. Dreamhaven isn't avoiding the topic, Morhaime says, but their use has been cautious, limited to research on best practices or internal policy drafting, and not integrated into their games.

“As a technologist and someone who appreciates what technology can do, I find it incredibly exciting. We're witnessing the birth of something truly fascinating in our lifetime. Just a few years ago, I never imagined generative AI would be capable of what it's doing now. There are complex legal and ethical issues, and it's challenging to predict its broader impact on our lives. I believe it will affect us in many positive ways, though some aspects are concerning. However, ignoring it or trying to suppress it won't slow it down. Those who dismiss it will be at a significant disadvantage.”

What about a less controversial new technology, the Nintendo Switch 2? Sunderfolk and Lynked are both coming to Switch, and while Mechabellum's Steam exclusivity can be understood given its genre, the Switch was notably absent from Wildgate’s multi-platform announcement. Morhaime remains tight-lipped on that, but he shared his thoughts on the new console:

“I think console transitions can be both disruptive and invigorating for the games industry,” he says. “As a gaming startup, console transitions are beneficial for us. If you already have games selling, there might be some disruption to consider, but we don't have that issue. As a gamer, I find console transitions exciting.”

As we concluded, I asked Morhaime if he feels Dreamhaven has succeeded in the mission he outlined five years ago. Is Dreamhaven a “beacon to the industry”? Morhaime believes they're not there yet. They need to release some games and gauge the response from players and the industry.

“We have to put out games that people love and achieve financial success, because if we don't achieve either, no one will see us as a beacon for anything,” he says.

“What I truly want to see is Dreamhaven building a reputation with gamers where the brand stands for quality and trust. Hopefully, players will know that if a game comes from Dreamhaven, regardless of genre, it will be something special, sparking their curiosity to check it out.”