Blizzard Has Considered Equivalent To 'Pixar University'

Aside from work related to the art and science of game creation, there are a lot of moving parts and organizational tightrope-walking behind Blizzard-developed games like World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo.

That's the situation at Rogers, one of the top three Internet providers in Canada, which has admitted to regulators that it had been throttling World of Warcraft for months. One angry customer now wants fines levied against the company and reimbursement for her subscription to the popular MMORPG.

With the upcoming codenamed "Titan" MMO deep into development, Blizzard is still working through recruitment challenges, WoW executive producer and Blizzard cofounder Frank Pearce told Gamasutra in a recent interview. And finding good help isn't exactly easy. Rogers user Teresa Murphy filed the original complaint with Canadian regulator CRTC, which in turn asked Rogers to look into the allegations. In its response, Rogers admitted that it had been throttling World of Warcraft.

Sams echoed Pearce's hopes that a thriving independent game development community might highlight bright talent that could help fill the talent pool. The issue isn't a new one; on forums at Rogers, Blizzard, and DSLReports, frustrated customers have vented splenetically for months. "I'm excited about that because that's where our development leaders -- people that started Blizzard -- came from. They came from a garage. ... We're excited about this, because we know what kind of talent can be grown in that type of environment."