Abstract

The Video Game industry is a booming market, growing faster than the Movie industry (18% annual growth rate in 2013). Accounting for a total amount of more than $93 billion, this market’s stakes are often underrated, and companies often fail to make the right strategic choices. 21% of this industry is held by the Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) market, which has for years been Blizzard Entertainment’s turf. The company, founded in 1991, has been for more than two decades the leader in this market, not only in terms of revenue and shares, but also in terms of trends, defining the market as it grew with it. However, since 2010, the MMO market has been quickly evolving and changing, and Blizzard has had problems adjusting to the ever-changing consumer demand. Seeing its flagship product lose in success, the studio has tried for three years to come up with a new product. In 2013 though, it appeared that this long-thought game was not the answer, since it failed to meet the new consumer trends. The goal of this case is to identify how crucial adaptability and close attention to the market changes are crucial in this industry, and how smaller companies can now easily compete with giants.

Detailed information