Blizzard Entertainment Interview

[GameBanshee News]

Eurogamer recently had a chance to sit down with Blizzard's Rob Pardo for a conversation about game design, including their approach to incorporating both a strong single player component with a solid multiplayer experience.

The focus on multiplayer makes sense - after all, Blizzard makes some of the most successful multiplayer games in the world, including the world's most profitable game, World of Warcraft. However, this is also a company that's well-known for its great stories and characters. Many players attribute some of WOW's success to its "lore" and storytelling, while games like Diablo and StarCraft have their own unique mythologies. Doesn't Pardo ever get tempted to ditch the multiplayer and cut loose on building a linear, straightforward game that just tells a great story?

My suggestion earns me the closest thing to a withering look that the cheerful Pardo has in his arsenal. "I don't think you have to pick," he explains. "That's one of the things that I think is great about what we get to do here at Blizzard - we can deliver a deep single-player experience on top of a really really strong multiplayer game.

"Certainly, there are trade-offs here and there. Diablo is always a good example, because the Diablo philosophy is to ensure that every quest is playable either co-op or single-player. So certainly, there are things you can't do there. World of Warcraft is another good example.