So this is an idea I've had for several years, a very alternate Blizzard led by an ASB with knowledge of the future and taking advantage of said knowledge
………..
Connie Chung: So Blizzard had a rather unusual beginning compared to most businesses.
Maria Alvarez Vega: [Laughs] Yeah that's fair. So by the end of the 70s, I had been part of the LAPD since 1963 and I had helped a lot of people, but by the end of the 70s I was feeling burnout. Crime just kept rising no matter what we did and I wanted a better life for my family and so decided I was going to start a business. Though I didn't think any of the banks would give me a loan, so that's when I began to consider the trip to Vegas to win the money I needed.
Connie Chung: What did your husband think about the idea?
Maria Alvarez Vega: Surprisingly very well and probably because I was the best gambler he ever saw. Course the responsible thing would have been not to go to Las Vegas and risk our hard earned money. But we'll risk taking runs deep in both of our families. So after the Christmas of 79', I drove out to Vegas and started playing the slots, winning some, losing some. Still winning more than I was losing and soon enough joined the table games. That's when I started really winning big.
Connie Chung: We're there ever any issues with you winning so much, like threats of being banned?
Maria Alvarez Vega: Actually no, though the casinos were watching me like a hawk. Now they love it when I come to gamble. So anyway I spent most of 80' on a huge winning streak and unlike just about every other winning streak I knew when finally to quit and would return back to my just before Christmas with a sizable fortune.
Connie Chung: [Laughs] Well that's quite the Christmas present to come home with.
Maria Alvarez Vega: I will always treasure the look on my daughter's face when she learned that she was going to be a millionaire when she turned 18. So yeah now I had all the capital to start Blizzard Software, a name my daughter chose, at the beginning of the next year. Soon after that we had our first product, Postscript on the market and it's been success after success ever since.
Eye to Eye interview May 19th,1994
I met Jessica my freshman year at UCLA and we quickly just clicked. She also pretty early on convinced me to work at her mom's company after we graduated, that we would have our own game studio and have everything we'd ever need. Despite the lofty expectations she set, I was still amazed the first time I visited the place leased for the newly established Blizzard Studio, it was big a big place and we needed the space as we rapidly staffed up as Jessica had a lot of games for us to work on and thankfully soon after, Blizzard would buy Mediagenic[1] with some of their staff relocating to LA with some much needed development experience. Like I had known of a few of the games she had been working on at UCLA, but man it was astounding the number of games she had been working on by herself and how far along they were and how quite a few of those games were shaping up to be something really special.
-CEO of Blizzard Gaming Michael Morhaime, June 2010 IGN interview excerpt
It really irked me that after I left, subsequent Sega of America management took credit both for the "Genesis Does what Nintendon't" campaign I put into motion and the deal with Blizzard Activision to put their titles on the Genesis and Game Gear. Which led to us finally turning the tide against Nintendo in North America in 1991. Those people should study their history and be honest about what they actually did or didn't do.
-Former Sega of America President Michael Katz, 2004 Sega-16 interview excerpt
……..
[1] A name Activision changed to in 1988 when the company branched out to business software applications
………..
Connie Chung: So Blizzard had a rather unusual beginning compared to most businesses.
Maria Alvarez Vega: [Laughs] Yeah that's fair. So by the end of the 70s, I had been part of the LAPD since 1963 and I had helped a lot of people, but by the end of the 70s I was feeling burnout. Crime just kept rising no matter what we did and I wanted a better life for my family and so decided I was going to start a business. Though I didn't think any of the banks would give me a loan, so that's when I began to consider the trip to Vegas to win the money I needed.
Connie Chung: What did your husband think about the idea?
Maria Alvarez Vega: Surprisingly very well and probably because I was the best gambler he ever saw. Course the responsible thing would have been not to go to Las Vegas and risk our hard earned money. But we'll risk taking runs deep in both of our families. So after the Christmas of 79', I drove out to Vegas and started playing the slots, winning some, losing some. Still winning more than I was losing and soon enough joined the table games. That's when I started really winning big.
Connie Chung: We're there ever any issues with you winning so much, like threats of being banned?
Maria Alvarez Vega: Actually no, though the casinos were watching me like a hawk. Now they love it when I come to gamble. So anyway I spent most of 80' on a huge winning streak and unlike just about every other winning streak I knew when finally to quit and would return back to my just before Christmas with a sizable fortune.
Connie Chung: [Laughs] Well that's quite the Christmas present to come home with.
Maria Alvarez Vega: I will always treasure the look on my daughter's face when she learned that she was going to be a millionaire when she turned 18. So yeah now I had all the capital to start Blizzard Software, a name my daughter chose, at the beginning of the next year. Soon after that we had our first product, Postscript on the market and it's been success after success ever since.
Eye to Eye interview May 19th,1994
I met Jessica my freshman year at UCLA and we quickly just clicked. She also pretty early on convinced me to work at her mom's company after we graduated, that we would have our own game studio and have everything we'd ever need. Despite the lofty expectations she set, I was still amazed the first time I visited the place leased for the newly established Blizzard Studio, it was big a big place and we needed the space as we rapidly staffed up as Jessica had a lot of games for us to work on and thankfully soon after, Blizzard would buy Mediagenic[1] with some of their staff relocating to LA with some much needed development experience. Like I had known of a few of the games she had been working on at UCLA, but man it was astounding the number of games she had been working on by herself and how far along they were and how quite a few of those games were shaping up to be something really special.
-CEO of Blizzard Gaming Michael Morhaime, June 2010 IGN interview excerpt
It really irked me that after I left, subsequent Sega of America management took credit both for the "Genesis Does what Nintendon't" campaign I put into motion and the deal with Blizzard Activision to put their titles on the Genesis and Game Gear. Which led to us finally turning the tide against Nintendo in North America in 1991. Those people should study their history and be honest about what they actually did or didn't do.
-Former Sega of America President Michael Katz, 2004 Sega-16 interview excerpt
……..
[1] A name Activision changed to in 1988 when the company branched out to business software applications