Blizzard is 25 years old today

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On February 8, 1991, three guys from California founded a company you've likely never heard of, called Silicon & Synapse. Today, that same company marked 25 years of incredibly successful operation, most of it under a different name you certainly have heard of: Blizzard Entertainment.

Blizzard did some cool but relatively unremarkable things in its early days, like Lost Vikings and Blackthorne, but Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994, and then Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness in '95 really set things rolling. After that came Diablo, StarCraft, World of Warcraft, years of sequels and expansions galore, and in more recent history, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, both of them big hits in their own right.

There are literally no duds in that list, and so it's perfectly understandable (and forgivable) that the 25th anniversary celebration video Blizzard released today is more of a quickie flashback to past glories than it is a look ahead to the future—although CEO Mike Morhaime wraps up by saying he's excited for what's coming. “We have, I think, some of the most talented developers. We're going to have some really awesome games to play in the future,” he says. “So once again thank you for showing your support, for continuing to play our games, and we hope to live up to the high expectations that you guys have of us.”

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.