Apparently, We Could Have Had An Animated Blizzard Series If They Hadn’t Sued Netflix

If there’s one thing it seems almost anyone agrees on about Blizzard, it’s that their IPs are great fodder for animated movies or series – particularly when we look at the animated shorts and trailers the game developer has put out for the Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft and Overwatch IPs. Even those of us who aren’t interested in playing the games are interested in their worlds and characters.

Apparently, we could have had that. During an AMA on Reddit promoting his upcoming book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier answered a question from a Redditor asking why the game developer had yet to branch into movies and TV, specifically animation. The Redditor does note the Warcraft movie, but seemed to consider that the exception that proved the rule.

As it turns out, Schreier’s book goes into this topic, revealing that Blizzard had multiple shows in development for StarCraft, Overwatch, and Diablo. However, there was a bit of a falling out between the two companies when Blizzard sued Netflix for poaching their (at the time) CFO Spencer Neumann with a year left to go on his contract.

According to the suit, the two companies were negotiating a distribution deal for the series. To make matters worse, Neumann reportedly had a “no shop” clause in his contract, meaning he couldn’t entertain other offers while still under contract with the developer. Blizzard ended up terminating him for violating the clause.

Schreier’s book is slated to come out on October 8. In addition to this tidbit on the Netflix series, some other topics covered in the book have already been revealed. One of the topics is the company’s third attempt at a StarCraft shooter. Another is why Co-Founder Mike Morhaime left the company.