Allen Adham | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1966-09-06)September 6, 1966 (age 59) |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles (BE) |
| Occupations | Business executive;video game developer |
| Known for | Co-founder ofBlizzard Entertainment |
Allen Adham (bornAyman Adham) is an Egyptian-American businessman andvideo game developer best known for co-foundingBlizzard Entertainment withMichael Morhaime.
Ayman Adham was born on September 6, 1966, inLos Angeles,California, toEgyptian parents fromCairo. His father was a civil engineer specialized inearthquake engineering, while his mother was anentomologist. Seeking to establish apreschool, his parents moved the family toIrvine, California, as it was the only town willing to license them without prior experience inearly childhood education.[1]
Adham spent his high school years playing atarcades during lunch breaks and developing games on hisApple II computer at home. Through a high school friend, Adham was recruited byBrian Fargo to playtest the latter's games each summer, first at the Boone Corporation and next atInterplay Entertainment. In his second year at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, Adham designed and programmedGunslinger, which was published byDatasoft.[2] Adham took a two-year break during his university studies to serve in theUnited States Army.[3]
While at UCLA, Adham bonded withMichael Morhaime after realizing they shared the computer password "Joe". After the pair graduated, Adham convinced Morhaime into forgoing his job offer atWestern Digital to instead found Silicon & Synapse in February 1991, later renamedBlizzard Entertainment. After hiring their friend and fellow UCLAalumnus, Frank Pearce, as their first employee, they rented a small office inIrvine, California, hoping to benefit from nearby technology companies. Adham contributed $10,000 from his college fund, Morhaime took a $10,000 interest-freeloan from his grandmother, and Pearce chose to take asalary, rather than invest forequity.[2]
During the early 1990s, Adham offered Fargo ten percent equity in exchange for havingInterplay Entertainment contract Silicon & Synapse toport its games onto otherconsoles, providing the studio with its initial funding to support its transition to making original games. Adham retained 60% equity as the company's initial leader, while Morhaime held 30% of the company. In 1991, Fargo agreed to have Interplay publishRock n' Roll Racing andThe Lost Vikings as Blizzard's first original games. In the company's first years, Adham interviewed candidates based on their knowledge of video games, believing that video games were best developed by their players.[2]
After seeing players struggle with the opening ofThe Lost Vikings, Adham required that Blizzard games be easy to learn, yet difficult to master. Frustrated that Interplay was insufficiently marketing their games, Adham decided that Blizzard would thereafter self-publish their games with consistent branding evocative ofStrategic Simulations'Gold Box video games. Blizzard's first self-published game wasWarcraft: Orcs & Humans, which Adham modeled on theDune IIreal-time strategy (RTS) video game popular among the studio's staff.[2] In a 2024 interview, Adham advised game developers to design by drawing from other games, rather than investing in originalprototypes.[1]
In February 1994, Adham agreed to sell the studio, then known as Chaos Studios, toDavidson & Associates for $6.75 million. Soon after, a copyright dispute forced the studio to rename itself, first as Ogre Studios and finally as Blizzard Entertainment. Following the success ofWarcraft in 1994, Adham forced Blizzard staff intocrunch to release itssequel,Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the following year. After Adham announced that a deal to make aStar Wars strategy game fell thorough, staff were inspired to adapt theWarcraft series intoStarCraft, thoughLucasfilm Games denies that it ever approached Blizzard. DuringStarCraft's development, Adham hiredRob Pardo in 1997 as aquality assurance tester for his skill at RTS games; Pardo ultimately becameChief Creative Officer of Blizzard.[4]
When presenting Blizzard's work developingJustice League Task Force for theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System at the 1994CES trade show, Adham metDavid Brevik of Condor, who had overseen the game's development for theSega Genesis. In January 1995, Brevik pitched his originalaction role-playingvideo game,Diablo, to Blizzard executives. Blizzard initially agreed to publish the game, but by March 1996, it had outright acquired Condor, renaming the studio asBlizzard North. Under pressure from Adham, Brevik changed Diablo fromturn-based toreal-time combat, includedmultiplayer using Blizzard'sBattle.net platform, and removedpermadeath.[4] During this period, Adham taskedMike O'Brien with developing theBattle.net platform for Blizzard's multiplayer servers.[3]
In late 1998, Adham tried resigning from Blizzard, but he was advised to instead take asabbatical before returning asChief Design Officer, while Morhaime would becomepresident of the company. Pleased with the Battle.net client, Adham had approved O'Brien's pitch forWarcraft III: Reign of Chaos, but Morhaime used his new authority to remove O'Brien from the project amid staff criticism that the prototype was abandoning the series' roots. Rather than be reassigned, O'Brien resigned with other Blizzard staff to formArenaNet.[3]
In June 2003, Blizzard North executivesBill Roper, Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, andDavid Brevik emailedBlizzard Entertainment's then-parent company,Vivendi Games, threatening to resign unless provided financial protections and communication on Vivendi's intent to sell Blizzard. Vivendi accepted their resignations effective immediately. Adham and Morhaime had declined to participate in this threat of resignation, and in August 2005, Morhaime closed Blizzard North to consolidate staff in Irvine.[5]
Since the 1997 release ofUltima Online, Adham sought to make amassively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Two years later, when the Blizzardcinematics department—founded by Adham forStarCraft—sought to make a MMORPG modeled afterEverQuest, Adham immediately ended his sabbatical to oversee the project, which becameWorld of Warcraft.[6] In January 2004, only months before the game's release, Adham again left Blizzard amidoccupational burnout, handing off oversight to Pardo.[7] In 2006, Adham, Morhaime, and Pearce received theUCLA Samueli School of Engineering's Professional Achievement Award for their work at Blizzard.[8]
During his second break, Adham started ahedge fund, Tenfold Capital Management, that managed $50 million in investments.[1] However, poor financial returns led Adham to return to Blizzard as head ofproject incubation in the summer of 2016.[9] In that role, he oversawOrbis, a planned competitor toPokémon Go using Blizzard characters, andOdyssey, a survival game.[10] However, the development of both games was disrupted by theCOVID-19 pandemic withOrbis strained byscope creep andOdyssey caught between a debate over whichgame engine to use.[11] WhenOdyssey was cancelled in January 2024, Adham once again left Blizzard.[12]