Entrepreneurship is a great way to make a difference in your life and the lives of others. Blizzard Entertainment is the tale of a company that seemed to be on the verge of collapse but made a remarkable mega-comeback. Blizzard Entertainment’s incredible rebound has inspired thousands more struggling entrepreneurs to rethink and revise their strategies.

The Ups and Downs of Business

Blizzard Entertainment’s star child, World of Warcraft saw a dramatic decline in subscribers over the past few years. Its numbers dropped from more than 12 million in 2010, to 5.5 million in 2015. They don’t seem to be increasing anytime soon. Blizzard Entertainment realized that the game was already a success and would not last forever.

Blizzard Entertainment had been planning for this day for a while. The Warcraft heyday is over and the company has moved seamlessly to other ventures – focusing on the eSports market as well as feature film production. It has improved existing games like StarCraft or Diablo – but, more importantly, it has launched new games: Hearthstone is a trading card game and Heroes of the Storm is a current eSports success.

Their next game, Overwatch, is due to be released in the summer. It’s highly anticipated and expected to be another hit. Blizzard Entertainment has been 25 since its inception and has continued to thrive well beyond its competitors. How does the company stay ahead of the industry despite seemingly peaking in 2010?

Tip #1 – Spread Your Risk

The world of entrepreneurship is similar to financial advisors who advise you to spread your assets to reduce risk. Blizzard Entertainment founders knew from the beginning that they needed more than Warcraft to maintain their success. even though the game was hugely popular.

Blizzard also had Diablo and Starcraft when subscriptions to Warcraft began to fall. These developments were unlikely to cause the company to go bankrupt, but it was vital that the founders come up with something that would keep the momentum going into the future. Two designers were working on new products while developers searched for ideas.

Blizzard protected itself by starting new ventures even though Warcraft was already a great success. This way, Blizzard was ready and able to launch its next hit even when Warcraft dropped in numbers. Don’t let your old flagship go. Allow for new ideas to emerge and for new flagships.

Tip #2 – No Idea Is a Bad Idea

List making is a skill that every entrepreneur knows. Even though there are many ideas that don’t work, successful entrepreneurs have a list. But creating those lists is the most important thing. You can’t have more than one successful idea if you list a thousand. Blizzard’s team is always open to new ideas, and not all are successful.

While the developers were busy with other projects, two Blizzard designers began to map out the Hearthstone prototype. They used mostly paper and waited for them to finish. The two designers worked together to create Hearthstone. They also discovered what worked and what didn’t. All this while staying under the radar and not having to dip into the testing fund. The founders of the company didn’t dismiss this idea and allowed the designers to chart the game independently before the rest.

Tip #3 – Don’t Forget Your Roots

The team of two had already worked out all the kinks by the time the developers could focus their attention on the new project. Blizzard was able to start production immediately without major problems, which saved the company a lot of time and money. Blizzard’s original design elements – small teams and ink/paper layouts – prompted the company to rethink its development process.

The Hearthstone team also made a significant change to the way the games were played. They returned to the key features that made a product great, and tried to regain their original goal of making a great game. The company began as a small group of individuals who wanted to make games people wanted to play before Warcraft became a household name. Blizzard Entertainment recognized the need to preserve the old mindsets, from the initial Warcraft release in the early 1990s through its last mega-hit.

Tip #4 – Keep your Eye on the Prize

After their numbers started to fall, the founders of Blizzard decided not to reveal their Warcraft subscriber numbers in their earnings report. Many thought this was a sign that the team was admitting defeat. However, it was actually a way for the world to be shocked at the “big reveal.”

Blizzard had found a solution to its problems by creating new titles, entering new markets and reducing production costs with Hearthstone. Although it knew that the company was on the rebound, it didn’t want the public to know until it was certain. Blizzard was able to control the media’s coverage by avoiding negative publicity about subscriber numbers. The buzz around new games began to dominate the news instead of the “death” of Warcraft.

Tip #5 – Listen to Your Heart

Blizzard’s experience shows that being open to your intuition can often lead to entrepreneurial success. Blizzard was founded by three men who created video games back in the days when there were few on the market. The founder, originally known as Chaos Studios, used $10,000 that his parents gave him to travel to Europe.

They didn’t have any staff or equipment, other than their personal computers. And they had no investors to make more income. They had a dream and a goal to create great video games. They developed Rock and Roll Racing And Lost Vikings . a distributor bought them, and they soon shipped the first Warcraft version: Orcs & Humans. The rest is history.

The Takeaway

Blizzard Entertainment is currently in multiple hands. It has worked with various companies and been acquired or acquired by other companies. There have been many setbacks. One example is the accounting fraud committed by CUC International, who had purchased Blizzard two-years prior.

They shut down the world to continue their business when the public lost trust in them. They went back to ink and paper design layouts when they spent too much fixing kinks in redevelopment. They made adjustments to games that seemed too complicated or too simple based on what they wanted to do and redesigned the gaming industry.

It doesn’t matter if someone has done it before, or if you’ll have competition, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to revive the field and make it a success. There were many social media platforms before Twitter and Facebook. Do you remember MySpace? There were many other social media sites before Twitter and Facebook. (Anyone remember MySpace? Do not be discouraged by the competition. Instead, learn from the mistakes of others to create a better version.

Don’t let your guard down. You will face setbacks and hardships as an entrepreneur. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up. The founders of Blizzard Entertainment deliberately chose “Entertainment”, instead of “Studios” and “Games.” They set high goals from the beginning. Isn’t this what makes entrepreneurs?