Blizzard Entertainment

Background

Blizzard Entertainment (formerly "Silicon & Synapse") was founded on February 8, 1991 by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce. It had to be renamed to its current name in 1994 shortly after being sued by Interplay Entertainment. In July 2008, it merged with Activision to become Activision Blizzard, but it still remains a subsidiary of it. They are best known for creating the Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft franchises, all of which have become worldwide hits.

Silicon & Synapse

(1991-1994)

Logo: We see a crystallized rectangle. On the left of the rectangle is a brain wearing sunglasses with its arms and legs crossed in a crystallized style. On the right is "Silicon & Synapse" in a crystallized styled font.

Variant: On the SNES version of Rock n' Roll Racing, the Software Creations logo is shown in the bottom right corner.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Appears on games throughout the era like The Lost Vikings and Rock N' Roll Racing (the Genesis version of the latter title however, has the 1st Blizzard logo instead).

Editor's Note: None.

Blizzard Entertainment

1st Logo (1994-1995)

Logo: On a black background, we see the text "BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT", with "BLIZZARD" in a jagged font, and "ENTERTAINMENT" in a straight font.

Variants:

On the Sega 32X version of BlackThrone, the logo is in CGI and has a spotlight-like effect. Plus, "ENTERTAINMENT" is in a different font and it's a bit bigger than before.
On the SNES version of The Lost Vikings II, the main characters of the game, Erik, Baleog and Olaf, fall onto the logo and become dizzy.

FX/SFX: None. The animation on The Lost Vikings II variant.

Music/Sounds: A long, quiet "whoosh". Sometimes, the opening theme of the game is heard.

Music/Sounds Variant: On the Genesis version of The Death and Return of Superman, it's silent.

Availability: Appears on Warcraft: Orcs & Humans for MS-DOS and Mac OS. It also appears on The Death and Return of Superman for Genesis and SNES, Justice League: Task Force for SNES, and other Blizzard games throughout the era.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1995-1998)

Logo: On a black background, we see the word "BLIZZARD", in the same jagged font as the last logo, fly in from the bottom-left side of the screen. It stops in the center, and a white spark zooms across the screen from left to right, forming the word "ENTERTAINMENT".

FX/SFX: Good CGI for its time.

Music/Sounds: A big, loud "whoosh", followed by a "boom"-like sound that trails off, and some "twinkling".

Availability: Easier to find than the last logo, but still pretty rare. Can be found on Warcraft II and Diablo. It appears on the PlayStation versions of said titles as well.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (StarCraft variant) (March 31, 1998-May 25, 2001)

Logo: On a black background, we see a bunch of wavy lines moving around in the middle of the screen. After a few seconds, "BLIZZARD" appears, the wavy lines disappear, and "ENTERTAINMENT" fades in below.

Variant: On the Nintendo 64 version of StarCraft (known as StarCraft 64), it's a still logo.

FX/SFX: The wavy lines, done in really cool effects. None for the still variant.

Music/Sounds: Various electric sounds, followed by a small "whoosh", a loud "slam" when "ENTERTAINMENT" appears, and quiet "twinkling". For the still variant, the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Rare. Seen only on StarCraft for Windows, Mac OS, and Nintendo 64.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (June 29, 2000-July 3, 2002)

Logo: On a black background, we see multiple blue lights emitting though the background, much like the 1997 Activision logo. After a few seconds, the lights slowly come together, revealing a black Blizzard logo. "ENTERTAINMENT" shines below the Blizzard logo, and the screen flashes, causing the Blizzard logo to turn blue, and the lights to disappear.

FX/SFX: Nice animation, which still holds up today.

Music/Sounds: Cracking sounds when the lights are emitting and coming together, a "whoosh" when "ENTERTAINMENT" appears, a "slam", and quiet "twinkling".

Availability: Seen on Diablo II and Warcraft III.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (September 2001)

Logo: On a black background, we see a bunch of white lines tracing the Blizzard logo. After about six seconds, the lines disappear, and the Blizzard logo appears.

FX/SFX: The tracing lines.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the trailer.

Availability: Seen only on the first trailer for the famous MMORPG World of Warcraft.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (March 2003)

Logo: On a black background, we see a huge blue/purple light shine across the screen from top-right to center. The light then disappears, revealing the Blizzard logo.

FX/SFX: The shining light.

Music/Sounds: A big "whoosh".

Availability: Seen on the trailer for the unreleased third-person shooter StarCraft: Ghost.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo (World of Warcraft variant) (November 23, 2004)

Logo: On a smokey yellow background, the text "TEN YEARS", with a red/orange light shining over it from right to left, fades in. After about four seconds, the text fades out, and more text reading "OF WARCRAFT", with a registered trademark next to "WARCRAFT" and another red/orange light shining over the text from right to left, fades in. After about seven seconds, it fades out, and yet another red/orange light appears, once again shining from right to left, slowly revealing the Blizzard logo, this time in gold instead of blue. Once the logo is fully revealed, the light disappears, and the Blizzard logo slowly fades out.

FX/SFX: Impressive animation, clocking the logo in at about 25 seconds.

Music/Sounds: A low synth note held throughout, accompanied by some loud "whooshes", a choir, and a loud "slam" when the Blizzard logo is fully revealed.

Availability: Common. Seen on the famous MMORPG World of Warcraft.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Logo (January 16, 2007-)

Logo: On a black background, the Blizzard logo from before slowly fades in from the left. When it completely fades in, it flashes, and then slowly fades out.

Variants:

Later versions of this logo has the logo shinier and the flashing omitted.
On the World of Warcraft expansion pack The Burning Crusade, the logo is gold.

FX/SFX: The fading and flashing. Pretty disappointing compared to the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the game, accompanied by some "whooshes".

Availability: Seen on the World of Warcraft expansion pack titled The Burning Crusade as well as several more games from the company.

Editor's Note: None.

9th Logo (June 2007)

Logo: An extended remake of the 3rd logo: We start out with some blue static. The static disappears, and we see a big explosion of blue light. The light suddenly zooms to the center of the screen and starts forming the Blizzard logo. Once the logo is completely formed, the light disappears, and "ENTERTAINMENT" fades in below. After a few seconds, more blue static appears and disappears very quickly, much like a TV being turned off.

FX/SFX: Again, excellent animation.

Music/Sounds: Various futuristic sounds and vague whispers of the company name.

Availability: Seen on the trailer for StarCraft II.

Editor's Note: None.

10th Logo (June 2008)

Logo: On a black background, we see purple cracks appearing on various parts of the screen and coming together. As the camera rotates and zooms out, the cracks are revealed to be forming the Blizzard logo. Once the Blizzard logo is completely formed, the cracks disappear, the logo turns blue, and "ENTERTAINMENT" appears below.

FX/SFX: Once again, very good animation.

Music/Sounds: Cracking sounds when the cracks are forming, and "whooshing" when the cracks disappear.

Availability: Seen on the trailer for the StarCraft II expansion pack titled Zerg (later re-titled to Heart of the Swarm).

Editor's Note: None.

11th Logo (Diablo III variant) (May 15, 2012-August 19, 2014)

Logo: On a white cloth, the camera rotates around a frozen red substance splatter with the Blizzard logo formed on it. There is also a string above the logo.

FX/SFX: The camera moving, the effects of illumination.

Music/Sounds: An ominous sound, and a man saying "And the end of days...". All are part of the intro of the game.

Availability: Seen on Diablo III.

Editor's Note: None.