Bloomberg Screentime Special

We're from BHARD. We're Innovation, Money and Power Collie in Silicon Valley, NBN. This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow.

Welcome to a special edition of Bloomberg Technology Live from Bloomberg screen Time in Los Angeles. Coming up this hour, we'll bring you conversations from some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.

So today we're going to be speaking with top celebrities, entrepreneurs, moguls across what is a changing media landscape. And we're starting with Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw, the managing editor who leads screen Time, our own celebrity exactly. And screen time is the coverage of popular culture. It is a huge global industry and it kicked off last night with Live Nation. Mike Rippino and I came to realize something sitting in

Well, look to your point, he has no peers, and I think he also serves sort of like a founder. Like I find that founders are more candidate interviews because they kind of don't care. They don't have as many people that answer to. And he's been running that business now for almost twenty years.

Right.

They are the biggest concert promoter in the world by a wide mile. They're the biggest ticket seller because a ticketmaster by a lot. He knows that, he's confident. He has relationships with every artist. When they want to know what should I do with my tour? They call him, and so he can be a little you know, he can poke fun at the government which is suing him right now. He can do things like that in a way that I don't think other CEOs can.

But he can poke the bear.

But the bear wants to spin up this size and scale that he's managed to build up.

And so what was his reaction to all of this?

Well, I thought it was interesting.

I asked him, as a way of get into the DOJ question, if he would sell Ticketmaster, which is something that the DJ would like him to do.

Right.

They want to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which is sort of where this all started with a merger many years ago. He's like, some days, yes, because Ticketmaster is the biggest pain for him. That's when fans get mad when tickets still get sold. But if you talk to anyone at the company, they're pretty confident that they're going to win this DOJ suit because they don't think

So what you did well, and if you're just joining us, right, what we're talking about is media and entertainment. But a company that's been in the headlines because of Taylor Swift and then Oasis, But they kind of have two parts of their business and you helped us learn about that. There's ticketing and then I think promotion. Yeah, just explain it.

So Live Nation is a concert promoter.

That means that they're the people who are in charge of putting on a show.

Right.

When you're a promoter, you make very little money because the artist keeps.

Almost all of the tickets sit, which seems fair totally.

The promoter can make money from merchandise, can make money from food and beverage, that sort of thing.

They also own a ticket seller.

Ticket sellers similarly, don't make very much money from the actual tickets being sold.

They make their money from the fees.

But when we're talking about profit margins, content promotion is a very low margin business. Ticket selling is a better business Live Nation. You add in advertising, which they do. They sell sponsorships and ticketing, and advertising is actually where they make most of their money. But the promotion is sort of the meat of the business, and so the whole package works really well. But it's also something that some people feel is unfair.

We're going to be listening to part of that interview that you conducted last night in a moment, but push us forward to today. We are currently sat in LA It's about to get fiercely hot. It's going to get crowded in here, and with excitement. You've got others in the music industry, Ron for example.

Yeah, I really hope it's not too hot today, but it is a concern. Look, Scooter doesn't do very many interviews. He's had a pretty tumultuous couple of years. There was sort of this period where he basically stopped managing a lot of his biggest clients, justin Bieber Ariana Grande. It was reported as they fired him. I think it was sort of a conscious uncoupling in the term of Gwynne

Got so many great conversations coming up, Sean Evans, you gonna be listening to Matt Stone. Cannot wait for that conversation all about South Park. Look as sure, what a legend who's currently running this event for us.

We thank him.

Meanwhile, those panels actually did kick off yesterday as we're saying, let's just listen to a little bit of that conversation the CEO of Live Nation, Michael Rappino, who says they actually want resale prices to be capped.

Listening Unfortunately, those ten times a year when you have ten million people trying to buy a million Oasis tickets, you know, nice way to tell nine million passionate fans, sorry the store is closed. So you know that that creates lots of tens and they go online and they see paid, they see you ten pages of secondary tickets and they get pissed off.

If you had a magic wand or you were you were a third of named Emperor for the day, and you could change just change ticketing however you wanted, what would you do?

It's it's a great question. The problem is professional bots all around the world. You know, we got hit by multi billions of bots on the Oasis on sale, you know, so there are professional twelve billion dollar business trying to capture all those seats, right, so it's an arms race with us trying to stop them. Not let them in the door, let them, not let them hold the tickets. You shouldn't have a middleman that has nothing invested in

Some people can make a little money. That would be the.

Biggest part that we get. The most engine on the an cell.

Is that right now? Right?

That was Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, and it was refreshingly honest in that conversation with Lucas Shaw. Many more conversations like that coming up throughout the day. Okay, on this program Bloomberg Technology, We're going to talk video generation in the context of AI and much more with Runway CEO Chris the baal of Anezuela.

That's coming up next.

This is Bloomberg Technology on the Road screen Time, Los Angeles, Hollywood. All right, if you're just joining us, this is Bloomberg Technology on the road in Hollywood at screen Time. Runway is using AI to revolutionize the entertainment industry. The company's teamed up with Lionsgate Studios to build AI models and now has backing to produce dozens of films, movies literally about it.

Runway CEO Chris bell Anezuela joins.

Us and that deal. How real is it? The process the production of making a film in partnership using your technology.

Yeah, so it's a first off.

It's kind kind of the ill and the idea behind it really is to take the Lionsgate team further with

As you know, I love the detail of things.

Are we talking about filmmakers at Lionsgate sitting as a computer using your your your software as part of their process?

Yeah, that's kind of the point.

There's many tasks in the development of a movie where you and in bad AI.

Or our models and make that cheaper and faster.

So if you're iterating through storyboarding or previousizations or visual effects, you can use our models, and filmmakers are now understanding how to use these models in ways that are very useful for them, right. But I think that's the key aspect of it, which is for a long time it has been seen as this kind of a system that creates movies on its own, right, And it's really not like that.

It's really a tool for.

Directors on filmmakers, And with the lens Geed deal, what we really want to make sure they understand is that they can take that further for the movies and becomes a really cost effective tool to you. So again, if you're spending hundreds of self dollars in making a shot, making a visual effects a scene, you can now use Runway to kind of reduce that cost and move faster and to better results.

You've been improving your models, Yes, how costly does that become?

Remain there's definitely research that has to be done to train the models on the first end, but then running the models and using them has become much more cost effective over time. And I don't know, I think we're yet at the point where you will see an optimization, like we're going to optimize the models even more so the cost of running them will be even cheaper and faster.

Let's just talk a little bit about therefore, is you're building your offering, you're winning over new clients like Lionsgate. We think about where we were this time last year. We think about Hollywood in strike mode because in large part because ourtivision intelligence. What sort of conversations you had to have to get people comfortable with this technology.

Well, the first thing that I think it's important to remember is that Hollywood is the history of technology. Like we are here because of technological breakthrough, right, and so we sometimes forget that ourd and technology kind of like come together always, and for us it's like this may defind a little bit of technology. Again, if you understand AI as a tool for humans, then it changes the narrative and it's less about fearing it and more about embracing it and you realize how.

You can actually use it. And I think what we need to.

Do right now is kind of like educate more and show the potential. There's also challenges of the technology. It's not a kind of technology. It's not a perfect tool. There are things that are not exactly working as they should, but that's kind of the point, as you need to improve them and make it even better. And I think part of it is just like showing more people, more producers, more Hollywood studios, really the potential of film.

And you said because about Caroline and I use text to text, texted image, text and video tools every day. I love technology, but I also just love film. Yeah, and there comes a point where I just want to ask if AI really can give the same feeling create film and movie and content that is as authentic as the great filmmakers can make it with their hands and their eyes and camera.

What do you think about that?

Well, the interesting thing is filmmaking and stories and art are never really about the denali are about conveying feeling and emotion. Are about connecting with the viewer and telling and make you feel something. Right, You never watch a movie because how it was made right, or the cameras that were used to make the movies.

Right, You watch your real nerves.

Yeah, yes, but maybe even though like after the fact that you like the movie, right, you can go deeper into how it was made. But ninety nine percent of the world which is movie because they feel something because they connect with it, And so ai you think about it as a tool, can help you kind of connect with your audience, can help you deliver that message, can help you tell us stories. And so right now, I think we're fascinating by the technoli itself because it is fascinating,

You've been telling stories to raise money, and you've got some.

Really interesting investors because.

Not many of them are going to be in the world of art and creation. In fact, you've got Nvidio salesforce. What do they want to see out of you? Why do you have these sort of strategic investors coming on like an Nvidia and what do they earn it?

Well?

I think they are telling stories and their users are also telling stories. Again, you can think about storytelling as Hollywood, as media, as films, but okay, you think about companies. Companies are also telling stories when they're advertising, when they're doing marketing, when they're communicating with they're users, and so if you can help them also deliver better messages, then that's also a form of storytelling. Perhaps it's not as the art kind of like form, but it's still like

For at least a year, I've been hearing about Runway and your name comes up a lot. Open AI has Sora on the show. In the last week we talked about Meta's new tool. Yeah, but you have a very singular focus. Where do you think you stand in your competence and as a business relative to that competition of open AI and Meta.

Yeah.

Look, when we started this seven years ago, it was a very new field, and I think we prevent over time that it's a really exciting and worthwhile time field to spend time. And it's an industry that's going and it's changing. And I think when you create a market and you create a good opportunity, you will have competition. I think it's it's unreal to think that no one

Will you raise more money for that long we will have to do whatever we have to do to deliver that meeting, you will have to We've been kind of like raising almost every year from now since we started seven years ago, and IPS.

We're just focused on building right now.

We always want to know that about things run by CEO Christ about Valenzuela, want a joy to have him.

We've given you the founder take from La, but let's get the analysts take now on the future of entertainment, the intertwining of generative AI and the competition we're seeing when it comes to streaming in the light we needn't see your entertainment analyst, Laura Martin, We're.

So excited to meet you here in the flat.

Finally after all this time. Lovely to be here.

And you were just here listening to what Crista Bell was talking about in terms of the Runway deal working with Lionsgate and for you. How much is generative AI changing up the game of the companies you cover?

You know, I think it's changing it a lot.

I see it most in my tech first companies because they have to adopt generalor AI. These content storytelling companies, I think are going to be a little slower because you watch consumers watch movies because it's storytelling. But I think Generator VII opens up poor creative windows.

Let me just jump in and say, for oblionbo Telogy, and you cover public equities, but it's tech companies, but also some the media and entertainment names.

Yes, and let's give that context and go from their.

Current So I think it's really important.

I think we don't know how much is going to affect Hollywood because under the strikes they prohibited the use of Generative AI for three years of their deals, so it won't affect Hollywood quite as quickly, at least the big studios. But I think Runway is going to be really important to the future of entertainment, to.

The future of hiring.

I mean, how much do you start to see this becoming a profit generators to a certain extent because they're able to strip out costs.

So since we're sitting in Hollywood, I'll be respectful of the guilds and say that I think of what it first does first is open up new areas of creativity. Just like animation unleashes has created to give you and draw anything. I think that's what Generative AI does over time. What I am hearing from companies that are in the tech world that are adopting generator. By is they think they can cut costs where it applies in segments where it applies by twenty to thirty percent.

The players are different.

I think it's been so interesting to be here with Caroline for twenty four hours. Is go to the studios, to drive past Warner Brothers, beyond the Disney lot and actually learn a bit about the history, and then consider the money that they're deploying to try and either catch up with Netflix, frankly, or try and do something a bit different. Caroline had fantastic conversation on stage with Amazon last night. In the context of Prime you covered those names, which do you think is ahead?

Well, if we're talking about winners clinically.

And I'm talking about video, you know, entertainment in the context of film and television.

YouTube one, we're done.

Wow, Amazon's next, Amazon's on the prowl, it's coming up.

But on YouTube YouTube one. That's a definitive statement from you.

It is my point of view, ten percent of total streaming viewing in Netflix's next at seven point five, so YouTube is viewed both on the big screen. Because of the NFL deal, they've now done and because user generated contact on both mobile phones and on.

The connected I like data as much as the next person, Laura, but you can be a bit more romantic than that about you know. So I'm a massive rings of power. I'm a massive rings of power nerd. And I was trying to get Caroline into that.

I don't know, what do you think?

I find YouTube interesting, but I don't go there to watch the content I'm super passionate about.

And so is that the element that we'll start to see them bringing originals bringing I mean, at the moment it's user generator content. We've got Amazon doing originals, movie making, They're also doing live sports. What will YouTube end up offering us?

Well, I remember when Survivor first launch, which was the original reality program. I mean, everybody said, this is junk, this is trash, This is never going to catch on. You know, people who watch YouTube user generator.

Content think it's premium program.

I mean, you may not, but it turns out it reaches global audiences on YouTube.

And I really believe in YouTube.

But I'm just talking about in the evening, when you go home after work and you want to watch a piece of television.

I'm not going to YouTube, But carry on, please, I.

Think anecdotal not statistical to suggest that sort of everybody. I think something like eighty five percent of consumers that watch video globally or on YouTube weekly, so their data is really compelling.

Now on YouTube, I think, what's interesting you mentioned Survivor. I'm actually having a.

Conversation later with unscripted executives for Peacock, and that's all about Love Island and traitors and the new Age and Survivor.

What then of the Peacocks? What then of the paramounts, what then.

Of be not Key Disney, Netflix, Amazon YouTube?

So I just think we need to think about the job to be done, and the job to be done is.

To entertain consumers.

Now, consumers globally and certainly some consumers will sit through two hour movies or one hour dramas or thirty minute sitcoms, but they'll also sit through fifteen second TikTok videos or thirty second three minute YouTube videos. I think all this content is better for consumers, gives consumers more choice.

This is Bloomberg technology. Let's bring this back to business. Sure, if you're an investor, how do you judge Netflix, Disney and rank them? Is it the subscriber number and how closely are we paying attention to those big, big figure dollar figures right and spending on content right?

So I think what we need to look at.

What the market cares about today is return on invested capital, including your content capital. So right now Netflix is the only streamer making money. Wall Street cares about that. Disney is recently Disney streaming has recently moved into profitability, and especially on those apps, they're switching on the ads and they are lowering their content costs. So I do think that what we're seeing the problem is it's not Disney

Can we talk a bit about advertising, Sure.

I find the job of your job really interesting because there's something that you can't model for, which is the psychology of a consumer. When I was a child, I watched ads on TV and it was normal, And there was a period of time during the pandemic where there were no ads, and then suddenly everyone started doing it and there.

Was a revolt. That actually seems like it's working.

Yep.

I think the consumer has to take he has to judge his time as a valuable asset. So it's either free with ads, which means you just took your time, and because the streamers have much lower ad loads four minutes, five minutes. Remember at cable tv it was like fourteen minute ad loads. Yes, so much lower ad loads, so a lower price in a way for an hour of content. And I really like some of the innovations where they'll show you a video and then you get the next program for free.

I love that because you get good.

Attention to the ad and you get half an hour an hour of free content.

I think that's a great business model.

You know, we were just talking last week about M and A out of necessity coming in.

Cable TV land.

Yes, where is the M and A going to start switching on for these content providers because we've been.

Talking about it for years.

Unfortunately, you need a different president, you need a different White House because the FCCFTC, and DOJ are all appointed by the person by the party essentially in the White House, and right now under Democrats, M and A is really really hard because they believe big is bad, and so even these companies that really do need to merge and cut costs, they cannot do so as long as there's a Democrat administration.

In the White House.

Medium Senior Entertainment analyst, Laura Martin, it's really fantastic to do this in person. You've been on Bloomberg Technology so many times.

Keep coming, please, and if.

You're just joining us, this is Bloomberg Technology on the road in Hollywood.

Welcome back to a very special edition of BlueBag Technology. We are live from Bloomberg screen Time right here in the hearts Hollywood, Yeah, and Hollywood friends, and we're talking there for content creation streaming. We were speaking in particular about Amazon adding Apple TV Plus to its channel store in the US, offering kits of course like ted Lasso one that you love slow horses in the video supermarket. For the first time, I got to chat with Mike

Just take a listen about the deal. We've tried to.

Become over the last four or five years as a first stop entertainment hub for consumers around the world. And what I mean by that is, not only do we have the prime content that we talked about at the top, including Thursday night Football, we have our fourth game this season tomorrow night, the NBA coming next year, NASCAR, but around the world we also have Champions League throughout Europe

We are able to.

Get subscribers for those those those businesses at a real attractive rate, and it's an exciting part of our business. In fact, we're gonna announce tonight that we are adding Apple TV Plus to our prime video channels propositions and sure, and.

Why why Apple TV Plus?

Well, they have great programming and you know, we've had a good partnership with Apple on a number of fronts. But you know, our companies do a lot of business together. And I want to thank ADIEQ, who I know isn't here tonight, but he hit his team have done a great job with this deal and we're excited to get it going.

That was Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon putting Apple TV Plus in there.

That is news.

Shout out to Eddie Q, and a shout.

Out to Eddie Q in our world. That is news.

Another player in the battle over streaming is pulling in tens of millions of viewers without charging them a thing. In the US, more than eighty one million people stream content every month on twov the free ad supported platform which.

Is owned by Fox.

It's now expanding overseas, with the service launching across the UK this summer. Our original home joining US now is tvco Anderlei sud It's great to see you. The UK is an interesting market. Just explain the basics why and what's going to happen.

So we've been getting incredible traction in the US.

We just gave them name.

Yeah, we're the most watched free TV service in the US now. And what we're finding is that audiences, particularly chord cutters and nevers, they want to watch content for free. They don't mind watching ads in return, and they want a large collection of the term Sorry, card cutter and cord nevers, I've not heard that.

Oh, I think it's it's almost like you going out for gen Z.

Yeah, of audiences that just it's not that they originally were subscribing to cable and stopped, is that they're just they never did to begin with it.

Sorry.

And what we're finding is that t B has this incredible formula. We're free for consumers. We have the world's largest collection of movies and TV shows and it's resonating with audiences, and we believe we can bring that same value proposition to UK audiences. We've done the same in Canada, we're doing the same in Latin America. Really it's a global opportunity and that's what we're looking to first.

That does the content therefore evolved because do you therefore have originals made by the UK in the UK for the UK audience or are they very much global demandstrayt.

So TB has been able to successfully do a couple of different things. One we license in are content from really everyone, so we have this very vast selection of opportunities and shows. We also have invested in originals. We have hundreds of originals. Nearly one in four to be viewers in the US watches an original, and so we will absolutely look to have, well, which is one of your original A to be original? A to be original?

That you might see on other streamers.

What we often do is we will listen to what is resonating on our platform, what our fans love, and then we'll go and look to acquire or produce content that really reflects something that they can't find anywhere else.

We should probably talk about the Fox element of this. A lot of people are surprised by that. I think we were partly how does that work? And I'm assuming that undepending all of that is that if it's free for the consumer. It's advertising that you've got to make some money, right.

Yeah, So we only make money through advertising, which do you think really aligns incentives because we only make money if our viewers are engaged, if they're actually watching content. TV is owned by Fox. It was acquired several years ago. It's actually started in Silicon Valley over ten years ago.

Really interesting to be.

Started as an ad tech startup and then pivoted over time to be a consumer streaming service. And what that means is our DNA is very, very rich in using technology and data to personalize and offer a delightful experience. It's something I've been really impressed by and I think it's a big differentiator right now because audiences also, they don't want barriers, they don't want friction.

They want TV to feel fun again.

So you raise a really good point on the technology in our household. At least, I have a Roku TV and I have a Samsung Smart TV. On the Roku TV, it's an AT based system. On the Smart TV, I can search for a specific show that I want to watch and it might tell me that the only place I can find it is to be that My goodness of options and and I'll be honest. You know, my wife said to me the other day, you know, I didn't know we had TV, and I said, maybe did I?

And that might You must kind of recognize that a little bit.

Absolutely. I think there's a paradox of choice, and.

I think we in the streaming ecosystem haven't yet really made it as easy for viewers as we need to. Two B's approaches to be ubiquitous. So we are present and available and accessible to consumers across over thirty devices, every surface and screen that we can be on. And to your point, having that really large library means that we're often discoverable because we're the place you can watch that content you're looking for for free.

And I think you're just going to see us continue.

To do more and more to just remove barriers and make that experience easier and better.

So your market share keeps on going up.

I mean, you might not have been aware or using it, but one point eight percent of the market is yours. You're only just behind people, Kanhunu. When are you going to eclipse them?

Honestly, you know, we're we are very focused on playing one game and one game only, and that is being free frictionless entertainment for consumers. But what I will say is we are doubling down on the strategy. We believe it's working. We think the tailwinds in our favor, and it's on us to continue to deliver.

Where does live sports fit into your strategy?

We are not investing in premium live sports rights. That is that's very expensive, and our belief is that's not going to really work on a free, ad supported model the way it does in other models. But what you will see us do is partner with Fox Sports in particular to really tell stories in and around the culture of sports. An example is this week we announced a

Yeah, very briefly, do you want an oscar? Do you want to like have an original make a big bang?

I want to produce content.

That delights our viewers, and I would say we care a lot more about that engagement as our currency, probably above awards or anything.

Else, don'tkay to Angelie, so so nice to have some time with you.

We thank him. Meanwhile, coming up, we dive.

Into your favorite the gaming industry, folks, Mike Morheims with us, the co founder of Blizzard Entertainment. Boy, if we got some chats. He's now needing his own game developer startup and some new content coming.

Yeah, it was a big part of my childhood some of his work. I'm super excited. Last night, Snoop Dog also sat down with Blimbers Lucashaw to discuss this new album.

But also my childhood, my child your childhood.

But also you probably saw it his experience at the Olympics over the summer.

Just check this out.

The NBC was and the Olympics was willing to allow us to bring our flavor to the table.

And I try to keep us in the box and let us, you know, season and meat.

Blizzard co founder industry veteran Mike Morheims working to replicate the video game studio's success, but without making some of the mistakes that have impacted the company's reputation in recent years, in particular and in particular the culture. Mike's new company is dream Haven. It is announcing a new title literally today. It has not said very much at all since kind of starting in twenty twenty, and I'm delighted to say that Mike's here with us in person.

We can go into the.

Backstory of Blizzard, and we can go into how for many people watching this show around the world, some of the original Blizzard titles and I'm a child with the nineties is a big part of their video games history. But let's start with what's new today. Okay, you have a title out, sunder Folk. It is the kind of big moment for your studio, which you founded in twenty twenty. The basics of the game and why it's important, why it will stand out in this field.

So so yeah, this is a big moment for us because we've been heads down working on two games internally at dream Haven through our Secret Door studio and Moonshot. So Secret Door just announced their first game. It's called sunder Folk. It is a touch co op tactical RPG adventure that you can play with your friends. Really inspired by the magic of tabletop.

Gaming, and this is a twenty twenty five thing.

Just this is a twenty twenty five thing. So we just revealed what we've been working on all of this time, and we're super excited about it. Some of the unique things about this game it uses two screens, a personal screen which is basically your phone in your pocket, and shared screen. And we're really trying to replicate the magic of tabletop and RPG adventure gaming without some of the barriers that really make it inaccessible to a lot of people.

I mean that is MMO RPG classic. That's the point of it.

That is not the point of it, Okay, it is to get in and.

He need to disagree, keep going, yeah, and have.

Fun with your friends.

And so we really kind of streamlined that whole experience to try to make game Night accessible to more people and so and to also give tools to the people really passionate about this genre to be able to bring in their friends who may not have experienced the magic.

Of table talk people building that and Sokile and what so interesting is this is a full year project. She've been some in stealth. What is the heavy lift that goes into bringing us under Folk to bringing us the other game that you got lined up?

I think that, I mean one of the big challenges. Whenever you're doing something innovative that hasn't been done before, there's a lot of trial and error and iteration. Often you come up with the design, you think it's going to be great, and then when you actually start playing it, you find that there are a lot of things that maybe aren't working as well as you thought, or aren't

Who are you trying to build games for. Here's your demographic.

We're trying to go for a really broad audience. So we try to make games that have depth, for a lot of replayability and for people who really want to who are really familiar with these genres, with accessibility. Even if you're not familiar, it's really yeah, I would love for you to play our games.

It would be an interesting experiment to do that, right, to play together.

I mean, if you're just tuning in.

This has been big technology in Hollywood for screen time, and Mike Morheim and his colleagues are the people behind Diablo and Warcraft and those games in the nineties two thousand and four Warcraft rethink subscription model. I mean you were behind it and then skeptical about how that would grow. Let's put that to one side, because it isn't the nineties or two thousands anymore. It seems to me really hard to run an independent games studio and publishing shop right now.

How hard well, Game development has always been very difficult in our experience. I don't think there's ever been a project that has been sort of like, we know what we're making, we go and make it and it's just great. It's just always has these zigs and zags along the way. And I think where we've been successful is really being reactive to what the games have told us that they

Onboarding, Mike, let's talk about this industry.

The backstory is that Lizard merged with Activision. I just want to ask that, at the conclusion of Activision being acquired by Microsoft, how you feel that left the industry, What the significance of it was for video games.

I think we don't know the answer to that yet. I think it's still early because you're going to have to see how.

How Blizzard is able.

To operate within that new environment and whether it's an environment that will still allow it to continue innovating.

We referenced at the start you built.

A legendary business in gaming that many people grew up with.

It's hard running businesses.

What are the lessons you learned from Blizzard that you're either bringing over or not doing in the new agreat.

That you want to avoid the mistakes of the past on.

Yeah, So I mean that's two parts.

I think some of the things we are definitely we want to bring over is we think that, look, gaming is a very competitive business. There's something like fifteen thousand games that are releasing each year on Steam alone, and so in order to sort of stand out, you really have to do something different better, and so really having a focus on creating high quality experiences. We really believe in the power of gaming to bring people together and

Mike, it's been so good having you.

Thank you very much, dream Haven CEO with a new title, Michaelheim, We thank him.

Let's recap for video game fans. Blizzard Entertainment was a household name, The maker of Overwatch and World of Warcraft changed the video game landscape until corporate Pair and Activision started cracking down on Blizzard's autonomy. We've just been speaking with one of the executives at the heart of the story, and it was all chronicled in a new book, play Nice, the Rise, Full and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, which just came out this week.

Author and Bloomberg.

News reporter Jason Schreyer is here with us in Hollywood.

I'm here, Hello, Ed, and it's great to be here.

I was going over with Mike some of the history of Blizzard. I was a child of the nineties. The titles your book goes inside the company, what was happening in the ninety two thousands?

Where would you like to start? And what's inside the pages?

It's really two stories.

It's a story.

It's a culture story and a business story. Both they go in some wild directions.

You see.

The book traces the history of Lizard from nineteen ninety one when it was founded, all the way up until today when it was bought by Microsoft in a sixty nine billion dollar acquisition. Still kind of unfathomable, right, It's still unimaginable that that happened. And what I do is I trace the culture, the way that people treated the place, the way of the company, what it was like to work there.

So really quick good culture of bad culture.

I try not to be reductive because for a lot of people is really good.

For a lot of people, it was really bad for a lot of peoples, both a lot of women.

For example, there have been a lot of discussions about how Bizard treated women in the wake of this made lawsuit that hit the company.

A lot of women felt like at times.

It was the best place in the world, and at times it was just really awful, and they were treated, they were harass they were discriminated against. But sometimes I mean, one woman I talked to you told me that she messed some of her best friends in the world, people who were in her wedding party at Wizard, But at the same time she had to deal with like getting paid less than her male colleagues.

What Mike Moheim has now built his venture with his wife Yep and his many ways trying to push against some of the tougher experiences he had built in a new way.

One of the lessons being learnt by the industry right now.

Yeah, it's funny.

I actually went and visited their studio last night, and.

I think it's really interesting.

One thing that really struck me about.

Dreamhaven, their new venture, is that they have about thirty seven percent of their employees identify as either women or non binary, as opposed to a company like Blizzard. When they were founded, it was zero percent. Essentially, maybe they're lucky to get one or two women over the course of the nineties. Of course, the entire video game industry was in a very different place back then, But now I think they're working hard to be more inclusive.

I think a lot of game companies, I mean.

It's like very slow, gradual steps towards not being sexist and not being like crummy towards your workers, but they are making progress.

And you know what, I think a lot more people these days are.

Willing to call out companies that don't treat them well, and I think that has led to some changes.

Just one point.

We hate talking about this because video games industry is a huge industry movies, and it's important to always remind ourselves of that.

It's a key screen that we're all addicted to, the gaming screen. Jason's going to be here at screen time doing an interview.

I'm sure, Yes, I'm talking to Mike Morehome.

Actually I get them after you.

Guys, there we have it. But this whole day, it's going to be amazing. There's gonna be so many people. You want to be listening from Scooter Blaun, it's going to be here, going to hear of course, the CEO of Comcast coming on. You don't want to miss what's going on.

And tomorrow, Long Beach, we are talking defense, we're talking space. We are live from Rocket Lab. Do not miss that Bloomberg Technology see as soon