Five former members of Blizzard Entertainment, all of whom worked on the company’s digital card game Hearthstone, have a new studio and a newly announced deal with Marvel Entertainment to make games. The studio, Second Dinner, is working on an unannounced game for Marvel with some financial help from NetEase, the Chinese internet company.
Second Dinner was founded by Ben Brode and Hamilton Chu, the former game director and executive producer of Hearthstone, respectively. They left Blizzard in 2018, and have since been joined by Blizzard veterans Mike Schweitzer, Yong Woo and Jomaro Kindred. The five-person team is currently working on a prototype of its game for Marvel, but has released few details about the project.
Two job openings, however, offer a bit of insight into what Second Dinner is working on: “We think there’s a huge opportunity to make deep, satisfying games that are optimized for mobile, and we’re currently working on a game that we’re really excited about.”
Second Dinner said it plans to grow its team by 10-15 people over the next few years. To do so, the Irvine, California-based company has raised $30 million through a minority investment from NetEase, which operates local versions of Blizzard’s games in China.