Mike Ybarra believes that Blizzard could return to its independent roots following the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Over the course of its long history, Blizzard has experienced several eras of success. Before World of Warcraft, the company was known for its real-time strategy games such as StarCraft and Warcraft 3, and for Diablo 2, the title that created the modern hack-and-slash genre. World of Warcraft catapulted Blizzard into a whole new level of recognition, and almost 20 years later, Blizzard's flagship MMO is still going strong.