Stay Awhile and Listen: How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire

Stay Awhile and Listen: How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire is a retrospective work on the development history of the Diablo series. It is the first instalment of the Stay Awhile and Listen trilogy.

The book mostly focuses on the development of Diablo, and the first two Warcraft games.

Description
Two companies. Two opposing cultures. One multi-billion-dollar video-game empire.

Stay Awhile and Listen: How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire - Book 1 invites readers to discover the origin of Blizzard North, a studio built by gamers, for gamers, and Blizzard Entertainment, a convergence of designers driven to rule their industry.

Composed from exhaustive research and hundreds of personal interviews, the Stay Awhile and Listen series divulges the fated meeting that brought the two Blizzards together, the clashes that tore them apart, and their transformation from grassroots democracy to corporate empire. At the center of it all—Diablo, a hack-and-slash adventure through the darkest recesses of Hell that changed online gaming forever.

Development
The idea for the book came to Craddock in 2007. At the time, Craddock became friends with Blizzard North artists Eric Sexton and Kelly Johnson, where they would play videogames together. Craddock had the idea of writing a book on the history of Blizzard North. Sexton was enthusiastic about the idea of a Blizzard book and helped Craddock reach out to Matt Uelman, Joe Morrissey, and other North alumni. Craddock's uncle got him in touch with David Brevik, and through him, was able to get in touch with Max and Erich Schaefer. The project ended up snowballing; originally, the book would cover events up to the closure of Blizzard North, but the release of Diablo III extended the work.

Blizzard Entertainment was offered to participate, but the company's head of PR declined the offer, but wished Craddock luck. Craddock nonetheless was able to get in touch with Patrick Wyatt, who was able to provide Craddock with contacts inside Blizzard South. As the project increased in scope, the release date was pushed back to 2013. Over 80 people were interviewed. Some refused, while others accepted only under conditions of anonymity.