I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Blizzard Entertainment
Interview
Getting to the interview was a bit of a mess. Several of my communications with the recruiter about my goals for the interview were seemingly ignored. This meant I was shoehorned into an interview that was not the best match for my skills and goals.
The phone interviews were direct, no-nonsense affairs that seemed to work well as a first evaluation.
The on-site interview itself was efficient. There was a programming quiz in the morning, then an afternoon debrief and multiple interview sessions. The people were friendly and all were gamers. They asked good questions about all aspects of game development, and made sure I had time to ask my own questions.
They made it pretty clear that they thought a person was lucky to have the opportunity to work for Blizzard. I unfortunately got the sense repeatedly throughout the day that my individuality would not be valued or respected, but that instead I would be added as a mere cog in the machine.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The programming test defined a data structure incorrectly. I solved the problem as defined, but the debrief ran into a roadblock because the programmers were expecting a solution based on a different definition of that data structure. Once I realized that had happened, I tried to come up with a solution on the spot. This was a good opportunity to show my ability to think on my feet, but involved some awkward back and forth as neither set of folks realized the disconnect right away.
I interviewed at Blizzard Entertainment (Irvine, CA)
Interview
There was first an Interview with recruiter, than one with manager, than I had to pass a hackerRank test, than a technical interview with team in c++ , than with PM and director
Gaming experience not required
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Challenges working with people in the team and outside the team
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2+ months. I interviewed at Blizzard Entertainment in June 2025
Interview
The process for me went like this:
1. Recruiter Call
2. Hiring Manager Call
3. Take Home HackerRank
4. 3 Panel Interviews back to back (1 hour each with a 30 minute break)
A. Interview reviewing the HackerRank questions
B. Subject Matter
C. Culture fit
The recruiting call was really straight forward, basically just told me what the interview process was like, and let me ask questions.
The call with the hiring manager was a pleasure, we mostly just talked through my past experiences from my resume.
The coding test seemed really fair, You got 2 hours to do it, and then the first panel interview was going through the answers, answering follow up questions, and walking though your thought process. There was no stressful live coding at all. HackerRank questions were a mix of coding and multiple choice, nothing beyond like a medium difficulty, but definitely focused towards game development.
Subject matter interview is obviously going to depend on what you're interviewing for, but mine was basically walking through a variety of problems and how you might tackle them (no live coding here either). They were definitely testing my knowledge, but it felt more like a collaboration on how to handle different scenarios than a bunch of 'gotcha' questions I feel some places ask.
The culture fit interview was with a producer and designer, and was mostly about you interact and take part in a team.
Overall it was a great experience. The only negative I have is that the process took awhile. After the HackerRank, the next interview wasn't scheduled till almost a month later, but the recruiter was always responsive when I asked for an update.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Can you talk about any of your past experiences collaborating with designers?
went through like 8 interviews just to be told they already went with someone else. The Recruiter was amazing but the actual interviews themselves didnt seem interested or cared even if you do and show your willingness to be taught.