In December 2017, the Hearthstone team released a free single-player mode called Dungeon Run that tasked players with beating a series of increasingly difficult computer-controlled bosses. The mode was popular but didn’t bring in any money or encourage players to buy card packs, which led to endless battles for Team 5—not just with Activision-minded executives but even with Blizzard leaders like Morhaime, who now had to grapple with tough questions. The company’s philosophy had always been that if you made great games, the money would follow, but was that still true in the world of free to
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