Why is everybody leaving Blizzard?

[angrys13]

http://www.bonfirestudios.com/ expect more Blizz devs joining this .. i guess many of the Blizz devs wanna go for their own game idea without some bigger company standing on top of them

From frost to fire. I like it. I encourage it.

[rayden54]

To me, Metzen leaving makes sense. I've seen him in person at Blizzcon (2007) and he literally was the best part of going there. He was hilarious and full of energy and just awesome to listen to. I've seen him speak several times online over the years and I feel you can tell the guy was just slowly getting more burnt out and just didn't care as much anymore over the years.

You're now the second person I've seen to say that. Personally, I only watched the last couple Blizzcons, and if that was burnt out Metzen, I can't imagine what "at his peak" Metzen would have been like.

[Tharkkun]

Pardo left just over 2 years ago - so maybe a 2-year non-compete, then a few months to put a company together and start sorting things out? Carpenter left in june iirc. There are only 3 other named blizz folks on the bonfire page, but how many other former blizz folks are going there who aren't at the 'named' level??

I believe non-compete agreements were made illegal in California. You can actually be fined as it's basically extortion.

But I agree with the rest. If Pardo's company takes off we could see others leave.

[glorygores]

god forbid an adult wants to wind down and start spending more time with his wife and kids. Or that people want to pursue different ideas. Nope. THE END TIMES ARE HERE, BLIZZARD IS DEAD!

[Aurabolt]

To you, world of warcraft might be your life. To a blizzard employee, it's a job.

You fill in the rest.... using a little common sense.

...This.

Too many people want to instead entertain conspiracy theories and speculation.

[Mojo03]

You're now the second person I've seen to say that. Personally, I only watched the last couple Blizzcons, and if that was burnt out Metzen, I can't imagine what "at his peak" Metzen would have been like.

I mean the company went from a relatively small studio making games that were essentially pieces of art the first 15 years he was there to a corporate mega-studio that views the games as products.

[Torgent]

In the tech industry, and video games especially, large corporations are often a place to start for some people. They develop a resume and they learn new abilities then they attempt to chase after their own ideas. Maybe they pitched a game idea to Blizzard and Blizzard wasn't interested in it, so they decided that they would work on it independently now that they are in a financially stable place.

But of course children would rather yell "OMG EVERYONE IS LEAVING, BLIZZARD IS FALLING APART!" because they don't understand the world.

[Deficineiron]

I believe non-compete agreements were made illegal in California. You can actually be fined as it's basically extortion.

But I agree with the rest. If Pardo's company takes off we could see others leave.

that makes more sense (the non-compete), I was wondering how folks like carpenter were taking this new job across the street almost immediately.

[Deleted]

Kotick is known for wanting to remove the fun out of game development. He succeeded with Blizzard.

[FuxieDK]

If you're into last months news, you must have noticed that on last months, lots of workers are leaving blizzard to work on other companys.


Any guesses on why is this happening, and how it can affect blizzard titles?

Most of the people who leave ATM have been there 15-20 years..
Normally, people change jobs longe before they have been somewhere 10 years.. Every 3-5 years is pretty much standard..

[Sentynel]

from look of it 8.0 will be last chapter of wow - it all sums up - metzen written the ending , quest dev has probably already designed main lore questing etc etc - with coming months we will probably see more and more people leaving game to not be the last person who turns off lights

You don't believe this crap, do you?

[Sencha]

When you see how streamlined and boring are the last Blizzard games, no surprise people are leaving. You can thank Kotick for that.

[Tharkkun]

Kotick is known for wanting to remove the fun out of game development. He succeeded with Blizzard.

Game development isn't fun. Playing your product once it's released is.

- - - Updated - - -

You don't believe this crap, do you?

He copies and pastes that into every thread.

[ElDoorO]

If I had to guess, change in the wind.
If a lot of my crew leaves and the new blood and atmosphere aren't to my liking -- I'd leave too.
This is a neutral statement. This is not me saying good or bad things are coming. This is simply work atmosphere and enjoyment.
I don't think it has anything to do with "wow is dying" or anything like that.

[Osmeric]

I believe non-compete agreements were made illegal in California. You can actually be fined as it's basically extortion.

But I agree with the rest. If Pardo's company takes off we could see others leave.

I think there's something specifically about it in the state constitution.

[Staalsy]

You assume Pardos company is making games to compete with blizzard.

That's not going to happen

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