Rob Pardo Leaving Blizzard Entertainment

[DrakeWurrum]

First of all, I don't see how his comments at the MIT speech were sexist. He never said anything negative about women or about the LGBTQ community - he simply stated that Blizzard doesn't care about politics - they make their game, and that's what they're passionate about. If you've ever actually been to the Blizzard offices or met the people who work there, not only would you find that they have a very diverse workplace, but they are all passionate gaming/RPG/sci-fi/fantasy/comic book/TCG/etc nerds to the core.
It's silly to get mad at him for the company not including LGBTQ characters, or for including overly sexualized female characters, in all their games. Why are game devs so heavily pressured to do/not do these things? Why can't they just focus on making the game as they want to make it, without having to think about all the other stuff?


Second of all, regardless of my opinion on all that, Blizzard wouldn't fire somebody SO important and influential entirely based on some community backlash from a complete misunderstanding. A misunderstanding entirely caused by an opinion piece written by one specific person on the internet, who seemed to be desperately LOOKING for a reason to hate the guy.
There isn't even all that much community backlash on it. I didn't hear about it until I glanced at the comments on this post, and it certainly never made front-page news here at MMOC.


On a lighter note: I really really look forward to hearing about what he's going to do with his life. Will he form his own start-up and design a crazy-awesome game? Will he go work for another company, like old Ghostcrawler did? I hope it's the former, out of sheer curiosity!

Also, how in the hell does somebody as big as this guy, one of the head honchos of a multi-million dollar company that is recognized around the world for their products, decide to leave... without a real plan? O_O

[Grizzelbar]

Just as I said not so long ago! People that have been ruling Blizzard at its prime are either not doing anything at this moment (like posting dick picks on their twitter, even though it is art and all that) or just going bonkers. So this is just a confirmation. Sad, but true.

[Alternategray]

This is the article people are upset about: http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/22/574...zzard-nintendo

And you know he's the lead creative designer of Blizzard. So bigotry is hardly unexpected given the state of female characters in their games.

Ah look, the thought police are out in full force today. Keep your trendy, pedantic and shallow internet social justice shit on tumblr; nobody fucking cares. While bigotry is real and a problem, the only thing sheltered whiny parrots like you manage to do is distract from it.

[Deleted]

How so?Do you honestly think that people stop enjoying a game they like playing because one out of a massive team behind said game moves on?

I've been playing this game for 6 years without fail and I didn't know this guy until today. Unless we see another Cataclysm as a direct result of him leaving, I doubt this will impact me. <.<

I believe he could be suggesting that there is a big sub drop on the way something of course an employee would know in advance of any official announcement.

It would help if you actually thought about things rather than blindly taking a "must defend Blizzard" stance.

[Grizzelbar]

It's silly to get mad at him for the company not including LGBTQ characters, or for including overly sexualized female characters, in all their games. Why are game devs so heavily pressured to do/not do these things? Why can't they just focus on making the game as they want to make it, without having to think about all the other stuff?

Because it is a trend of time in the free world. Try stating you opinion on this if it differs from the majority of those "free" people, and you'll get a ban at best or incessant public shaming and a real lot of acid comments at worst.

[Maleagant]

What exactly did he do at Blizzard?

Rob Pardo was a game designer and Blizzard executive.

[Kallor]

Lead Designer
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
World of Warcraft
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
StarCraft: Brood War

What an epic résumé. Sad to see him go, one of the true oldschool guys @ Blizzard.

[DrakeWurrum]

I dont understand how a persons sexuality is so important for a game. Why is it important for people to have gay characters?

Also, trying to bully Blizzard into making LGBTQ characters and "strong female" characters is kinda... not cool. I don't see why they NEED to have such characters representing them inside this game. I consider myself a part of the "Straight Not Narrow" grouping, and I still can't figure what the big deal is.

[Durandro]

First of all, I don't see how his comments at the MIT speech were sexist.

By being dismissive of the issues.

[DrakeWurrum]

Lead Designer
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
World of Warcraft
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
StarCraft: Brood War

What an epic résumé. Sad to see him go, one of the true oldschool guys @ Blizzard.

Yeah, he's likely to be able to get any job at any game developer studio he aims for, if he doesn't start his own company - and if he does, all sorts of people in the industry will be desperate to get involved.

[Jaydenkor]

I'm sorry, but NO ONE willingly leaves work right now, to go have *summer time with the family, and to play lots of games*.. before finding the next thing.

He doesn't have something already lined up? = He was fired, or let go *nicely* so that he got to keep whatever golden parachute he has.

As for what this actually means at blizzard, god only knows.
Its possible he disagrees with management, and that we, the playerbase would agree with him = This is bad for new expacs//games @Blizzard.
OR
Its possible that alot of the failures, that we, the playerbase have been clamoring about, have been this guys fault, and now, without this guy, blizzard expacs/games will be better.

Which one of the above is the case... we'll find out sometime in the next 2 years or so.

[DrakeWurrum]

By being dismissive of the issues.

He wasn't being dismissive at all. People are reading between the lines of what he said: that, simply put, Blizzard is not going to actively play upon the political stage. They're going to make a fun game, and they don't want to have to deal with political issues and pandering to each and every group of people in the world in the process.
It's silly to blow such things out of proportion. Sure, it would be NICE if the company were to actively support the LGBT community and go out of their way to try and show their support by including certain kinds of characters RIGHT in the forefront of the story, but why should they have to? They're a game development company, not a non-profit political interest group. They should do what they're good at.


He gave a pretty good reason, as well, as to why the developers and story writers struggle with both women and LGBT characters.

[Duster505]

OFC he is leaving. The showboats at BLizzard are no longer focused on making web tv rather than actually making games. So ofc the good developers all leave.

[Judgedredd]

for those of you that do not know more about the background information regarding Rob Pardo, he is one of what is labelled the three 'everquest amigos' (the other 2 being Alex Afrasiabi and Jeff Kaplan) who were all at one time guild leaders of the most successful guilds back during the heyday of everquest. Indeed it can be said the reason for WoW's popularity during its starting years was down to the design decisions and influences of these three developers, who took the rather punishing and unforgiving Everquest model (for instance you had to grind mobs to level up despite the title of the game) and made it much more accessible to the masses. As to why he is resigning, my guess is either design differences or possible a mea culpa for diablo 3, which he was the lead designer on. if Afrasiabi or Kaplan decide to do something similar then it will raise more questions on the internal politics of the design team.

[Deleted]

Lead Designer
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
World of Warcraft
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
StarCraft: Brood War

What an epic résumé. Sad to see him go, one of the true oldschool guys @ Blizzard.

Executive Producer
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Diablo III (2012)

Chief Creative Officer
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (2014)
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (2013)

Design Director
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010)


Or maybe more importantly;

Executive Vice President of Game Design
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (2010)
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (2008)

This was more meant to the people who goes 'herp derp, he hasn't been involved in anything wow related since vanilla or tbc'

[Duster505]

I'm sorry, but NO ONE willingly leaves work right now, to go have *summer time with the family, and to play lots of games*.. before finding the next thing.

He doesn't have something already lined up? = He was fired, or let go *nicely* so that he got to keep whatever golden parachute he has.

As for what this actually means at blizzard, god only knows.
Its possible he disagrees with management, and that we, the playerbase would agree with him = This is bad for new expacs//games @Blizzard.
OR
Its possible that alot of the failures, that we, the playerbase have been clamoring about, have been this guys fault, and now, without this guy, blizzard expacs/games will be better.

Which one of the above is the case... we'll find out sometime in the next 2 years or so.

Rob was one of the few WOW lead designers who was level minded and focused on the project rather than some stupid shenanigans. Can not say the same about the ones that are left now tbh. Just look at the crap of the web TV chopper series to see who are in charge now....

[DrakeWurrum]

I'm sorry, but NO ONE willingly leaves work right now, to go have *summer time with the family, and to play lots of games*.. before finding the next thing.

He doesn't have something already lined up? = He was fired, or let go *nicely* so that he got to keep whatever golden parachute he has.

As for what this actually means at blizzard, god only knows.
Its possible he disagrees with management, and that we, the playerbase would agree with him = This is bad for new expacs//games @Blizzard.
OR
Its possible that alot of the failures, that we, the playerbase have been clamoring about, have been this guys fault, and now, without this guy, blizzard expacs/games will be better.

Which one of the above is the case... we'll find out sometime in the next 2 years or so.

I do agree that's weird, but considering his position at the company, he likely has PLENTY of money put away. People who have as much industry influence and experience as him (to the point that he got to be a CCO) are the kind of people who can make that decision - because he's not part of middle America, where the employment problems exist.

If he was in desperate need of a job, he could go to ANY other game studio, and they'd be able to recognize him by face alone and be eager to hire him on. He's that influential, famous, and experienced.

[Deleted]

Something is up at Blizzard...

Absolutely. First Ghostcrawler, now Rob Pardo. When GC left I thought, why would anyone give up a place in such a great company. Starting to feel Blizzard is having some trouble. Who's next, Chris Metzen?

[Hooky]

like rats jumping a sinking ship

[Judgedredd]

you can't take the statement he has written at face value as being the actual reason for his departure. for those of you who aren't dyed in the wool enough, statements like these are just a PR exercise. Ghostcrawler also typed a similar panegyric when he resigned but only recently mentioned that the real reason he had left was due to differences in design philosophy.

- - - Updated - - -

I do agree that's weird, but considering his position at the company, he likely has PLENTY of money put away. People who have as much industry influence and experience as him (to the point that he got to be a CCO) are the kind of people who can make that decision - because he's not part of middle America, where the employment problems exist.

If he was in desperate need of a job, he could go to ANY other game studio, and they'd be able to recognize him by face alone and be eager to hire him on. He's that influential, famous, and experienced.

damn right there, he even appeared in TIME magazine back in 2006.