Russell Brower Leaving Blizzard

[RoKPaNda]

Can't really say I'm familiar with his work, I've played with the music off since Vanilla and most of the sound effects off since WLK

Before we know it the majority of blizz employees will be gone and it'll be just pure activision

I love posts like this because it's been a decade and people STILL think Activision dictates what Blizzard does. Hilarious.

[Wondercrab]

Best of luck to him. I'm actually pretty excited by this because I'd love to see a new composer's take on WoW. The music has always been pretty consistently good with a few fantastic stand-out tracks, but I do feel like a number of pieces have blurred together somewhat over the years. I'll be excited to see (hear?) what we get out of whoever replaces him.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Music has been top-notch throughout the game's history, but I'm sure his replacement will be equally talented.

This won't stop the "WoW is dying lööööl!"-crowd though.

[idonthinksodude]

check out my mixtape

[Varitok]

Rest in peace WoW's music. Even if the content was bad, The music always was amazing, now i'm worried for even that.

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Without having done any research, I assume "sound decentralization" means that Blizzard will from now on hire external composers instead of having their own ones. Maybe its for the better, Diablo 3's and SC2 soundtracks left a lot to be desired and WoW's newer soundtracks - while still decent - got more repetitive after Wotlk, which probably is unavoidable if the same people stay in charge of the soundtracks, at some point they run out of fresh ideas.

Or maybe they got redundant because WoW started moving towards "sound decentralization"

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Music has been top-notch throughout the game's history, but I'm sure his replacement will be equally talented.

This won't stop the "WoW is dying lööööl!"-crowd though.

How many more people have to forced out of working for Blizz before you actually believe its happening? He didn't even want to leave, it wasn't his choice.

[Lery]

With the success of a “sound de-centralization” initiative, my current position of overall Sr. Audio Director/Composer is no longer relevant and is being eliminated.

To say that in English: My job was outsourced to India or some consulting firm somewhere else in the world.

[StationaryHawk]

A real shame to hear. Brower's music has been a consistent high point of Warcraft. I hope that, whatever this "sound de-centralization" initiative is, it leaves room for him to continue working with Blizzard as a freelancer as he said.

That said, World of Warcraft's music has long been more than just Russell Brower. I look forward to hearing the continued work of all their talented composers, and any others they bring on.

[kaid]

Given his resume I don't think he will have to hard of a challenge to find work for other game companies if he wants to go that route again.

[Jasper Kazai]

I play with sound and music off 98% of the time, but I listen to it for my first pass through an expansion, and it's never been offensive to the ears. Sucks to lose a job for a corporate-speak reason like that after 12 years.

[Eleccybubb]

Music has been top-notch throughout the game's history, but I'm sure his replacement will be equally talented.

This won't stop the "WoW is dying lööööl!"-crowd though.

To be fair every time a dev leaves someone either says "wow is dying" or "another rat fleeing the sinking ship". At this point it's kind of become old and overused.

Especially since people have been saying WoW is dying for the past 11-12 years.

[Velshin]

You started playing in vanilla mainly because of the music? I find this to be quite a sensational exaggeration.

Well I am kinda a guy who consider music as a main thing to pull me in almost everything not only video games. Same goes with tv series, movies, anime, and almost everything.

[Ateo]

His music was incredible but hopefully we can see a more unique take on the music, because when compared to the the earlier expansions latest 3 expansions didn't hold up well.

[Fathr]

Without having done any research, I assume "sound decentralization" means that Blizzard will from now on hire external composers instead of having their own ones. Maybe its for the better, Diablo 3's and SC2 soundtracks left a lot to be desired and WoW's newer soundtracks - while still decent - got more repetitive after Wotlk, which probably is unavoidable if the same people stay in charge of the soundtracks, at some point they run out of fresh ideas.

I agree, its probably a good thing to get some new perspective in.

[Clozer]

yeah music wasnt on point anymore.. I feel sorry for him, but i think some fresh air will do good.

[Twdft]

Well I am kinda a guy who consider music as a main thing to pull me in almost everything not only video games. Same goes with tv series, movies, anime, and almost everything.

Yeah I always liked WoW music but to be honest I'm playing the game way too much to have music on all the time. I play a couple days at the start of a new expansion with music on but after that turn if off.

And to all the guys in here saying things like "Rest in peace WoW's music" I wonder if I had asked you yesterday who was the main music guy if you'd have known his name? Also I'm pretty sure he didn't do it all by himself.

[Rawklobster]

Oh no!!! Not.....wait who is this guy again?
Russel?....oh ya
NOT RUSSEL BOWER!!!! Such a shame the guy who's name I never cared about is becoming a consultant.
Totally tilted my whole day. What a waste

[Deleted]

People seems to forget that WoW isn't the only game under Blizzard's umbrella. That's what “sound de-centralization”, the sound is now done by each game dev team, instead of a centralized team that do all the sound and music. It opens the field for more talent and ideas.

[Seaintothesky]

who cares, i play with no sound

[Eleccybubb]

Oh no!!! Not.....wait who is this guy again?
Russel?....oh ya
NOT RUSSEL BOWER!!!! Such a shame the guy who's name I never cared about is becoming a consultant.
Totally tilted my whole day. What a waste

Why did you bother reading the thread in the first place then?

[-Xerxes-]

Oh no!!! Not.....wait who is this guy again?
Russel?....oh ya
NOT RUSSEL BOWER!!!! Such a shame the guy who's name I never cared about is becoming a consultant.
Totally tilted my whole day. What a waste

You sound like a mindless loser. Sorry for both of you and B.R.'s leave