Ghostcrawler to leave Blizzard Entertainment
Ghostcrawler announced this morning on Facebook that he will be leaving Blizzard Entertainment to pursue a "great opportunity for something new and exciting". I don't usually share my opinions in news post, so there's a tweet with my full thoughts on the subject.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Ghostcrawler to leave Blizzard Entertainment started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 1096 Comments
  1. Barnabas's Avatar
    I saw this coming at blizzcon when they announced all that shuffling of people for different games. GC was around for the rise and the fall of wow in popularity. I don't really have any complaints about his contributions towards game design for the past 6 years. WoW is pretty fun game despite some things people don't like. I wish him luck in his new project.
  1. Kaleredar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by blehmeh View Post

    Besides, a 40% sub loss is not a "shallow reason", you need to grasp the amount of income that is.
    This underlies the entirety of your post; that the 40% sub loss is tied to his design decisions and subsequently why he was 'let go.' Seeing as he, in your view, seems to be getting the axe, the only logical pinning to your argument is that Blizzard feels it's therefore his fault... something I don't think they'd be so shortsighted as to believe.
  1. mystery8's Avatar
    What I couldn't believe is that he plays a Holy Priest? The man goes out there and takes all kind of fire from everybody. I thought he'd have been a frakkin' Tank.
  1. Mormolyce's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Torais View Post
    To be fair, the issue of stock is pretty much completely irrelevant when it comes to this topic. WoW is not Blizzard-Activision and even Blizzard itself is not Blizzard-Activision. Stock prices are a reflection of a company's worth as a whole, not just one game out of a line-up of many.

    Also comparing stock prices during the lifetime of WoW is especially foolish. Activision and Blizzard didn't even merge until half way through the timeline of the game which made massive differences all around.
    He said he'd be mad if he'd had $10mil invested in Blizzard (meaning A-B these days), I showed him how it would perform if he had.

    He brought up stock not me

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by The Penguin View Post
    Speaking from a business standpoint:

    Xanzul's trolling finally caught up to him. Janefreedland, Meiyun, and many, many, others say hello along with all the others you wrongfully banned from the WoW forums for voicing honest complaints over CRZ and other design visions. See what being "Bullish" gets you now? Do you understand finally why we were so against it? Why we warned you that after the mess of Cataclysm only 1 more mistake would be tolerated by your employers? We weren't trolling you. We were trying to help you.


    To the new Dev:

    Can we have that polished turd called CRZ removed now?
    Never ceases to amaze me how myopic some people can be that they think their one gripe with some part of the game influences whether GC gets fired or not (or in this case, accepts a new job lol). Or how deluded they are that they think another dev will agree with them and remove a feature a lot of people like, and is for the best for the game's future anyway.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by The Penguin View Post
    In Activision things rarely go that way. Firing someone is a complicated affair in California.

    I suspect there was a acceptance that resignation would occur within X Hours however. Point remains though.
    Remove CRZ now that Coalesced Realms exist and you will easily see a major uptick of subs.
    WTF? Coalesced Realms are the other half of CRZ. CRZ shares the realms outdoors, CR shares them in major cities, AHs and raids. Both of them together are the solution aimed at low pop realms. And helps fill in abandoned zones as a bonus.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by zolok2.0 View Post
    YES. We used to imagine this day with a great yearning, and it is finally upon us. Oh sweet, sweet, victory
    The victory where GC leaves for a better job of his own accord?

    Quote Originally Posted by Razorice View Post
    You people make me sick.
    Yeah that.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by mystery8 View Post
    What I couldn't believe is that he plays a Holy Priest? The man goes out there and takes all kind of fire from everybody. I thought he'd have been a frakkin' Tank.
    LOL. I do remember him talking about his prot warrior once, he played multiple toons. Apparently holy priest was his main though, what an awesome twist! Best part.
  1. blehmeh's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    This underlies the entirety of your post; that the 40% sub loss is tied to his design decisions and subsequently why he was 'let go.' Seeing as he, in your view, seems to be getting the axe, the only logical pinning to your argument is that Blizzard feels it's therefore his fault... something I don't think they'd be so shortsighted as to believe.
    I really think you need to read my posts with unbiased eyes.

    You seem to be saying that its just not possible to be fired because of this reason.

    I'm saying people have been fired for WAY LESS, and have had to publicly say they left.

    The main point I'm trying to make is that its POSSIBLE, and stated why I believe that. And the second point I'm trying to make is that the development process will change as a result of him no longer working there, as this has been proven multiple times in the past.

    Okay? So please stop trying to inject your perception of other peoples opinions into my posts. Thanks.
  1. The Penguin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    Based on your intimate knowledge of the situation and Blizzard's inner workings. I'm so very sure...

    Maybe GC found a job that paid more and didn't require him tweeting all day with vindictive pricks. I'd be more inclined to take that job too.

    This may sound completely shocking, but I don't care what you think; nor do I feel like risking my identity by proving to you why I am so certain of this being the case. So! I'll simply repeat that in Activision things rarely go that way. The whole idea of a scenario like the Jetsons where Mr. Spacely just bellows out "JETSON! YOUR FIRED!" Does not happen. Why? Firing someone is a complicated affair in California.

    If I had to guess for a reason? I'd analogy it to say the Simpsons where Krusty the Clown, finally shows up at Camp Krusty and is like. "WHA!?"
  1. Drutt's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by blehmeh View Post
    First of all, if you really believe he simply just "left" his position of lead game designer of literally the most popular and successful MMO of all time, you're an idiot. It may sound harsh, but you have to look at the reality of big business.
    This is a silly thing to say. It doesn't matter how big your current employer is, if you get a better offer elsewhere, you take it.

    I moved from the largest employer in my state to a small company with 1% of the number of employees recently. I'm significantly better off for it, in every possible way.

    Blizzard being successful in their market has nothing to do with GC's personal career trajectory. If he got a better offer elsewhere, he'd have been insane to turn it down.

    I'm sure the vindictive part of the community would love nothing more than for him to have been removed from his position, but the fact is he probably got a higher paying position elsewhere and good luck to him with that.

    Honestly, the conspiracy theories...incredible.
  1. Kaleredar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by The Penguin View Post
    This may sound completely shocking, but I don't care what you think; nor do I feel like risking my identity by proving to you why I am so certain of this being the case. So! I'll simply repeat that in Activision things rarely go that way. The whole idea of a scenario like the Jetsons where Mr. Spacely just bellows out "JETSON! YOUR FIRED!" Does not happen. Why? Firing someone is a complicated affair in California.

    If I had to guess for a reason? I'd analogy it to say the Simpsons where Krusty the Clown, finally shows up at Camp Krusty and is like. "WHA!?"
    So you're claiming something with absolutely no proof and saying we should believe you for it.


    Yeeeahhh not going to happen.


    I was once accused of 'working for Blizzard' by someone on this forum, does that give my posts authority?
  1. Celista's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by The Penguin View Post
    Why? Firing someone is a complicated affair in California.
    Firing someone in California and most other states is actually rather straightforward due to at-will employment laws. What is often complicated, however, is the nature of employment contracts, particularly for high-level corporate positions, which typically have stipulations that supercede at-will laws.
  1. The One Percent's Avatar
    Who will you all scapegoat now?
  1. blehmeh's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Drutt View Post
    This is a silly thing to say. It doesn't matter how big your current employer is, if you get a better offer elsewhere, you take it.

    I moved from the largest employer in my state to a small company with 1% of the number of employees recently. I'm significantly better off for it, in every possible way.

    Blizzard being successful in their market has nothing to do with GC's personal career trajectory. If he got a better offer elsewhere, he'd have been insane to turn it down.

    I'm sure the vindictive part of the community would love nothing more than for him to have been removed from his position, but the fact is he probably got a higher paying position elsewhere and good luck to him with that.

    Honestly, the conspiracy theories...incredible.
    You really think theres a better offer then lead developer (top position) at blizzard (company that breaks sales records every release/expansion) for WoW (most popular MMO/highest grossing game ever)? That's just not possible, sorry.

    You say conspiracy therory, but look at Jeff Gerstmann. They did the exact same thing to him for a REVIEW of a game. Theres no conspiracy here, its straight fact, look it up. I'm simply stating its a possibility, and my belief why I think that is, you just have to use your brain to see how easily it could happen (because it happens all the time).
  1. Mormolyce's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by blehmeh View Post
    You really think theres a better offer then lead developer (top position) at blizzard (company that breaks sales records every release/expansion) for WoW (most popular MMO/highest grossing game ever)? That's just not possible, sorry.
    Um yes of course there are.

    Anyway, define "better". There's a lot of reasons to leave a job. Just branching out and doing something fresh after working on the same project for 5 years is one.

    WoW devs are in kind of a unique position, closest thing the industry has to a regular gig. Most studios crank out new games every year or so, they don't nurse 3 franchises for decades.
  1. Kaleredar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by SourceOfInfection View Post
    Who will you all scapegoat now?
    Whatever poor soul takes his place.

    Honestly, what they should do is just have the team without any designated public "lead," and have all posts come from generic "Blizzard" blue posts.
  1. Paulosio's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by darkvexen View Post
    can we get 40 man raids back now?
    Yep lets make raids that most of the player base wont be able to run on their PC's (including probably you) and that the game itself probably couldn't handle.

    Have you heard how much the game lags for people in 25 player guilds on some fights ? I'm talking about actual input game lag rather than something to do with people's computers.

    It was ok in some of those old raids with incredibly low detail instances and stuff.. but different with what blizz are producing nowadays. Higher resolution character models will make this more of a problem in future too.
  1. blehmeh's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    Um yes of course there are.

    Anyway, define "better". There's a lot of reasons to leave a job. Just branching out and doing something fresh after working on the same project for 5 years is one.

    WoW devs are in kind of a unique position, closest thing the industry has to a regular gig. Most studios crank out new games every year or so, they don't nurse 3 franchises for decades.
    "Better" imply's more stable, higher paying, more freedom/control. Those things.

    He is literally the creme of the crop, in terms of development positions. There is no way to get a "better" job then that.

    Sure its possible that he just wanted a change of pace, just as its possible to win the lottery, or get struck by lightning.

    I just find it hilariously ironic that the same people saying "oh conspiracy theory lol!" to me and people who share the same opinion as me, are the same people claiming that he found a "better offer". There's more evidence to support my theory then yours.
  1. Ethyrian's Avatar
    I have absolutely nothing against Ghostcrawler at all. I think he's done a pretty good job over the years and he seems like a swell guy. That said I'm really excited to see who replaces him. New face, new ideas, new direction. Shake it up alittle bit
  1. The Penguin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    So you're claiming something with absolutely no proof and saying we should believe you for it.


    Yeeeahhh not going to happen.
    I do not recall saying you had to believe a single word I said.

    But I will say it nonetheless because it is my opinion, and as valid as your own. Funny how that works, eh?
  1. Gamevizier's Avatar
    ... does that mean he's going to post in MMO-champ from now on? :3
  1. zoomgpally's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by xenogear3 View Post
    WoW lost 5 million subs because of him.
    Now he jumps out of the ship.

    Sinking fast.
    Because of him?

    Prove it or stop throwing accusations around
  1. mmocb78b025c1c's Avatar
    people that blame everything on one person are kinda naive, sure the game got worse, but it's not the fault of ONE man, it's the fault of an entire team, luckily the old devs are back now, so WoD might actually be a great expansion

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