Rob Pardo Leaving Blizzard Entertainment

[chaud]

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Rob Pardo Leaving Blizzard Entertainment

Every ending is a beginning and today marks a new beginning for me.

After 17 years at Blizzard, with long and careful contemplation, I have made a difficult and bittersweet but ultimately exciting decision to pursue the next chapter in my life and career.

Before I even joined Blizzard, I was already a huge fan of the company and its games. In particular, I was extremely passionate about the emerging genre of real-time strategy games. It was a dream come true when I was given the opportunity to work on StarCraft, which at the time was being created by a very small team by today’s standards. It was tremendously fulfilling to get to know everyone on the team personally and to contribute our energies toward a shared goal in such a creative and engaging environment.

Blizzard Entertainment has been simply the best place in the world to be a game designer. The best aspect of designing games at Blizzard is that the entire company is passionate about the gameplay within each and every product. From the executive team to customer service to our global offices, every single person is a player and contributes to making the best possible games. It’s for very good reason that the first credit on every Blizzard game is “Game Design by Blizzard Entertainment.”

I’m really proud of the contributions I was able to make to Blizzard’s accomplishments. From building lasting games, to supporting the growth of eSports, to extending the Warcraft world into a feature film, and of course to being able to celebrate our shared passions with the Blizzard community online and at BlizzCon.

The Blizzard community is ultimately the reason why we come to work every day and pour our souls into every world and experience we create. Blizzard’s players are the most passionate in the world and your commitment and dedication are truly awesome to behold. Creating entertainment for you has been an incredible opportunity, and I know that you will continue to grow and become even stronger as a community over the years to come. It has been so meaningful on a personal level to help create joy for all of you.

I’m looking forward to new challenges in my career, but I will always cherish the time I spent with you all and the amazing and collaborative teams at Blizzard. It was both satisfying and humbling, and it made me a better developer and a better person. I look forward to playing Blizzard games as a player for many years to come. Most important, now I have plenty of time to learn how to build a competitive Hearthstone deck.

As to what I will be doing next, I don’t have an answer for you yet . . . but I will “when it’s ready.” My priorities are to enjoy the summer with my family, play plenty of games, and think about what’s next. The game industry is such an exciting place right now with PC gaming thriving, the new consoles, mobile games, and virtual reality becoming an actual reality. It’s like having an empty quest log and going into a new zone for the first time.

In the past, I haven’t been the most avid Twitter user, but I’ll strive to do better and keep you updated there—@Rob_Pardo. Please stay in touch!

Rob

[Bubblykiss]

So this was unforeseen to say the least.

Big changes around blizz.

This leaves a lot of questions.

But, to Rob, good luck and enjoy

[Ralufar]

Something is up at Blizzard...

[Infernix]

Well....bye.

[Abstieg]

On one hand, everyone gets tired after a long time in one place, on the other, he's a damn big name to lose.

[Nerraw]

This is sad to see.

[Deleted]

Good luck Rob !

[Infernix]

Heads are rolling!

[Exotath]

17 yrs is a long times. Been playing the game almost since its inception... this is honestly the first I have heard of him. =X

[Varchuti]

inb4 Riot RobbyP

[Danshot]

later rob, thanks for the memories

[Sodia]

So now we know why EU lags so much!!

[Infernix]

Yep, that sure is the only possible reason >_>

He was straight up fired. He's not leaving for another job.

[Grishnok]

Good luck Rob.

I see that a pattern is happening here. The same pattern that happened when Blizzard North had disagreements with how decisions were being made from the higher ups and a huge amount of extremely good developers left Blizzard. IE the developers of Diablo 1/2 and many of the vanilla starcraft and wow developers couldnt take it anymore. Greg street has bailed now as well as Rob. Things are getting worse and worse and less like a company that cares about their consumers and games and more about their profits. Im sure we can thank Bobby K for that.

[Herecius]

The mention of virtual reality makes me wonder if more big names are going to come aboard the SS Oculus Rift... very curious to see where he goes in the industry, maybe he'll even start up his own company? Who knows.

[Master Guns]

What exactly did he do at Blizzard?

[twelvethirty]

Good riddance. Blizzard cleaning house.

[Deleted]

Bad goy, he tried hard to cure cancer from the community but he doesn't understand cancer is what keeps the money coming.

[Tzalix]

He was straight up fired. He's not leaving for another job.

Doubt it. Any workplace can get boring after 17 years.

[Deleted]

I can't say I'm a big fan of him after his sexist comments but it is kind of worrisome to lose such an big name. Meh.