Three of Blizzard’s most well-known developers have left in recent months after some secret projects were cancelled. These are the people behind StarCraft II, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm.
The bad news surrounding Blizzard shows no signs of ending even before BlizzCon. Apparently, the game studio has lost three of its key developers who were supposed to be working on new secret projects. The projects were shelved a few months ago, and the developers have left Blizzard.
Blizzard has now confirmed the departure of the three employees to the site Kotaku.
Which three developers are involved? They are:
- Dustin Browder, the former Game Director of Heroes of the Storm and former Lead Designer of StarCraft II
- Eric Dodds, the former Game Director of Hearthstone
- Jason Chayes, the former Product Director of Hearthstone
The three developers were pulled from their original projects in recent years to work on new, secret games.
What secret project was involved? It is not fully clear which games the three were working on. At the beginning of the current year, Blizzard had many secret projects in an early development phase. In May, there were reports, that “Project Ares,” which was reportedly a first-person shooter in the StarCraft universe, was cancelled, along with another unannounced mobile game.
These were apparently the games that the three aforementioned developers were also involved in.
What does Blizzard say about this? The site Kotaku has requested and received a statement from Blizzard. It confirmed that the developers are no longer working at Blizzard. It states:
Yes, Eric, Dustin, and Jason made the decision a few months ago to leave Blizzard behind. They were and will always be seen as members of the Blizzard family, and we loved working with them over the years. We wish them the best for the future.
However, we want to clarify that the development of Blizzard games has always been a collaboration of many talented, long-term employees who continue their good work here.
What do you think of this news? Is this just a normal fluctuation in such a large company? Or is this just another nail in the coffin for “the old Blizzard”?
