After 27 years at the top of Blizzard, Mike Morhaime is stepping down. The former WoW Production Director J. Allen Brack is taking over. One of the fathers of World of Warcraft is returning to develop new games.
This is Mike Morhaime: Morhaime co-founded Blizzard in 1991. Back then, it was called “Silicon & Synapse.” He has been actively involved in a leadership role at Blizzard for 27 years. He has worked on many classic titles from Blizzard as a designer or producer. Morhaime was involved in these titles:
- Lost Vikings
- All three Warcraft titles
- Diablo 1 and Diablo 2
- Starcraft
- and World of Warcraft
He is also the bass player for Blizzard’s house band, the Elite Tauren Chieftain.
Morhaime was explicitly praised in anonymous employee reviews. 96% of employees (as of June 2018) who provided a review were convinced by Morhaime and fully supported his leadership.
What Morhaime says: He says (via Blizzard) that he has decided that after 27 years, it is time to let someone else take the wheel. He is thankful to the employees at Blizzard for their passion and creativity. And to the community that has gone through so much with Blizzard.
At Blizzard, they always wanted to make “great games.” Later, they realized that they were actually just creating the framework for people to connect with each other.
What is Morhaime doing now? He will serve as a strategic advisor to Blizzard.
He takes over: J. Allen Brack takes over the position from Morhaime. He has been with Blizzard for 12 years and has led the World of Warcraft team. Brack thanks Morhaime for everything he has accomplished. He says he sees it as an honor and responsibility to be chosen to lead Blizzard now.
Brack is still remembered by many WoW fans for a statement about WoW Classic.
Support from veterans: With Ray Gresko and Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham, two veterans are joining the Blizzard leadership team.
- Ray Gresko has been at Blizzard for 10 years and has worked on Diablo 3 and Overwatch – he is now Chief Development Officer
- Allen Adham is one of the original Blizzard founders and was the lead designer of World of Warcraft. He will oversee the development of “multiple new titles.” Adham was actually retired since 2004.
What are these new games? No new game has been confirmed yet. Currently, speculation includes:
Perhaps we will finally learn more at Blizzcon 2018.
Two years ago, Chris Metzen left Blizzard:
