Co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment Frank Pearce has announced he will be leaving the company. Pearce is the second co-founder to leave in recent history, with former Blizzard President Mike Moriame deciding to announce his resignation in late 2018. J. Allen Brack, who has since filled Moriame’s role as president, published his own statement, saying that while Pearce spent most of his time at Blizzard working behind-the-scenes, he played a vital role in turning the company into what it’s become today:

Pearce, alongside Moriame and Allen Adham, founded the company under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. before rebranding to Blizzard Entertainment in 1994. The company is best known for its Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft series as well as one of the most successful MMOs ever in World of Warcraft.

The past year, however, has seen a drastic change in the company’s vision, and it has impacted its workforce on a global scale. As a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company endured massive layoffs of nearly 800 employees despite posting a record year 0f revenue for 2018. Part of the decision to make these layoffs was based on an expected drop in revenue for the current fiscal year, as Activision and Bungie have recently ended their partnership, and the company has a notable lack of any new game releases planned for 2019.

Another speed bump in Blizzard’s rocky road runs through Blizzcon 2018, when the announcement of the mobile-exclusive Diablo Immortal was met with harsh feedback from fans. It doesn’t appear this backlash will hamper the company’s vision however, as all of Blizzard’s existing IP will likely come to mobile in the future due to the wide popularity of Hearthstone over the past few years.

It’s clear Blizzard Entertainment is not the same company it used to be, and it will likely endure struggles on various fronts for a while. Currently, the company’s esports division is reportedly running into trouble, as a result of the aforementioned layoffs and mismanagement by leadership. This has caused many working for Activision Blizzard esports to leave due to low morale. While it’s true people will always come and go in the workplace, the close proximity in which Pearce and Moriame have decided to leave the company says a lot about the changes occurring at Blizzard.

Source: GameSpot

title: “Blizzard Co Founder Is Leaving The Company” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-05” author: “Robert Banks”

In a post published to the official Blizzard website this week, Morhaime explains that he has “decided it’s time for someone else to lead Blizzard Entertainment.” Morhaime doesn’t go into details about what made him come to this decision exactly, but the departing executive does say that he is grateful to both the “hardworking and talented people” at Blizzard as well as the fans in the community. Moreover, Morhaime confirms that he will maintain a role as an advisor to the company.

Taking Morhaime’s place at the top will be J. Allen Brack who has been at Blizzard for 12 years and has been the executive producer of World of Warcraft. Morhaime describes Brack as his " friend, colleague, [and] trusted advisor" and also praises his “unwavering commitment” to Blizzard’s community as well as his leadership and his commitment to quality. Brack, meanwhile, calls it “a huge honor, and a tremendous responsibility” to be given the role as Blizzard CEO.

Brack will be responsible for steering the company as it prepares to release new games. Last year, Morhaime revealed that Blizzard is working on multiple new IPs. The then-Blizzard boss also revealed that the studio is in a good position to “incubate” new projects. Brack also alluded to these projects in his statement, confirming that Blizzard founder and World of Warcraft lead designer Allen Adham would join the executive team while “continuing to oversee development of several new games.”

Given that Overwatch was Blizzard’s first new IP in 17 years, it’s being seen as a big deal that Blizzard now has multiple new IPs in the oven. Brack could potentially find himself in charge of some massive new franchises, once these secretive games are released.

As mentioned, there’s also the matter of BlizzCon. This week, Blizzard also unveiled its schedule for the hotly anticipated games convention, leading to wild speculation that a new Diablo game is going to be announced. Nothing is for certain but it means that for the next few months at least, the new Blizzard Entertainment boss will have a lot on his plate.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment