Yes, it actually is. You are choosing to make it into something much more than that.
Many games do not. Change is inevitable. Especially within the gaming industry.
You are over dramatic and we do not know that he had such influence over the entire company. He is one developer on one game. This is not a family gathering, it is a company under a corporate umbrella. Everything changes and we all move forward.
One individual is not “en masse.”
I can see you do not understand the turnover rate within the gaming industry. He was with Blizzard for nearly twenty years. Many do not last nearly that long.
People have to realize that there was a huge shift in bosses and maybe a lot more micromanagement going on with these franchises.
Back years ago - blizz kind of did their own thing from what I understand - even under the vivendi umbrella.
It doesn’t appear that way anymore with activision. Their influence is on every single game it’s obvious. I’m guessing that didn’t sit well with the original folks there - which is why morhaime and company have left/are leaving.
This is obviously all speculation from all of us. But I think there’s up top problems if you know what I mean
Okay yeah, this one hits pretty hard. I’ve loved Jeff from WoW to OW, his actual passion to the games he worked on was a breath of fresh air. Yes, OW is definitely struggling right now, but it still hits hard to see him leaving.
Of course I wish him the best in whatever path he pursues, and the guy taking over is just as passionate and not a bad choice. But…Jeff was a special part of the game, and I will sincerely miss him.
If you watch old Blizzcons and Q&A’s where Jeff is speaking about WoW, you can feel a real passion behind his words. You could tell he really cared about game design.
I don’t know how long it’s been since a similar passion has been on stage with WoW announcements. Even the best ones in recent memory are just a step above reading lines straight off the teleprompter.
To be fair, I don’t think people are being overly dramatic. Jeff left a statement, and it seems he knew people would be saddened by his departure given the uplifting tone of the message he left.
I don’t think it’ll mean the end of Blizz or anything like that, but I do think Jeff was really well liked and people are of course going to be upset he’s going.
Either way, I’m wishing him well. Dude has been chill.
My friend they’re bleeding developers. Jeff is just another in a long time developers that have left in the last 6 months. Something is going on in the company. I think Act-Blizz is going full mobile games.
I’m sure they did as well. I’m always curious about these kinds of insider information. But I’m half open to the idea that it was an already planned retirement and Aaron Keller as his replacement was possibly something a few years in the works.
Bleeding?
Dude, they literally had a few devs leave that have been there for over 18 years which is more than most devs survive with a company and one who got pissy about the direction of the game which again, is not ‘bleeding’ in what you perceive it as.
He was just a guy playing Everquest who had a lot of critiques about the game. His fellow guildie in EQ just happened to be Rob Pardo - then one of the senior execs at Blizzard - and he hired him to work on WoW even though Kaplan had no experience.
It’s not a few developers. They’ve lost a ton of long time developers over the last year. Keep simping for this company. The joke is going to be on you lol.
Don’t worry, the rebranding back to just Activision will happen soon enough. It’ll be like Battlefield…stop, think, who produces Battlefield? Bet you thought “EA” first…then went to look up to find out or remembered DICE produces it.
