Blizzard CCO Rob Pardo is leaving the company

[Shawn Knight]

Blizzard Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer, Rob Pardo, recently revealed he is leaving the company. The 17-year veteran played a role in nearly every major release from Blizzard over the past decade and a half, notably serving as lead designer on the original World of Warcraft and even helping to shape the Diablo franchise.

In a forum post on Battle.net, Pardo said he made the difficult and bittersweet decision to leave Blizzard to pursue the next chapter in his life and career. He was a big fan of the company even before being hired and it was a dream come true when he got to work on StarCraft.

Pardo added that he is proud of the contributions he was able to make, from building lasting games to supporting the growth of eSports and extending the Warcraft world into a feature film.

As for what comes next, Pardo said he doesn't yet have an answer to that question. For now, his priorities are to enjoy the summer with his family, play plenty of games and think about what's next. With so many new consoles, mobile games, the thriving PC games market and the advent of virtual reality, there's no shortage of possibilities and opportunities.

Pardo was the first to admit that he hasn't been super active on Twitter but promised to do better and keep everyone updated there. Those interested in following him can do so at @Rob_Pardo.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/57323-blizzard-cco-rob-pardo-is-leaving-the-company.html

 

[Bannhammer]

There probably isn't much left in Blizzard these days, the last couple Warcraft expansions and D3 were both terrible. I was really disappointed with SC2 too, honestly it's been years since blizzard has released anything worthwhile.

 

[misor]

he made the difficult and bittersweet decision to leave Blizzard to pursue the next chapter in his life and career.

next week, apple (or valve) announces pardo joining the team as new lead developer of project GameX.

 

[TomSEA]

Heh...why do anything? He has to be worth at least tens of millions of dollars if not an outright billionaire. I'd take the rest of life off if I were him.

 

[wastedkill]

Oh so this guy is to blame for cataclysm and pandaria then the now "oh crap we Ffed up big time in WoD we gotta put it back to non stupid levels like wotlk's!!!!" Thank god he's going....

 

[loading]

Oh so this guy is to blame for cataclysm and pandaria then the now "oh crap we Ffed up big time in WoD we gotta put it back to non stupid levels like wotlk's!!!!" Thank god he's going....

To be fair, Pardo was the one that help create Warcraft III (great game), the vanilla WoW experience and then the first expansion The Burning Crusade (both also great in their time). As well as helped create The Brood War expansion for Starcraft. He was also part of the development team that worked on Diablo 2 back with Blizzard North.

Sure Blizzard has started slipping downhill lately, but to discredit Pardo is a bit asinine.

I hope Pardo lands in a place where he can be his creative self again and without Activision pulling any strings.