Mike Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, resigns

The president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, Mike Morhaime, no longer runs the video game company that he helped create in the '90s. J. Allen Brack, executive producer of World of Warcraft and long-time employee of Blizzard takes office as president.

Morhaime will continue to serve as a consultant, according to a company press release on BusinessWire. Activision Blizzard also tweeted the news a few moments ago. Blizzard also said that co-founder Allend Adham would join the management team and Ray Gresko would be his new development manager. Blizzard's first president, Adham worked on the Diablo, StarCraft and Warcraft franchises.

Blizzard Entertainment is one of the biggest names in video games. World of Warcraft has long been the largest massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the world, and this remains important, as we have seen with the sharp rise in sales caused by the August Azeroth expansion. The Hearthstone Trading Card Game is the market leader in its category. StarCraft has been one of the big players in global sports and Diablo has made role-play a popular genre. Overwatch has become the most popular team shooter of the moment, and the Overwatch league has been carved out a prime spot on the esport market.

Gresko was the production director of Diablo III and also executive director of Overwatch, Blizzard's first new intellectual property in 17 years, when it was announced in 2014. It was born from the ashes of another Blizzard project, Titan, who died. in 2013.

Mike Morhaime leaves Blizzard to succeed J. Allen Brack as President of Blizzard Entertainment.

– Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) October 3, 2018

Both Morhaime and Brack posted messages about the changes made on the Blizzard website.

"When we launched Blizzard, we just wanted to make good games," said Morhaime. "What we understood is that the games we create are actually only a framework for communities and human interaction. Looking back, what we often find in our experiences in games is the most enduring and meaningful, these are the relationships we create and promote. You have given me the inspiration and the willingness to dedicate my heart and my life to what I do. I literally could not have done anything without you. We created these worlds, but you brought them to life, through your passion, your fan art, your cosplay, your videos and so on. "

Activision Blizzard President and CEO Bobby Kotick also took part in the departure and the new leadership.

"J. has been with Blizzard for over 12 years, leading the World of Warcraft the team, and it takes vision, creativity and an unwavering commitment to excellence to support a community of players like J. has been doing for over a decade, "Kotick said in a statement. "J. is an inspiring leader. He has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our community, innovation and creative excellence, and he is keen to ensure that the best of Blizzard culture is protected. "

Decades in the games

Morhaime co-founded Silicon & Synapse with Allen Adham and Frank Pearce in 1991. This company would start working on Interplay projects before launching alone, first as Chaos Studios, before changing its name to Blizzard Entertainment. GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi detailed Blizzard's story in an interview with Morhaime in 2016, at the age of 25.

"I want to thank all the talented and hardworking people at Blizzard for their dedication, creativity and passion. It was a privilege to lead this team. I am also very grateful to the community of Blizzard players for their support, "Morhaime said in a statement.

It's Warcraft that has made Blizzard what it is today. The first real-time strategy game appeared in 1994 under the name of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. The studio would release Warcraft II in 1995 and Warcraft III in 2002, and it is this series that served as the basis for World of Warcraft, a popular MMO that South Park dedicated an infamous episode in 2006, working with the Blizzard staff on the cartoon. The franchise spawned a Hollywood blockbuster in 2016 that, while generating more than $ 400 million worldwide, was a disappointment. League of Legends and Dota II, the leading online multiplayer battle arena games, are from the influential defender of Warcraft III, Def of the Ancients.

Blizzard plunged into dungeons with Diablo in 1996, disrupting the morbid role-playing game market with a combination of loot, fast-paced combat, and randomly generated levels. This spawned a genre that remains innovative and dynamic, and the studio created two other Diablo games in 2000 and 2012.

StarCraft propelled Warcraft's RTS fight into the realm of science fiction, creating a global phenomenon. It has attracted a large audience in South Korea, where some have called it a national hobby. He has also played a decisive role in the development of the esport and for years he has been one of the big names of the competitive game. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released in 2012 and did not have the same impact as its predecessor.

But Morhaime is one of those successes and, while still a consultant, it will be interesting to see what happens at Blizzard and what influential games will come out of the Anaheim-based studio in the future.