Hey guys, if interested, check out this new documentary about Blizzard (on the core people they’ve lost)
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I skim-watched it.
I’ve always been two minds about this.
On one hand I’m very fast to idolize the Blizzard developers, because I love the products they make. And therefore I’m also incredibly sad whenever some of them leave the company.
On the other hand I also feel like Blizzard is a company with a strong culture. So it never feels like it’s any single individual who is the reason for a game’s success – it’s the combined effort of everyone. On top of that, then Blizzard are really good at acquiring new people and growing their talent.
And on the third hand (yes I have many hands), then there’s also the fact that Blizzard is a very old company by now, and those oldschool developers we love are starting to get very…old.
Whether we want it or not, then all of us who’ve grown up with gaming in the 90’s will have to come to terms with the fact that most of our developer heroes will be retiring within the next 5-10-15 years. They can’t work forever.
And on the fourth hand, it’s also just about respecting the fact that people choose their own paths in life, and regardless of how much I want all my favorite developers to stay with Blizzard forever and ever, then it’s entirely their right to pursue their own dreams – even if they exist outside Blizzard, in the form of a new company, another company, or beyond the gaming industry entirely.
That’s how it is in any job. Losing good colleagues sucks, period. But you have to respect people’s choices to pursue whatever they want in life.
Overall I think Blizzard are fine as far as developer talent goes. In fact, as much as it pains me to say it, I think it’s healthy that some of their senior developers leave every now and then, because it creates room in the company for new talented people to grow into new roles. That’s generally a healthy dynamic.
And finally, there’s also the flipside; the fact that ex-Blizzard guys sometimes return to the company again. Like when Allen Adham – the original founder and President of Silicon & Synapse – came back to the company. That was amazing and something people tend to overlook a bit in this doom & gloom narrative that’s generally going on.
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Cheers for your thoughts Jito and I completley agree. Not one to join in the depressing narrative but the documentary is sort of a praise to the old guys and seeks out new hope for the remaining ones (Allen Adham is mention in that regard too). On the topic of new vs old, I think he made a strong point on Ed Boon and the Mortal Kombat series. Just felt it had a good message in regards to retaining passionate people.
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