Blizzard is not calming down. Already buffeted by lawsuits and personnel changes, the next departure from the management floor is due – after just a few months.
That comes as a surprise. Jen Oneal, who was to form the new management duo of Blizzard alongside Mike Ybarra in August, has announced her resignation and will leave the company again at the end of the year. Oneal took the position in August following the departure of former boss Allen Brack, who left the company as part of the California State lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.
In your opinion it is said that the departure is not due to the current state of Activ ision Blizzard, but wants to focus more on games and diversity in the hope that both Blizzard and other studios will benefit from it.
“I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite–I’m inspired by the passion of everyone here, working towards meaningful, lasting change with their whole hearts. This energy has inspired me to step out and explore how I can do more to have games and diversity intersect, and hopefully make a broader industry impact that will benefit Blizzard (and other studios) as well. While I am not totally sure what form that will take, I am excited to embark on a new journey to find out.”
It is interesting, however, that she does not seem to have any specific ideas about how this should be done. Mike Ybarra will take over the sole management of Blizzard for the time being and certainly has enough to worry about. The lawsuit in California is still ongoing, the studio is facing a lot of renovations and the whole unrest is having a clear impact, for example in the form of the cancellation of the next BlizzCon and the postponement of Diablo IV and Overwatch 2, which was announced yesterday.
In a new video, Blizzard introduces the Slayer character class from Diablo IV in detail.
