Blizzard president exits but there's great news for gamers
It's a day of big changes for Blizzard, as Mike Morhaime has announced that he's stepping down from his role as president of the company. Morhaime has been with Blizzard since the beginning, being one of the company's co-founders along with Allen Adham and Frank Pearce. Blizzard has enjoyed a lot of success with Morhaime at the helm, so this can definitely be viewed as the end of an era for the company.
Morhaime won't be leaving the company entirely, as he'll continue to serve as a Blizzard adviser. J. Allen Brack, who previously served as executive producer and senior vice president of World of Warcraft, will be stepping into the role of president of Blizzard, and he's put some big names on his executive team.
In a message to fans penned by Brack and published to Blizzard's website, he says that Ray Gresko has become Blizzard's chief development officer, while Blizzard founder Allen Adham will be joining the executive team as well. Brack notably says that Adham will continue "to oversee development of several new games," in his new role.
Just yesterday, we learned that Diablo is likely going to get at least one big announcement during BlizzCon next month, so one has to wonder if Diablo 4 is one of the titles Adham is currently overseeing. With Adham taking a spot on Blizzard's executive team, it's possible that we could see the company return to franchises that haven't seen a new release in a while – maybe StarCraft 3 or a proper WarCraft strategy game will happen with Adham and Brack at the helm? What's in store is really anyone's guess.
Whatever ends up happening, it'll definitely be interesting to watch. There are likely some surprises in store for BlizzCon 2018, so we'll be keeping the eye on the show to see if Blizzard announces any new games in existing franchises or entirely new IPs. Stay tuned.