Diablo IV Director, Lead Designer and WoW Senior Designer No Longer at Activision Blizzard - News

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Three high profile employees at Activision Blizzard have been let go, according to a statement released to Kotaku. 

The three people let go includes Diablo IV game director Luis Barriga, lead designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft senior designer Jonathan LeCraft.

"We can confirm Luis Barriga, Jesse McCree, and Jonathan LeCraft are no longer with the company," said a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard. 

"We have a deep, talented roster of developers already in place and new leaders have been assigned where appropriate. We are confident in our ability to continue progress, deliver amazing experiences to our players, and move forward to ensure a safe, productive work environment for all."

Activision Blizzard did not provide a reason for why the three employees were fired, however, the company is in the middle of a lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing over sexual harassment and discrimination at the company.

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack has since stepped down and Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra will co-lead Blizzard moving forward. 

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick during the company's earnings call earlier this month said any kind of discrimination, harassment or unequal treatment will not be tolerated at the gaming giant. 

"I want to start by making it clear to everyone that there is no place at our company where discrimination, harassment or unequal treatment of any kind will be tolerated," Kotick said.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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23 Comments

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LivncA_Dis3 (on 12 August 2021)

the culling begins! arthas style in activision blizzard hahaha!

• +11

KurigoYT (on 12 August 2021)

What, didn't he had a phone ?

• 0

Dulfite KurigoYT (on 12 August 2021)

He probably did had a work phone. But he no had work phone now.

• +7

Azzanation (on 13 August 2021)

R.I.P Blizzard and the quality games they made. I doubt they will ever recover from this.

• -3

billyboy Azzanation (on 14 August 2021)

Not sure why this got so down voted. Blizzard has been sliding in quality from years and the lose of someone so senior is a big negative for them. After all a software development company is the IP built by a strong team. When the tam is gone you just have the IP left for some new untrained team to come and trash on who don't understand what made it great like the original creators.

• +1

Azzanation billyboy (on 15 August 2021)

Its unfortunate of whats happen. As long as People accept that while we cast judgment on Blizzard and fix the culture. We are also destroying the company at the same time. I dont expect anything big from Blizzard moving forward, nothing of the quality they dished out in the past.

As for the downvotes, you have to ignore them on this site. Haters gonna hate.

• 0

KLAMarine (on 12 August 2021)

Here's hoping they can find employment promptly.

• -17

KLAMarine KLAMarine (on 12 August 2021)

What's with the downvotes?

• -2

Kakadu18 KLAMarine (on 12 August 2021)

What do you think they were fired for?

• +4

KLAMarine Kakadu18 (on 13 August 2021)

I don't know, the article states no reason was provided.

• -2

Kakadu18 KLAMarine (on 13 August 2021)

Ok, let me walk you through it.
Activision Blizzard got sued, you know why. The leadership denied it all, so many employees protested. Then the leadership started acting. This is whathey did.
It's very likely that these fired employees took part in the sexual harassment.

• 0

KLAMarine Kakadu18 (on 13 August 2021)

Very likely is no guarantee.

• -2

Kakadu18 KLAMarine (on 13 August 2021)

I don't see any other logical reasoning for kicking out three of their most important developers, all at once.

• 0

KLAMarine Kakadu18 (on 13 August 2021)

From this article: "We have a deep, talented roster of developers already in place"

They might not have been that important. Their removal might have been an excellent chance to elevate others at the workplace.

• -1

pokoko KLAMarine (on 13 August 2021)

There is nothing you can do. The internet hive-mind has already made its judgements. Condemn first, maybe worry about the details later.

• -4

JRPGfan (on 12 August 2021)

So this guy was a jerk towards female workers and got fired for it? Probably said something he shouldn't to them... and now hes fired. Still where does this end? Diablo 4, actually looks good (compaired to D3). If you keep fireing people that make good games...... quality of said games will drop, wont it?

• -21

Dulfite JRPGfan (on 12 August 2021)

Would you rather have better games or for working climate/culture to improve across all industries? I'd take a pleasant boss and non-gossiping/backstabbing coworkers, along with a non-crunch culture job over playing video games any day of the week.

• +22

JRPGfan Dulfite (on 12 August 2021)

I dont work there. So I dont care about their work enviroment tbh. What I care about it just the quality of the game. If people at the top, make good looking games, I dont want to see them fired. * He was a game designer, back when WoW was good (before it dropped off), and he joined as a system designer, when Diablo III was starting to get improved. He has a solid track record imo. Ei. He appears to do good at his job.

• -25

SanAndreasX JRPGfan (on 13 August 2021)

If a worker cannot conduct himself in an appropriate manner at the workplace, he doesn’t need to be there. He needs to be wrapping Whoppers and scooping French fries until he decides to behave like a decent human being. If a member of leadership fails to maintain a safe working environment for his employees, he is not good at his job, because that is one of the primary duties of any supervisor.

• +2

JRPGfan Dulfite (on 12 August 2021)

Basically Im worried this hurts Diablo IV.... and as a result, its not gonna be as good as it could have been.

• -22

Dulfite JRPGfan (on 12 August 2021)

Basically I'm more concerned about people's wellbeing while they work than I am the quality of the product they create.

• +22

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Jumpin JRPGfan (on 14 August 2021)

Whoever said these abusive guys were responsible making good games? They could have just as easily been the ones holding it back given they don’t sound very professional or good people to work with.

• +5