Mike Ybarra has also left Blizzard and Blizzard's survival game has been cancelled.
"Alongside the layoffs, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has decided to leave the company. “As many of you know, Mike previously spent more than 20 years at Microsoft. Now that he has seen the acquisition through as Blizzard’s president, he has decided to leave the company,” says Microsoft’s game content and studios president Matt Booty in an internal memo.
Microsoft plans to name a new Blizzard president next week. Allen Adham, Blizzard’s chief design officer, is also leaving the company. “As one of Blizzard’s cofounders, Allen has had a broad impact on all of Blizzard’s games. His influence will be felt for years to come, both directly and indirectly as Allen plans to continue mentoring young designers across the industry,” says Booty.
Blizzard’s previously announced survival game has also been canceled as part of these changes. Booty says Microsoft will be “shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.”
