Blizzard Entertainment’s Rob Pardo Departs After 17 Years

Rob Pardo, the chief creative officer at Blizzard Entertainment and one of the lead minds behind World of Warcraft has announced his departure from the company today. 

In an open letter to the community, Pardo wrote, "After 17 years at Blizzard, with long and careful contemplation, I have made a difficult and bittersweet but ultimately exciting decision to pursue the next chapter in my life and career," Pardo wrote in a farewell message.

Pardo was hired by Blizzard in 1997 after spending a brief period of time at Interplay. His lead design credits include World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, StarCraft, Warcraft 3, and its expansion pack The Frozen Throne. At the height of his career, Pardo was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. He even appeared in animated form in the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft.

"I'm looking forward to new challenges in my career, but I will always cherish the time I spent with you all and the amazing and collaborative teams at Blizzard," Pardo wrote. "It was both satisfying and humbling, and it made me a better developer and a better person. I look forward to playing Blizzard games as a player for many years to come. Most important, now I have plenty of time to learn how to build a competitive Hearthstone deck.

"As to what I will be doing next, I don't have an answer for you yet . . . but I will 'when it's ready.' My priorities are to enjoy the summer with my family, play plenty of games, and think about what's next. The game industry is such an exciting place right now with PC gaming thriving, the new consoles, mobile games, and virtual reality becoming an actual reality. It's like having an empty quest log and going into a new zone for the first time.”

Blizzard has not yet named a replacement for Pardo, who was working on the next expansion to World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor.