Three former heads for Blizzard Entertainment have now formed a new game company, Magic Soup Games.
The three heads are J. Allen Brack, John Donham, and Jen Oneal, respectively. Oneal serves as the company’s CEO. They say they are a team of five, and they refer to each other as chefs. In Jen’s words:
“Everyone who is a part of Magic Soup is referred to as a chef as a sign of respect for their skill and discipline. And we’re a startup, we’re all washing dishes!”
In an interview with VentureBeat, the three shared details about the company, but also spoke up a bit about their experience in Blizzard.
All three are veteran developers and game executives who were at top positions at Blizzard when it first reckoned with inclusion and diversity issues.
As recapped by GameSpot, J. Allen Brack was president when the company dealt with a harassment and discrimination lawsuit. He left the company, and Jen Oneal took his position alongside Mike Ybarra. However, Jen herself left after three months with her own issues with Blizzard. John Donham was chief of staff and vice president of special projects for one year from 2019 to 2020.
These details matter because the three kept in touch after leaving Blizzard and found, not only that they still had something to give in the industry, but their vision was going in the same direction.
J Allen Brack shares this story:
“I remember Jen and I having dinner about a year ago. When the night was wrapping up, we got into a conversation about what we wanted to build next. When I put my No. 1 game idea on the table, and Jen put her No. 1 game idea on the table, it was essentially the same game. We both sat back in our chairs, not saying a lot, just thinking. We didn’t know then but that was actually our ‘back of the napkin moment’ culminating in what we are talking about today. There’s power in having a shared vision—not only for the kind of game we want to build, but what kind of culture we want to create.”
J Allen Brack also has sober thoughts about his experience at Blizzard:
“I’ve been reflecting a great deal on my role in driving cultural change. I’ve been listening to and reading many personal accounts and opinions about the things that should have been better. As a leader and a human, it furthered my commitment to strive for continual improvement.
I still believe Blizzard can re-emerge as a haven for creatives with a positive culture for all employees and I know there are a lot of good people investing their energy into just that.”
Notably, Magic Soup Games is a startup, and not a new big studio they are forming with the backing of a bigger company like Amazon or Tencent. John explains why the three of them have decided to start over from scratch:
“All game development is hard, but a start-up is a different type of challenge vs making games at big established companies. We have a lot of energy and passion around making games. We’re excited to do that together. And we think we can build something meaningful.”
Magic Soup Games are still keeping details about their projects close to the chest, but given the pedigree of the company, there’s reason to be excited about what all three are about to do next. You can read the full interview and learn more about their thoughts on the industry here.
