Diablo 3 producer leaving Blizzard

Diablo 3 senior producer Steve Parker has announced he's leaving Blizzard, but hasn't given a specific reason or outlined his plans for the future.

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Steve Parker, senior producer for Diablo III, has announced he's leaving Blizzard. Parker announced his departure on Friday without giving a specific reason, but has been hinting that he has a new position lined up in the near term.

His initial tweet (via IGN) read, "Hey Twitter, I'm no longer working at Blizzard or on D3. I've had a great 5 years there and those guys are going to kill it with Diablo." Subsequent tweets have referenced "bigger and better things" and telling followers that he'll say "what's next" on the social site.

After the game received a rating in South Korea, it seemed like all systems were go for a launch. Then we learned a litany of large-scale changes coming to the game due to beta feedback, making the long-awaited release seem even further away. Blizzard has not put a firm date on the game.

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  • reply
    January 23, 2012 8:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Diablo 3 producer leaving Blizzard.

    Diablo 3 senior producer Steve Parker has announced he's leaving Blizzard, but hasn't given a specific reason or outlined his plans for the future.

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 8:37 AM

      He was heartbroken by valcan_s not liking the D3 demo.

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 8:38 AM

      All is not well. Did we speculate why previously or just bash D3?

      Related to push into 2012 for the release I'm sure. Perhaps the board wasn't quite happy with that shift?

      Maybe he'll go to gearbox.

      • reply
        January 23, 2012 8:45 AM

        Or maybe his work on D3 is done and he's moving on. Which means it might be released soon!

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          January 23, 2012 11:08 PM

          That would be interesting if he ends up going to the Torchlight developer.

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        January 23, 2012 8:47 AM

        Or sometimes people just change jobs. Not everything has to be a scandal.

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          January 23, 2012 9:05 AM

          It reminds me of the C&C Generals designer leaving to go join Blizzard and lead on Starcraft 2. (I don't remember who; I remember Brad Shoemaker mentioning this in the 12/13/2011 Bombcast on the news that Generals 2 was announced.)

          Sometimes, lead designers don't want to be stuck making the same game over and over again, or want to go be an enterpreneur, or start their own studio.

        • reply
          January 23, 2012 9:19 AM

          It's a pretty big no-no to leave before ship however.

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            January 23, 2012 9:56 AM

            yeah I dunno this seems like kind of a bad sign. Even if it was an amicable split, it's still pretty odd.

            However, and I feel weird saying this since I'm probably as big a detractor as anybody when it comes to Blizzard, but, being Blizzard, I feel they could probably pull it together.

          • reply
            January 23, 2012 11:10 PM

            lol

      • reply
        January 23, 2012 8:58 AM

        or a better opportunity opened elsewhere, a promotion, a different game/genre he likes even more, wants to get out of the game industry entirely, etc, etc

        • reply
          January 24, 2012 12:08 AM

          You're this close, you'd stick it out. It's either done, or this is related to the recent rather large tweaks that were announced.

          Or not.

      • reply
        January 23, 2012 9:09 AM

        He's just a producer, it's not like he does anything important

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        January 23, 2012 9:35 AM

        he probably was the guy that demanded the cube stay in the game or something

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 8:40 AM

      game has got to be close to done...........

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 9:15 AM

      Game developer changes job at end of project ! breaking news!

      • reply
        January 23, 2012 9:19 AM

        Well the major changes to the game where announced on the same day --> http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4325959/Systems_Changes-1_19_2012#blog

        Coincident? You tell me :)

        • reply
          January 23, 2012 9:23 AM

          He's a producer not a game director.

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            January 23, 2012 9:45 AM

            game is obviously not done and undergoing drastic changes. producer is an important role too

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            January 23, 2012 9:49 AM

            Producers are involved in feature decisions, too. For example, a senior producer's job is to keep the designers from making sweeping changes that put the game massively off-schedule unless the changes make the game better and justify the delay.

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            January 23, 2012 9:58 AM

            I don't know if there's a ton of consistency among roles of producers between game companies. Some seem to take a very prominent role in development, while some don't do a whole lot.

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          January 23, 2012 10:04 AM

          This has nothing to do with anything and you know it. You're just trying to stir the pot as usual.

          • reply
            January 23, 2012 10:08 AM

            I will not post in D3 threads and stir the pot, buuuuut ...

        • reply
          January 23, 2012 10:24 AM

          You're pretty awful at not posting in Diablo 3 threads.

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 9:23 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 10:01 AM

      Hes going to work for Bill Roper.

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        January 23, 2012 10:07 AM

        I still think Hellgate London is, conceptually, a cool game.

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 10:18 AM

      Experience managing teams, and delivering products on time

      http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/posting.html?id=120000J

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 1:14 PM

      Producer: "The sanctity of this place has been fouled"

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      January 23, 2012 10:24 PM

      diablo 3 is becoming a huge joke

    • reply
      January 23, 2012 11:14 PM

      The game was about to be released in December right?

      Perhaps this was planned for a long time but when the game was delayed he could not change his plans?

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