Blizzard will have to face further difficulties as their Game Director, and Lead Level Designer for Diablo 4 have reportedly left the company. Recently, Blizzard has faced a lawsuit by the state of California, alleging sexual harassment and discrimination of women in the company. While this might be one of the reasons why Jesse McCree and Luis Barriga are no longer in Blizzard’s rows, the main reason for their departure still remains unknown.
Jesse McCree had an Overwatch character named after him, which makes it even weirder seeing his departure from the company. According to the recent report, the company is suffering from other exits as well. Kotaku’s Ethan Gach has reported that sources claim Blizzard departures of three important personas whose work progress have been deeply involved with Blizzard’s popular franchises. Two of them are from the Diablo 4 team, while one is from World of Warcraft.
Those are Luis Barriga (Diablo 4 Game Director), Jesse McCree (Diablo 4 Lead Level Designer), and one from World of Warcraft’s team, Alex Afrasiabi, who are no longer present at Blizzard’s internal directory. Alex Afrasiabi has been directly called out by name in California’s lawsuit for harassing and groping female coworkers.
This report is based on sources close to Kotaku. Nothing concrete has come out from the mouth of the officials. Blizzard hasn’t reported anything about the let-offs, and we’re awaiting official confirmation. One thing’s sure, Luis Barriga’s promises won’t be fulfilled as he didn’t make it to the end of Diablo 4’s development cycle.
