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Former Diablo III Director Jay Wilson Leaves Blizzard
Blizzard game director Jay Wilson announced on Twitter that this will be his last week working at the company and in the industry as a whole.
Wilson started working as a game director at Blizzard in 2006, after serving as a designer of various RTS games at Relic Entertainment. For many Blizzard fans, Wilson is most well-known as the original game director for Diablo III – though likely for the wrong reasons. Diablo III's implementation of in-game and real-money auction houses for weapons and items spawned an outcry of criticism from gamers, much of which was personally directed at Wilson.
Wilson left the post to work on another project within Blizzard, and would later call Diablo III's auction houses a mistake; Blizzard would later go on to pull auction houses from the PC version, and hasn't stopped tweaking the game's loot system and introducing additional content since.
Wilson stated in a series of tweets that he is leaving the industry to focus on writing, and thanked his colleagues.
Sad to say after 10 of the best years of my life this will be my last week at Blizzard, and in the games industry.
— Jay Wilson (@Angryrobotics) June 6, 2016
I'm leaving to pursue my original passion, writing. It's what I was doing when I fell into this job, and I've always wanted to return to it.
— Jay Wilson (@Angryrobotics) June 6, 2016
I will dearly miss my friends at Blizzard. They've been the best, most dedicated, most passionate group of people I've ever met.
— Jay Wilson (@Angryrobotics) June 6, 2016
Our Take
While being Diablo III's
game director made Jay Wilson the public face for the game, blaming a single
individual for all of a title's real or perceived problems is simply unfair.
Blizzard's continued effort to improve Diablo III is a testament to the
developer's desire to make the best and most fun games possible – by all
accounts Wilson shared that enthusiasm, even if players didn't always agree
with all of his decisions. We wish Wilson the best of luck in his future
endeavors.
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